Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City Council will wait until January to vote on keeping the Salt Lake City Library open 24 hours a day. It would be the first public library to offer the service in the country.
“The library administration requested yesterday that they postpone the vote,” said John Spears, executive director of the Salt Lake City Public Library. “We want to make sure a robust community discussion can happen.”
For a building that sees roughly 3,000 visitors a day, the Salt Lake Public Library is almost like a home away from home for some people.
“Sometimes I have to take a break from my home,” said Jamee Dyches, a recent college graduate, who now works from home. “And so this (the library) is nice because it's a calm quiet environment where I can use my computer and work.”
The types of people who use the downtown library are as diverse as the books and services.
Michael Elisarraras, his girlfriend Alexandria and baby boy Leo like to spend time downstairs in the children’s section.
“Get out of the house,” he said. “Spend some quiet time reading a book or letting him look at stuff.”
Eva Koh is a student from Malaysia who’s been in the U.S. for less than two weeks.
“The library is warm,” she said. “It has Wi-Fi and laptop.”
If the Salt Lake City Council approves the proposal, the first and second levels of the library would be open 24 hours a day.
It would be a two-year pilot project to study the effectiveness to see what the impact is on the library and what the impact is on the community.
–John Spears, executive director of the Salt Lake City Public Library
“It would be a two-year pilot project to study the effectiveness,” said Spears. “To see what the impact is on the library and what the impact is on the community.”
The City Council’s vote would allow the Downtown Alliance, which is working with private groups, to raise roughly $300,000 to fund the project. At this point, Jason Mathis, executive director of the Downtown Alliance, said the groups working to fund the library only have soft commitments in funding.
Library administrators have received negative and positive feedback from people in the community.
“I’m concerned it’d kind of turn this (the library) into a hot spot for trouble and drug trafficking,” said Elisarraras.
Some are concerned about security at night.
“It would be good if they strengthen security around the library,” said Koh. “So that people feel safe when they come here at night.”
Salt Lake police confirm that officers have been included in meetings to address security at the library.
“We want to make sure we can be as responsive as possible to the needs of the community and their concerns,” said Spears.
Once library administrators work out the details of security and other plans for expanded hours, they still have more work to do before the plan moves forward.
“We need to finish community needs assessment,” said Spears. “We would need to hire staff, we need to train staff.”
As for night owls like Jamee Dyches, she welcomes a chance to hang out at the library overnight.
“There've definitely been times where I’ve been like 'hey we should run down to the library’ and it's closed,” she said. “I’d probably be here for play more often.”
The Salt Lake City Public Library's Facebook page has a link to learn more about the pilot program to open 24 hours a day.
