North Carolina's Gaston County Library Branch Hours Reduced by 40%

Budget cuts equal reduced hours.  (Charlotte Observer, 8/29/2011)

Excerpt:     Make a note: Gaston County Public Library branch hours will be changing on Sept. 6.

Not for the better. They're going down from 40 hours a week to 24.

That'll hurt a lot of folks who rely on the library for such things as computer access and research information. Not to mention the inconvenience to patrons accustomed to dropping by at random.

County budget cuts made it happen. Things could have been worse: the branch libraries - specifically, Bessemer City, Dallas, Lowell, Mount Holly, Stanley and Union Road - came close to shutting down altogether.

This has been a tough year - maybe the toughest yet. Library Director Cindy Moose reminded me that things have been tightening up for the last 10 years - not just in the library, but in other county departments, too.