December 9, 2005. The Fort Collins Public Library has announced that reductions in library services will take effect on January 2, 2006. According to Library Director Brenda Carns, "We hope that reductions will impact a minimum number of customers, while maximizing the use of available resources."

The Main Library, 201 Peterson, will no longer be open on Thursday evening; the new hours on Thursday will be 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Other hours will remain the same: Monday through Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.; Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; and Sunday, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

The Harmony Library, located at Harmony and Shields, will not be open on Saturday morning and will close an hour earlier on Friday. The new hours will be Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Saturday, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Other hours will remain the same: Monday through Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

There will also be changes in some storytimes for children. Lu Benke, Lead Librarian for Children's Services, commented, "Cuts are always difficult, but these are based on attendance statistics and reflect the best combination that affects the fewest number of people while still offering plenty of programming opportunities for children." The Monday morning storytime at Main has been eliminated, and Mother Goose Time, for children up to two years of age, will be moved from Friday morning to Monday morning, alternating between Main and Harmony. Call 204-8404 for further details about this.

In addition, services for teenagers will be reduced. Since the vacant Teen Librarian position at Harmony will not be filled and there will be only one Teen Librarian serving Fort Collins, Teen services will be reduced to half from those provided in 2004.

Regularly scheduled hours of operation in the Local History Archives, which is located at the Main Library, will be discontinued. Customers will need to call ahead to make an appointment to use archived materials.

All changes will take effect on January 2, 2006. For more information, call the Main Reference Desk at 221-6380.