In an effort to better serve the people of Anson County, the Hampton B. Allen Library is changing its hours of operation.
Until recently, the library has closed at noon on Wednesdays in order to stay open later in the evening on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But starting on Monday, March 6, the library will be open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and on Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m.
The change comes as part of the library’s new five-year strategic plan, which was written with the help of Dr. Anthony Chow of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro following a six-month community needs assessment project. Since the adoption of the plan in June 2016, library staff has been monitoring the foot-traffic in the library throughout the day, and found that very few people were taking advantage of the library’s late hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So, a new weekly schedule — suggested by library technician Kit Brewer — was presented to the library’s local advisory board, which voted unanimously to move forward with it.
“I’m thrilled about this,” said Aaron Mehaffey, director of the library. “Not only are we making ourselves more available to the public, but it gives us more opportunities to present new programs, especially when we get closer to Summer Reading.”
The change is also supported by county manager Megan Garner, who approved and reported the change in hours to the board of commissioners during a February meeting.