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New library hours in Blair County

Martinsburg

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 1 to 8 p.m.

Wednesday and Sunday: Closed

Friday: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Saturday: 10 to 2 p.m.

Williamsburg (beginning Nov. 2)

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 1 to 8 p.m.

Wednesday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday: Closed

Claysburg

Monday and Thursday: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Tuesday and Wednesday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday: Closed

Bellwood-Antis

Monday-Thursday: 1 to 8:30 p.m.

Friday and Sunday: Closed

Saturday: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Roaring Spring

Monday and Tuesday: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Wednesday: 3 to 7 p.m.

Thursday and Friday: 10 to 4 p.m.

Saturday: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Sunday: Closed

Tyrone-Snyder (beginning Nov. 2)

Monday and Wednesday: Noon to 5 p.m.

Tuesday and Thursday: Noon to 7 p.m.

Friday: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Saturday: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Sunday: Closed

Altoona

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Wednesday and Friday: 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday: Four hours, time of day undetermined

Sunday: 1 to 4 p.m.

Hollidaysburg (hours currently remaining the same)

Monday to Thursday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Friday and Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sunday: Closed

While some Blair County libraries are reducing hours and dipping into book funds to make ends meet, others are waiting to see exactly what they will receive from the county.

Pennsylvania public libraries all felt the sting of state budget cuts earlier this month, but the Martinsburg Area Public Library received a double whammy after legislators cut out the Access Pennsylvania program.

The library lost $14,000 through the program that reimbursed it for interlibrary loans, Library Director Joyce Paden said Wednesday. Martinsburg's location near the Bedford and Huntingdon county lines made it an ideal participant, she said.

The cut in the state's basic library aid took away another $6,000 for a total cut of $20,000.

The library is cutting 11 operating hours, which led to a reduction in hours for the two remaining employees after a part-time employee was let go. They also cut $6,000 from the library's material budget, which left it at $10,000, she said.

"When you don't have money, you have to do the best you can," Paden said.

The library is also looking to the past for help.

Reprinted copies of a previously out-of-print book titled "Martinsburg Centennial Souvenir" are for sale at $20 each thanks to help from the Blair County Genealogical Society, Paden said.

The Altoona Area Public Library is not replacing its retiring head of adult circulation this year, Executive Director Debbie Weakland said Wednesday after a board meeting where members passed a budget with a deficit of $12,232.

The board voted to make up the money through cost-cutting tactics such as closing during holiday weekends, which can save about $400 per weekend, as well as dipping into contingency funds to cover any leftover deficit, she said.

Board members from the Hollidaysburg Area Public Library, which is in the hole $13,047 for September, voted to hold out until November when the Blair County Commissioners will decide if they will use a funding formula to disburse library state aid.

If the county uses the funding formula, the library will have to come up with $7,000, and if not, $17,000, Director Janet Eldred said.

The state stopped using the funding formula - 25 percent divided among the county's eight libraries, 65 percent based on the local money raised from the year before, and 10 percent on population - four years ago, but handed the decision back to counties after the latest budget, Weakland said.

The Williamsburg Public Library will close Saturdays in November to cut on building and utility costs, Director Lugene Shelly said.

Doing so will put the library in violation of the amount of weekend hours the state requires them to operate, but it is out of options and will ask for a waiver, Shelly said. Grants and the reduction in hours hopefully will make up the $5,245 the library is short, but another cut in hours may come in January, she said.

Bellwood-Antis Public Library is also cutting operating hours to make up for state cuts that work out to about $1,709 a month, Director Hazel Bilka said. Their total state budget cut was $13,672, she said.

The library hours could change again after a board meeting Monday evening, Bilka said. The library has only two staff members.

Residents need to talk to their state legislators about the matter, she said.

State Sen. John H. Eichelberger Jr., R-Blair, said libraries were one of many budget casualties and they need to boost fundraising efforts while moving away from state and county dependency.