Spurred by community feedback, the Oxford County Library is extending the operating hours at eight of its rural branches as of Monday, Sept. 9.
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These new extended hours, library officials said, will provide more convenient access to the collections and programming available at these smaller village branches.
The new schedule will extend the weekly hours of operation for the branches in Harrington, Innerkip and Otterville by four hours while the branches in Brownsville, Burgessville, Embro, Mount Elgin and Princeton will be open an additional hour.
Oxford County Library officials introduced the proposal to extend its rural branch library hours during the 2024 municipal budget process. The Rural Community Engagement Survey conducted as part of the budget process in the spring invited residents to provide their thoughts on operating hours for the local branches, as well as the collections, technology offerings, programming and the physical layout of the spaces.
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The survey was not open to users of the Ingersoll and Tillsonburg branches or members of the Woodstock Library system, officials noted.
“More than 600 of our rural library users took the time to share their thoughts on how we could improve services for them,” chief librarian Lisa Marie Williams said in a release. “This feedback is invaluable to understanding how we can support their needs for technology use, learning, creativity and more. The extended rural village hours are first step, but not the only improvements we’ll be making based on community input.”
More information, including the full updated schedule, is available online at www.ocl.net.
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