New Cedar Rapids library hours start this weekend

CEDAR RAPIDS - Expanded hours at the Cedar Rapids Public Library - both the downtown and westside location - are scheduled to begin this weekend.

The added hours are thanks to the Cedar Rapids City Council, which allocated more money than the library requested this budget cycle specifically to restore hours lost in recent years due to insufficient funds.

'We are very happy to be able to increase hours at both locations starting July 1,” Dara Schmidt, library director, said in a news release.

The key changes include the return of Sunday hours at the downtown library, 450 Fifth Ave. SE, and a trial of early morning hours at the Ladd Library, 3750 Williams Blvd. SW.

The new downtown library hours are:

' Monday to Thursday:

9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

' Friday and Saturday:

9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

' Sunday:

1 to 5 p.m.

Ladd hours are:

' Monday to Thursday:

8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

' Friday:

9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

' Saturday:

Closed

' Sunday:

1 to 5 p.m.

In spring 2016, after voters defeated a tax levy increase for library operations, library trustees cut Sunday hours downtown and Saturdays from Ladd and started closing both locations an hour earlier on Mondays through Thursdays.

Thanks to an unexpected $100,000 influx, the library was able to restore some of those hours, and the City Council has expressed an interest in restoring more hours in the future.

l Comments: (319) 398-8310; brian.morelli@thegazette.com