Korah Branch library was somehow spared the axe after last year's budget cuts, but starting next week its operating hours will be Dewey-decimated.
The little, 52-year-old library at 556 Goulais Ave. will no longer open mornings or weekends.
Starting Monday, Nov. 4, it will open just 20 hours a week, down from the current 55.
And the changes may not end there.
City Hall is leaning hard on the local library board to make still more tweaks to the Korah schedule.
No one's proposing fewer than 20 hours a week, but city bureaucrats are pushing for different hours to better accommodate people who attend activities at the adjoining Northern Community Centre.
At the library board, there are concerns the Korah branch schedule could become too complicated for people to remember, leading to declines in usage and possible closure.
Here are the current and amended Korah hours, followed by two proposals from City Hall:
Current Korah Branch schedule
Monday through Wednesday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. = 30 hours
Thursday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. = 8 hours
Friday: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. = 7 hours
Saturday: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. = 7 hours
Sunday: 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. = 3 hours
TOTAL: 55 hours a week
New schedule, effective Nov. 4, 2019
Monday: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. = 4 hours
Tuesday: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. = 4 hours
Wednesday: 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. = 4 hours
Thursday: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. = 4 hours
Friday: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. = 4 hours
Saturday: Closed
Sunday: Closed
TOTAL: 20 hours a week
City Proposal #1
Monday: Closed = 0 hours
Tuesday: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. = 4 hours
Wednesday: 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. = 4 hours
Thursday: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. = 4 hours
Friday: 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. = 4 hours
Saturday: 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. = 4 hours
Sunday: Closed = 0 hours
TOTAL: 20 hours
City Proposal #2
Monday: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (to capture morning walkers) = 3 hours
Tuesday: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. = 4 hours
Wednesday: 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. = 4 hours
Thursday: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. = 4 hours
Friday: 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. = 5 hours
Saturday: Closed = 0 hours
Sunday: Closed = 0 hours
TOTAL: 20 hours
In an email sent in mid-September to Matthew MacDonald, acting library chief executive officer, Brent Lamming, the city's director of community services, said the city's proposals "would capture more usage including the seniors centre, after-school students and spectators and families of soccer programs."
Lamming wasted no time in informing MacDonald and his independent library board what they needed to do.
"We understand you must provide your unionized staff 10 days' notice before month end of any schedule change, so this would need to occur by Oct. 21. You mentioned your board meeting is at the end of October, which would not provide enough time for notice and is required for approval for change in hours."
"If possible please call a special meeting earlier in October or move your October board meeting up and provide regular public notice which would allow the change."
"Please provide your daily tracking statistics for the Saturday which will allow us to prioritize between Option 1 and 2 from the city's perspective," Lamming directed.
MacDonald is not a municipal employee.
He doesn't report to City Hall, he reports to the library board, a corporation established under the provincial Public Libraries Act.
It's MacDonald's board that sets the library budget.
But 90 per cent of the funding received by Ontario public libraries comes from municipalities, and Sault Ste. Marie City Council will start its budget deliberations later this month.
The local library board didn't comply with Lamming's demand for an earlier October meeting.
When they met on Monday of this week, board members showed little inclination to immediately implement the city's recommendations.
"We would not be able to make any changes until the December schedule because of the collective agreement. All the schedules have been approved for November, so their hours are set," MacDonald said.
The distribution of operating hours among city libraries is becoming a political hot potato with the new North Branch expected to open this month.
At the library board's September meeting, MacDonald argued that the city will get far greater value from North Branch's operating hours than from Korah's.
Board members Erin Ferlaino and Kevin Harrison said that North Branch is now the flagship library and should be open longer.
Another member, Jami Van Haaften, suggested the downtown James L. McIntyre Centennial Library either open an hour later or close an hour earlier, but MacDonald said that wouldn't save money.
MacDonald said that he's ordered stanchions to create a physical barrier when the Korah library is closed but other parts of the Northern Community Centre are still in use.
In other news, library board member Steve Murray has resigned, indicating he's no longer eligible to serve because of a change in his employment.
City Council will be asked to appoint a replacement.