Waldinger Library board OKs Sunday hours

The Henry Waldinger Memorial Library will open its doors on Sundays for the first time in the library’s 81-year history.

Andrew Hackmack/Herald

Valley Stream library patrons will no longer have to look elsewhere for books on Sundays. They can stay in their own community.

After several months of discussions, the Henry Waldinger Memorial Library Board of Trustees approved new hours, which will take effect in mid-September. The library will continue to be open 57 hours per week, but now four of those hours will be on Sunday afternoons.

Village Trustee Virginia Clavin-Higgins, the liaison to the library board, said that Valley Stream is one of the few area libraries that does not offer Sunday hours. While most libraries are closed on Sundays in the summer, a majority are open for at least a few hours during the school year.

The plan is to open the Waldinger Library on Sundays from Labor Day through Memorial Day, from noon to 4 p.m. The schedule will begin on Sept. 15.

Hours during the week will change, and the library will no longer be open until 9 p.m. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, closing time will be 8:30 p.m., but on Mondays, the day will be three hours shorter. Patrons will actually gain a half-hour of library time on Wednesdays, when it will close at 6 p.m. instead of 5:30.

Library Director Mamie Eng said she chose to reduce Monday hours the most because Monday evenings are when the library is least used. The new schedule will not affect evening programs, which are typically held on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

During the summer months, the library will revert back to its current schedule.

Staffing issues a concerns

The library board also approved staffing levels for Sundays. There will be one librarian, who will be stationed at the reference desk, three clerks — two for the front desk and one for the children’s room — and one library page.

The librarians will work Sundays on a rotating basis. There are five full-time librarians, but one will soon be out on maternity leave, so each of the remaining four will work one Sunday per month.

Eng and library board members said that, ideally, there should be two librarians in the building whenever it is open. That would leave it short-staffed during the week, however.