Cuts in Library Hours Are Announced

Although they were spared the chopping block during the recent county budget deliberations, the East, Northeast Cobb and East Marietta branches of the Cobb County Public Library System will be open fewer hours starting next week.

Reduced operating hours for all Cobb branches were announced on Wednesday.

The Mountain View Regional Library in Northeast Cobb was not part of the original proposed cuts, but it also will have reduced hours.

Starting Monday, the regional branch on Sandy Plains Road near Shallowford Road will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Wednesday and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday to Saturday. Its current hours are from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The East Cobb branch will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. The current hours for the location at the Parkaire Landing Shopping Center are from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The new hours for the East Marietta branch on Lower Roswell Road near Sewell Park will be from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday. The current hours have been from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Although the changes are effective Sunday, the first day with the new hours will be Monday because no branches are open Sunday. That now includes the Cobb Central Library in downtown Marietta, which had been the only branch with Sunday hours. 

Both the East Cobb and East Marietta branches were among 13 proposed for closure this month by Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee as the county grappled to close a $31 million deficit. After a large outpouring of support for the libraries, he revised his deficit plan to include 10 percent across-the-board cuts in all government departments and went without a tax increase.