Corinth Library will see reduced hours in 2012, but cuts not as drastic as at other branches

Faced with a smaller staff as a result of the county’s voluntary retirement incentive program, the Johnson County Library Board voted Wednesday to reduce the hours of operation at several of its branches effective Jan. 3, 2012.

The Corinth branch will avoid the more drastic cuts being made at other branches, including Leawood, Oak Park and Lackman, which will no longer be open on Sundays. All Johnson County library branches, including Corinth, will now close at 5 p.m. every Wednesday. Currently, the Corinth branch stays open until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays.

Over the past three years, the library has altered services through efforts reducing costs by $160,000, and has lost eight full time employee equivalencies.

A press release put out by the library system says that in addition to reducing library hours, “the library will be shifting staff throughout the system, utilizing support staff at public service desks for partial staffing, further reorganizing, and eliminating more library programming.”