Library hours under review

Library users have reacted with dismay over proposals to slash opening hours at the Whitehead and Greenisland branches.
By The Newsroom
Published 21st Sep 2011, 14:32 BST

Part of a savings review by Libraries NI, the proposals could see both libraries’ opening hours reduced to just 18 a week.

Catherine Karauzum, who frequently brings her three children to the Whitehead branch, believes the implications would be greatest for the library’s youngest users.

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“All my children are avid readers, but I don’t see how we can encourage children to read when the libraries are hardly open,” she said. “They have spent a fortune on refurbishing the Whitehead branch so we hoped that opening hours would increase.”

With the proposed closure of Whitehead’s only bank scheduled for October, a reduction in the library’s opening hours could be a severe blow to the village, added Ms Karauzum.

“Whitehead is a beautiful village, but there fewer and fewer places to go. I worry that eventually the town will just become empty,” she said.

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