Editorial: Cuts To Library Hours Are Unnecessary
By Kevin Gosztola, Editor
The library plans to cut weekday hours, which will reduce access to taxpaying residents who may wish to use resources and services during the evenings.
Library board trustees will vote on the proposed cuts at the board’s monthly meeting on April 13. It is my view as the editor of the Elmwood Park Advocate that cutting hours is unnecessary and not based on any financial need. It also goes against one of the library’s main goals for the community.
In the library’s “strategic plan” for 2025-2027, which exists to guide “decision-making,” it says that the library will “increase accessibility by extending operating hours to accommodate patrons with varying schedules, particularly during evenings and weekends.”
Suddenly, Library Director Michael Consiglio has asked the library board to shorten hours to 9 a.m to 8 p.m. on weekdays and to 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday.
The reasoning offered is vague: changing the hours would reflect “actual patron usage patterns,” support “more efficient allocation of staff resources,” and align with the library’s “ongoing commitment to responsible financial management without reducing programs or service quality.”
But as someone who has regularly attended library board meetings and followed library committee meetings, I do not recall any prior budgetary concerns about library hours. The library has the funds for keeping the library open in the evenings.
I attended a library finance committee meeting on March 9. “We’re about $200,000 under pure expense,” Consiglio declared. “That’s a good thing.” He indicated that the library had done a good job of holding down expenses while dealing with a crisis that was largely a result of Cook County mismanagement.
Cutting hours would likely reduce programs and service quality. It means residents will have eight fewer hours during the week to access technology, such as computers and Wi-Fi, as well as study rooms.
Groups that reserve meeting room spaces will have to adjust their plans for gathering with their neighbors. Typically, evening events would not begin until 6 p.m. at the earliest. Since staff has previously asked for a half hour to break down the meeting room before close, groups could only use these spaces until 7:30 p.m. There would no longer be any Friday evening events.
Let’s say someone wished to plan an event for veterans the week before Memorial Day. Perhaps, they would like to show a documentary and discuss it afterward. They would have to schedule it at 5 or 5:30 p.m, when many are just getting off work or eating dinner with their families.
The library is a well-established branch, and under Illinois Library Association standards, it is encouraged to have 68 hours of operation for a population of nearly 24,000 residents. By cutting hours, the library falls below that standard to 65 hours.
Finally, when the library board votes on cutting library hours, it will be the first time that most residents learn about this decision. There was no public community outreach or consideration for those who work during the day who may be impacted. The library director simply determined that the library does not need to stay open any later.
Those who follow the Elmwood Park Advocate on Facebook already know about this decision. One resident reacted, “It seems odd to cut the hours without a clear, transparent plan shared with the community for the savings.”
Two additional residents expressed a similar concern that cutting hours is not ideal, but it is especially baffling when the library has not also shared how the savings will be applied.
Undoubtedly, the library director and library board president will say that these are very minimal cuts, and that they are just being careful about how they spend taxpayer dollars. Yet once supposedly minor cuts to the library are made, it becomes easier to apply more cuts.
Before residents know it, something that was off the table many months ago will be on the chopping block. When that happens, it may be too late to stop the library or library board from taking away access to that resource or service.