Closed on Sundays

January 30th was the last time the Port Orchard Library—or any Kitsap Regional Library branch—was open on Sunday. It was a downer day for me. Stopping by the funky old gray-and-blue building on the Port Orchard waterfront was part of my Sunday afternoon routine.

Most Sundays, except during the summer, I ride my bike along Beach Drive, starting at the Annapolis Ferry Dock. It can be windy and cold pedaling along the shore of Rich Passage, but the boat traffic and the views of Bremerton and the Olympic Mountains combine to create some of the best scenery anywhere. When the ride is over, I usually get lunch at the KFC and then browse the new-book shelves at the Port Orchard Library on the way home. I suppose I could switch my routine to Saturday, but Sunday seems ideal, mainly because there’s less traffic on Beach Drive.

The Port Orchard Library isn’t my regular library branch. In fact, three branches are closer to my home. When I put books on hold, I arrange to pick them up at the main branch in East Bremerton. So my Sunday visits to the Port Orchard branch were something of a treat as I wouldn’t go there otherwise.

The Sunday closures are a direct result of a failed library levy last November although the levy wasn’t sold that way. The money was supposed to go toward building a larger branch in Silverdale, acquiring new materials, and restoring operational cuts from previous years. Perhaps the levy tried to do too many things. Or perhaps it would have failed even with a narrower focus due to the general anti-tax mood of voters. “Make do with what you have,” voters said, some noting that the vote was about increasing the levy rate, not renewing it. In a post-levy look at the budget, library management apparently decided that cuts in hours were needed.

Sundays were targeted as the closure day because library employees receive premium pay on that day. Thus there’s a larger savings to be realized than in closing branches for the same number of hours during the week. But if I ran the library, I would have made the decision based on usage by library patrons not just the bottom line. Maybe Sunday is the least-popular day, but cutting back to one weekend day seems inconvenient for people who work on weekdays, especially given the popularity of the hold system. For working people Saturday afternoon now might be the only time they can pick up a book or DVD that’s on hold. Often that’s the only sure way to get popular new items.

In this era of widespread public-sector cuts, are any libraries in the region still open seven days a week? Was Kitsap Regional Library meeting a standard that other counties and big cities have already abandoned? The North Mason branch of the multicounty Timberland Library is closed Sundays and Mondays. Jefferson County manages to keep its library open every day, although there is just one branch. Pierce County has about 20 branches. The larger ones are open on Sunday. Most of the Tacoma Library branches are closed two days a week and all are closed on Sunday. So library availability seems to depend on where you live. I’m not questioning Kitsap Regional’s decision to go to a six-day week. But I would have picked Monday or Tuesday as the day to close.

I’m a big fan of the Kitsap Regional Library. I voted for the levy and I donate money to the library every year. I think the library does an excellent job given its budget. My main complaint is that you can wait on hold for months for some new items. But I don’t have a suggestion there other than charging a nominal fee like $1 for new bestsellers. If I could give library management any other financial advice, it would be to reduce the number of branches instead of cutting hours if budget woes continue. However, that might be a tough sell. Hardly a peep was heard about the Sunday closures. Closing two branches out of nine (for example, Manchester and Downtown Bremerton) would raise a bigger squawk.