Elizabethtown Public Library is struggling to balance its books in the wake of ongoing funding cuts that, officials fear, will get even worse next year.
"We are already talking about where we are going to cut hours," executive director Deborah Drury Beisell said Tuesday.
"We're looking at cutting Saturday hours, or possibly eliminating Wednesday hours. We haven't made a solid decision — it depends on when people most need the library."
The Elizabethtown library, at 10 S. Market St., cut Friday hours in 2008, a move being mirrored this month at the Milanof-Schock Library near Mount Joy.
"It's the same story all around the county," Beisell said.
The problem, she said, lies in funding reductions at the state and county levels — a drop of about $25,000 this year — as well as reduced income locally from fees, fines and fundraising.
"While we all hate library fines when we get them, it's also a substantial part of the revenue on which the library operates," she said.
Library officials are still waiting to hear how they fared in municipal budgets from their service area. Besides Elizabethtown Borough, the Elizabethtown library serves Conoy and West Donegal townships and portions of Mount Joy Township.
"Our municipalities are really committed to library services in the Elizabethtown area," Beisell said. "I know they'll do whatever they can."
Calls made to two borough officials were not returned Tuesday afternoon.
She's also hoping residents who use the library will respond generously to the organization's annual fundraising campaign.
"The high demand for services and the challenging economy has made this a challenging budget year," Beisell said. "Gifts of all sizes will help the library end the year in the black and start 2010 on the right track."
Nearly 60 percent of library funding comes from local donations, she said.
The library has an annual operating budget of nearly $600,000, Beisell said. Total funding dropped by about $80,000 in 2009 and is expected to drop another $111,000 in 2010.
In Harrisburg, for instance, the state budget for 2010 cuts public library funding by 27 percent.
Meanwhile, Beisell said, use of library services is rising at an incredible rate.
"Some of our services have increased 20 percent. Circulation is up about 8 percent," Beisell said. "The demand has gone to a whole new level."
People who used to buy books or who had Internet service at home are now relying on the library for free reading materials and Web access, she said.
"More people are coming to the library, and that's a positive thing," she said. "More people are interacting with each other."
At the same time, fixed costs — such as the price of electricity — are rising.
That leaves the library looking for ways to further cut hours of operation, employee hours, new purchases for the collection and community programs, Beisell said.
"If each person or business does what it can to help, the whole community benefits," she said.