UPDATED: Germantown Public Library Extends Hours

UPDATED — After two years of operating on a reduced schedule,  will be open later during the week, Montgomery County officials announced Monday. 

Beginning Sept. 16, five branches — Germantown, Bethesda, Quince Orchard, Rockville Memorial and Wheaton — will extend weekday hours to 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, according to county officials. 

The libraries’ Friday and Saturday hours, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., will remain the same.

Also, Sunday hours will be extended to noon to 5 p.m. at Germantown and seven other branches, including Gaithersburg’s interim Lakeforest Mall site and Rockville Memorial Library, county officials said.

According to Montgomery County spokeswoman Bonnie Ayers, library hours were cut during the 2011 fiscal year, when the county library budget was trimmed to $28.9 million — a reduction of 23 percent or $8 million.

Ayers said a funding boost enabled the county to restore the libraries' operating hours. The library budget for 2013 was $31.4 million.

Restoring the hours cost the county $663,190, according to figures provided by Ayers.