Library Board Cuts Evening Hours Before 'Counter' For Tracking Library Use Is Installed
The library purchased a "counter" that can track when people visit in the evening, however, the library board cut hours before relevant data could be collected.
[Editor’s Note: At the May library board meeting, editor Kevin Gosztola delivered a public comment in opposition to the library cutting evening hours (see bottom of the report). He previously wrote an editorial against the cuts as well.]
By Kevin Gosztola, Editor
Trustees voted to cut Elmwood Park Public Library evening hours on weekdays. Only Library Board trustee Mike Monahan spoke in favor of keeping the library open and voted against the proposal.
Also, due to the lack of data on library use, Library Director Michael Consiglio said that the library purchased a “counter.” However, the director and trustees still proceeded with the vote instead of waiting for relevant data to be collected.
Consiglio said later in the year the library might revisit the hours of operation. “If the data supports [staying open], we will support it.”
“Okay, so how would data support a decision to review this?” Monahan asked, since the library will no longer be open for residents during the hour that should be tracked.
Library Board President Chris Pesko said that he was satisfied with the “analysis” shared by Consiglio. He backed closing the library earlier on weekdays.
Pesko further suggested that the annual survey at the Taste of Elmwood Park could ask residents if they would like the library to go back to its regular schedule. Consiglio supported this idea.
“Having three kids that have gone through everything—and they’re adults now, summertime, the library usage went way down as opposed to when it was in school,” Trustee Peter Fosco said.
“Like I said, we’re going to the summertime. Everybody wants to be out. Everybody wants to be outside. Everybody wants to play on the jungle gym. Everybody wants to do their thing with the longer hours.”
Fosco added, “In summertime, if we get an opportunity to save the money, I think that’s kind of the way to go. We’re going to revisit it.”
Trustee Alice Balundis agreed. “I see the possibility of this. It’s summertime. Summertime’s coming up, and people are not going to be at the library.” She too said let’s revisit cutting evening hours after the board reduces the hours.
While the trustees focused on the summer to push through cuts to library hours, that was not part of the library director’s reasoning for reducing hours back in April.
“My concern, and why I don’t think it’s a good idea, is I feel like there should be more evening programs,” Monahan countered. “At 7 o’clock is a time that programs should start. But until 8:30, I think attendance would be better. I think the summer, at 8 o’clock, the sun is still up. It does not feel late to be closing.”
Monahan raised the matter of $60,000 in legal expenses and whether those expenses could be reduced first before cutting library hours. “I feel like there’s better ways to save money. I don’t see a justification for cutting the hours. I think it’s ill-advised and short-sighted.”
But Fosco insisted, “The amount of traffic from the numbers that I read here, and you have significantly anything before 8 o’clock, you’re there. Anything after 8 o’clock, the numbers are minuscule comparatively.”
What Fosco referred to were “6,011 patron interactions” that Consiglio said the library tracked over four months. As the Elmwood Park Advocate previously reported, 91 percent occurred from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Only 8.6 percent occurred in the evenings. “Just 2.6% occur in that final 8- to 9- PM hour.”
But trustees did not consider the fact that the library is only open 5-9 p.m. four days a week. There are more daytime hours, which skewed the percentage for the last hour of that the library was open.
Additionally, the percentage was further skewed by including Friday evening, even though it was already understood that residents use the library far less during this time. That is why the library board cut evening hours at the board’s April meeting.
The library’s unscientific survey of “patron demand” may have missed dozens of residents who were already in the library before 8 p.m. and left the library prior to closing time without interacting with staff.
Initially, Consiglio said that reducing hours would save the library a little more than $39,000 a year. But that number included money saved by cutting Friday hours, which was not part of the vote. When questioned, Consiglio clarified that the amount saved by cutting hours between Monday and Thursday would be closer to $21,000 a year.
Meredith Zinanni, a library board candidate in 2025, opposed the cuts and wrote to the library board. “At the April 2026 meeting, Trustee Pesko stated that Elmwood Park is a working class community to explain why staff could not be given more time off. But closing the library an hour earlier on weeknights harms those very same working people.”
“Programs get most of the attention at library board meetings, but it is equally valuable to ensure that our entire community has access to books and other media, research tools, and study spaces. Where else can students gather in a quiet space to work alone or on a group project when home is not an option? Or get help from our skilled library staff?”
Zinanni contended, “A student with an after-school job—or adults working outside the home—may not be able to get to the library until at least 7 PM, and we should not be making it more difficult for them.”
None of the trustees addressed the potential impact to parents and other adults, who may wish to use the library in the evenings for work or studying.