By Khalida Sarwari
Starting next month, the Campbell Library will be open on Mondays for the first time in eight years.
The library, located at 77 Harrison Ave., will be open from 1 to 9 p.m. every Monday beginning on April 30.
“We’re closing some mornings and some evenings in order to get the sixth day,” said Melinda Cervantes, executive director and county librarian of the Santa Clara County Library District.
In order to keep the library open on Mondays, staff will open the doors an hour later on Tuesdays and close three hours earlier on Thursdays, Cervantes said. On Tuesdays, the library will be open from 1 to 9 p.m., and on Thursdays the library will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Hours will remain the same on all other days, and the library will remain closed on Sundays.
In 2004, Monday service was discontinued at all district libraries, including the Campbell Library, as a result of a decrease in local and state revenue, according to Cervantes.
“[Monday] was not our busiest day, so we thought it would have the least impact on the public,” she said.
Cervantes said the expanded service is in response to the needs of many in the community who wanted to be able to use the library on Mondays. Now, students will have greater flexibility in completing their school assignments, Cervantes said.
Residents are invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 30 in celebration of the expanded hours.
Beginning that same day, patrons will notice also a new automated book return system, which will be accessible from outside the library after hours. The new system will automatically check in returned items and will give patrons the option of printing a receipt of those items.
Over the past year, the Campbell Library has undergone a series of interior renovations including the installation of new carpet, paint and furniture. The last major renovation since the library opened at its current location in 1975 was in 1989 with the addition of the lower level.
The Campbell Library is one of eight libraries in the Santa Clara County District, which was established in 1914 by the county board of supervisors.
For more information about the Campbell Library and the other libraries in the Santa Clara County Library District, visit www.sccl.org.
