What’s behind Sunday closures at all but 9 Montgomery County libraries
Most Montgomery County Public Libraries will be closed Sundays moving forward, with the exception of nine regional branches.
The change, which goes into effect Jan. 11, isn’t based on budgetary concerns, according to Montgomery County Public Libraries Director Darcell Graham.
“It’s more staffing,” she told WTOP. “And it’s more level of service.”
Graham said on Sundays, “We’re so thinly staffed, we can just open the doors,” without the ability to provide the full array of services to library patrons that’s available Monday through Saturday.
“We’d like to do more than that,” she said.
According to Graham, the library system has gotten a lot of feedback and, for the most part, the community understands the decision.
Families in the county take advantage of the libraries and their services, according to Graham, who added the role of libraries in the community changed after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s seen as a space not only to like, do your homework, but a gathering space,” where whole families settle in to spend time.
“Which is a beautiful thing to see,” she added. “We have a lot of engagement in our programming — a lot. Especially in our family programming.”
Graham said the Sunday closures are not necessarily permanent.
“We’re going to try our best to continue to explore opportunities to expand once again,” and she said the system’s new mobile outreach van could be used on a rotating basis to serve some of the communities surrounding libraries that will be closed on Sundays.
Montgomery County established Sunday service from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at nearly all of its libraries in 2022. The exceptions were the Noyes Library in Kensington and the Maggie Nightingale Library in Poolesville.
Graham said that of Maryland’s 24 library systems, seven of the eight that do provide Sunday service open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
One service that’s being added for library patrons is the use of the libraries’ copiers to print up to 15 pages at no cost.
‘What I hope it allows, especially around tax time, is for community members to come in” and print needed documents, Graham said.
Sunday hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. will continue to be available at the following libraries:
- Brigadier General Charles E. McGee Library, Silver Spring
- Connie Morella Library, Bethesda
- Gaithersburg Library, Gaithersburg
- Germantown Library, Germantown
- Olney Library, Olney
- Rockville Memorial Library, Rockville
- Wheaton Library, Silver Spring
- White Oak Library, Silver Spring
- Long Branch Library, Silver Spring
Graham said the changes will allow for added staffing at the libraries that will remain open on Sundays.