“We’re Back!”

On the homepage you will see that our hours have been restored. All of us at the library—the board of trustees and the staff—are grateful to the Upper Merion Township Board of Supervisors for giving the library an additional $21,000 so that we could again be open on Sundays and Monday—Thursday to 9:00 pm. This is a strong vote of confidence in the library because funding for all township services remains tight. Last summer, the library, along with the other township departments, was required to return 5% of their budgets, or approximately $92,000 from the library.

In addition, the library suffered a $24,000 (20%) reduction in state aid. The additional support from the Board of Supervisors balances the state reduction and has allowed us to resume our previous hours. All of us are grateful for the support we received from Upper Merion residents: numerous public requests were made to restore our hours. However, we are not out of the woods. Our funding for books and all other library materials remains 25% less than it was in 2007. Nonetheless, the Upper Merion Township Library is weathering the recession much better than many libraries that remain closed for a day or more each week.

All of us are pleased to be able to offer the public the best library service we can under the circumstances. Also gratifying is that borrowing increased in 2009 from 2008. Although it was a minimal increase of 500 items, the increase occurred when the library was closed on Sundays and closed at 8:00 pm. The very large number of Upper Merion residents who use the library has demonstrated how important libraries are in good economic times and in bad.

Sincerely,
Karl Helicher
Director