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While news that Miami-Dade County decided to keep all existing libraries open may have seemed like a win, now Mayor Gimenez has released a new plan that could see some of those spared branches open for only 16 hours a week. That’s three to five hours a day for four days a week.
According to Huffington Post Miami, the libraries affected include Coconut Grove, Concord, Country Walk, Edison, Fairlawn, Hialeah Gardens, Lakes of the Meadows, Lemon City, North Central, Opa-Locka, Palm Springs North, South Shore, Sunset, Tamiami, Virrick Park, and West Flagler.
All libraries currently operate for 40 to 48 hours a week. All are closed Sunday, and 40-hour-a-week branches are closed all day either on Thursday, Friday or Saturday.
The new plans would see those libraries subject to cut-back hours open for only four days a week (usually Mondays through Thursday) in four-hour shifts (from either 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 2 to 6 p.m. depending on the branch and day of the week).
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Gimenez’s memo however states that hours could be altered based on community feedback, and that if a library is closed there will be another one open during normal hours within three miles from Monday to Saturday.
The plan would also cut the full-time library staff from 251 workers to 169.
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