William Schatz came to the Lancaster Public Library on Monday, as he does about four nights a week, to make revisions on his book about the chemical basis for human emotions.

Eric Briner, a Special Olympics powerlifter, comes to the library nightly to surf the World Wide Web.

Brandon Tennis and Abby Sullivan also use the Internet at the library — but only rarely. Regularly, they check out books.

Monday night, they were shown the door at 8 p.m.

Closing time comes an hour earlier than it did last week. Opening time, at 10 a.m., is an hour later. The library's Mountville and Leola branches also have cut evening hours.

That is due to a 20 percent funding cut to libraries in the state budget passed last month.

A sign inside the door of the library, at 125 N. Duke St., tells patrons to expect longer lines to check out a book and fewer staff to help them.

Staffing at the library has been cut by three full-time positions and seven part-time position. Some of the remaining part-time workers have had their hours cut, said Joyce Sands, the library's interim director."We were just happy not to be cut some more," said Karen Hagler, a computer assistant at the library.

The downtown library is not alone, said Susan Hauer, administrator of the Lancaster County Library System.

"All of the libraries are doing something in terms of cutting staff, cutting hours and cutting collections," said Hauer.

The Ephrata Library recently announced it would be closed on Fridays. The Elizabethtown Library took that action last summer. The county's other public libraries are deciding what actions to take, Hauer said.

The state cut in aid to county libraries totals $700,000 for the current fiscal year, Hauer said. That includes a $98,000 cut to the downtown library, which is the designated district library center for the county, said Sands.

At the downtown library, staff members are still beginning their day at 9 a.m., even if the doors don't open for an hour, Hagler said. They spend that hour shelving books, a duty that was formerly done throughout the day by other staff members.

Despite the impact on staff members, Hagler's concern was for library patrons.

With the downturn in the economy, many people are coming to the library to search for jobs online or learn computer skills to help them get a new job. Others come because they have dropped their home Internet access to save money.

Some people coming to the library to look for work are unfamiliar with computers and the changes in the business environment since they last applied for jobs, said Hagler. Earlier this week, she helped three people in one day apply for jobs via computer. Each had a printed resume but didn't know how to submit it to a potential employer.

The 22 computer stations at the main library are usually all in use, she said. Most computers are designated for use for one-hour periods. Six are designated for 15-minute stints, so people can check e-mail or other items, Hagler said.

"We can't afford to give people longer than that because our lines are so long," she said.

Sands said there were 70,000 computer sessions — in which people used the computer for as much as an hour at a time —!\q last year. The library already has surpassed that number this year. She believes there will be 85,000 to 90,000 uses of the library computers before the year ends.

Libraries across the county are seeing more use, said Hauer. In the last five years, there has been a 38 percent increase in people visiting the library, Library System statistics show.

"I use the library because it's a nice atmosphere," said Schatz, who is living in southern Lancaster city while renovating a house there. "You get to meet a lot of people that you wouldn't ordinarily get to meet."

Schatz's manuscript, "Loving Yourself: The Science of Emotion," is his seventh book, he said. He likes to research material at the library and use the computer to write.

"It should be open all week long," Schatz said.

Sullivan, a nanny, cook and student from Lancaster, said she doesn't access the Internet often, but when she does, it is from the library.

"I don't have the Internet at home, so this is part of my life," Sullivan said. "It's important."

Tennis, an outdoor educator, also prefers the printed word. He comes to the library for books on poetry, cooking and environmental issues.

"I rely on the library to be my Internet," he said.

Briner, who is brought to the library daily, was stoic about the changes.

"I like the old hours, but the way things are today, there is not much you can do about it," Briner said. "I guess we can hope for next year. That's the way state funding is."

The Lancaster County Commissioners in September established a task force to study library funding and propose operating efficiencies. That move was made after the commissioners hinted that library funding cuts were possible in next year's budget. The cuts in the recent state budget make this the second consecutive year in which library funding has been reduced.

bharris@lnpnews.com