SWANNANOA, N.C. (828newsNOW) — The Swannanoa Library will at last reopen after Hurricane Helene forced its closure last fall. However, the storm continues to impact the Buncombe County Public Library system as six of the area’s 12 libraries move to reduced hours of operation.
Swannanoa Library will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday as of Jan. 25. The location will be closed on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
The other impacted libraries are Oakley-South Asheville, which will share a schedule with Swannanoa, and Weaverville, Leicester Branch, Fairview and Black Mountain, which will be closed Sunday to Tuesday.
The highest trafficked libraries in the county, West Asheville, North Asheville, East Asheville, South Buncombe-Skyland, Enka-Candler and Pack Memorial Library, will retain their Tuesday to Saturday hours of operation.
The modifications to the library system were implemented after budgetary losses from Hurricane Helene.
“As Buncombe County shifts priorities from emergency response to recovery, it is vitally important to maintain our cultural assets while balancing fiscal responsibility,” said Assistant County Manager Tim Love in a press release. “While we don’t have a projected timeframe for this new schedule, this is not intended to be a permanent change to operations but will help us get through this period of budget and staffing strain.”
According to a county press release, the scheduling changes were made with as little impact to library staff as possible. All staff will retain their current hours and compensation and on days their libraries are newly closed, staff will be given secondary stations at other locations.
A chart with the new library schedule can be found here.
