Sunday openings swell use of library

In a three-month test, the Countryside branch's extra hours prove so popular the service is likely to continue.

By CHRISTINA HEADRICK

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 9, 2001

CLEARWATER -- Book lovers are passing the test.

Since the Countryside Branch Library began having Sunday hours in January -- the only library in the city to be open that day -- an average of 500 patrons have been walking in between 1 and 5 p.m., according to door counts.

Also, the average volume of materials being checked out Sunday -- about 153 items per hour -- is higher than on any other day of the week, said John Szabo, the city's library director.

Such statistics bode well for Countryside bookworms, because the new hours were deemed a test to see how much residents would use the branch on Sundays.

"We certainly believe that the use indicates it would be a worthwhile thing to continue," said Szabo, who plans to request $58,000 to continue the service in next year's budget.

"I think the level of the use and the response from the community definitely indicates that this is something that is important to that community, and they're obviously making use of it," Szabo said.

Max Dirscherl, a 17-year-old junior at Lakewood High School's Center for Advanced Technology, is among those Countryside residents who can be found at the branch library some Sundays.

"I think it's great," Dirscherl said. "I know a lot of people have busy schedules, and weekend days are more convenient."

Because his afternoons and even some Saturdays are packed with other activities, Dirscherl has visited the library on Sundays to research World War II and J. Robert Oppenheimer, who directed efforts to develop the atomic bomb.

Cindy Scholet's 9-year-old son, Brandon, was the first person through the door on the first Sunday the library opened, after years of requests from Countryside residents for the service, Scholet said. Both she and her two kids enjoy reading, she said.

"We used to drive down all the way to Largo to use the library on Sundays," Scholet said. "So it's really handy to have a library open closer."

Szabo said that he expected the Sunday service at Countryside would be popular, because that library branch already has the most registered patrons and the highest circulation and fields the most reference questions of all city libraries.

The use of the branch has probably exceeded expectations, he said.

Besides city residents, people from unincorporated areas without Sunday library service have been using the branch. Counts of people checking out materials show that about half come from areas outside Clearwater, such as East Lake and Palm Harbor. The city serves residents from other places as part of the county's library cooperative program.

Clearwater administrators say they would consider extending Sunday service to other libraries if there were widespread demand in a neighborhood and enough money in the budget. As they did in Countryside, they would probably start the service for a short period to test whether it would be used.

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