95th Street Library May Implement Additional Sunday Hours

Since requests for additional Sunday hours at Naperville Public Library have increased, staff members are testing the need for more hours at 95th Street Library.

With the recent success of adding four more Sunday hours at Nichols Library, NPL now is experimenting with extending Sunday hours at 95th Street Library, 3015 Cedar Glade Drive, Naperville. The new pilot hours at 95th Street Library will be from 1 to 9 p.m. Sundays beginning March 2 through May 18.

"When we did the experiment at Nichols, there were questions from users at both 95th Street Library and Naper Boulevard Library about when they would get those hours," Julie Rothenfluh, executive director, said. "We want to test the demand and make sure that there is additional demand; not that we are just spreading the same demand between two buildings."

Staff members will study analytical support to determine if there is a need for additional Sunday hours at 95th Street Library.

"Staff will be counting the usage of the building, materials and services, including door counts, circulation, number of reference questions, browsing in the stacks, study rooms, lab use, family center and number of laptop users," Karen Dunford, library manager at 95th Street Library, said.

Rothenfluh said staff members have rearranged their hours so no additional staff or funding was necessary to extend Sunday hours. She hopes the library can present a report to the board in June, which would coincide with the library's fiscal year 2016 budget discussions.

"If we need additional staff, we would have to budget for that in fiscal year 2016 since fiscal year 2015 is already completed," Rothenfluh said. "If we could add the hours without additional staff or funding, we would probably start the new hours in the fall. If we need additional funding or staffing, we would be looking at May 2015."

Striving to provide the best possible resources and library hours for patrons, Dunford said the success of extended Sunday hours at Nichols Library will most likely carry on at 95th Street Library.

"Self-directed adults and students who need to use our services will find the additional evening hours beneficial," Dunford said. "We've learned from past community surveys and customers' comments that our users want additional evening hours, and since we already provide evening hours Monday through Friday, Sunday seems like a better choice than Saturday."