Cumberland’s library system cutting hours because of budget

Accessing libraries in Cumberland County will get a little harder this summer.

The board of directors for the Cumberland Public Libraries announced Monday plans to reduce hours at five of its seven branches effective June 1 as it continues to deal with anticipated deficits.

“It’s really disheartening to have to go to staff and tell them you’re cutting their hours,” said chief librarian Denise Corey. “It’s something that’s definitely going to have an economic impact because these people live in Cumberland County and spend their money here, but we really didn’t have any other options other than cutting branches and that’s not something we want to do.”

Corey spent months crunching numbers trying to come up with a solution to stagnant funding from the province. She presented several options to the board of directors and the decision to cut hours was made.

“This decision was not undertaken lightly and was extremely disheartening,” board chairman Dale Fawthrop said. “We think library service is important for the people of Cumberland County, but we can no longer offer the level of services we’ve offered in the past.”

Corey said she did not want to cut any services to the public, but the library is looking at an anticipated deficit of $5,000 in the 2018-19 fiscal year and a deficit of $30,000 in the 2019-20 fiscal year.

The reduced hours will save the library approximately $13,000 a year. Corey said the cut will enable the library to maintain all seven branches, but she cautioned further cuts may be required further down the road.