Adara Nichols, 32, sits in a library window seat with two suitcases behind her chair.
She’s been unhoused in Bloomington for two years. She is at the downtown library almost every other day from 3 p.m. until it closes on weeknights at 9 p.m.
She was unaware that beginning Nov. 24, the downtown branch of the Monroe County Public Library would close two hours earlier, at 7 p.m., on weeknights.
Nichols said it would impact her directly, and she’s especially worried about the change occurring at the beginning of the winter months’ harsh weather conditions.
“I would personally feel saddened if it closed two hours early,” Nichols said.
Tori Lawhorn, communications and marketing director at MCPL, said the library’s primary funding source is property taxes, so when Indiana’s Senate Enrolled Act 1 was signed into law April 15, the library was forced to make a change. The law lowered residential property taxes and planned for long-term tax reform, in turn undermining funding for public institutions including libraries and schools.
The library is aware of its role within the local unhoused community, Lawhorn said, and added that there are other local options for those in need. When the library closes at 7 p.m. beginning in November, unhoused patrons won’t have to wait for another resource to open after leaving the library for the night, she said.
Due to SEA 1, the library estimated it would be $350,000 to $375,000 short of its annual budget. Library leaders weighed their options and considered closing a location one day a week, Lawhorn said, but ultimately decided that closing the downtown branch two hours earlier Monday through Thursday would be the best solution for the budget shortfall.
The decision was influenced by the location’s data on library traffic and anecdotal evidence from staff and patrons, Lawhorn said, which showed that usage of the downtown library significantly decreased after 7 p.m.
The other MCPL locations, Southwest and Ellettsville, already close at 7 p.m. during the week, and Lawhorn said the downtown library team had previously considered matching the hours even prior to the property tax changes to allocate resources more efficiently.
As its primary response to budget changes, MCPL will reduce staff by five full-time equivalent positions through attrition over the next three years, as staffing is the library’s highest expenditure. Reducing the downtown location’s hours is a method to make staff reduction easier.
According to Lawhorn, the library’s projected savings between these two strategies is about $360,000, enough to make up for MCPL’s estimated deficit.
Before the library board announced their plan publicly June 18, Lawhorn said they conducted meetings with each staff department in the MCPL system to receive feedback. Though some staff members expressed disappointment, Lawhorn said, “The overwhelming response was they understand."
Lawhorn said the only major worries she heard expressed by patrons are from those who use the branch’s meeting rooms between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on weeknights. About 10% of daily downtown library use is accounted for by meeting room use, Lawhorn said. MCPL provides a list of other meeting places available in Monroe County that is regularly updated by staff.
The downtown branch of the library serves as a study spot for IU students. Senior Vanessa Vasquez studies there often in the evenings after her on-campus activities are complete. She said the free parking at the library makes studying there more accessible for her than at on-campus study locations.
“One of the reasons I come here is because when I drive to school, it’s usually pretty hard to park on campus,” Vasquez said. “I know not everyone’s able to afford a parking pass, so the library is always a good alternative to have somewhere accessible because they have a free parking lot.”
She noted that the library’s collection of textbooks can be useful for IU students, and that the downtown library’s location is more convenient for students on campus than the other two locations, which are both over 10-minute drives from campus, while the downtown branch is about a five-minute walk from the Sample Gates.
“I think it’s also just good to have somewhere off campus, like, you don’t always want to be on campus,” Vasquez said. “Being here is kind of a refresher from everything else, like Wells especially can get really busy.”
Any programs that take place in the downtown library past 7 p.m. on weeknights will be moved to a different MCPL location or to an earlier time of day. Off-site programs will be unaffected by the library’s change in hours and the MCPL eLibrary will still be available around the clock.
“Reducing operating hours is never a desired move for us,” Lawhorn said. “But we do believe that it’s the most appropriate and sustainable adjustment we can make at this time.”
