The Free Library of Philadelphia, located on the intersection between 40th and Walnut St., laid off over 200 people in 2020.
Credit: Kylie CooperPhiladelphia libraries started opening on Saturdays following a multi-year break due to staffing and funding shortages.
Nine Philadelphia Libraries reopened for Saturday hours, including the Walnut Street West Library, located at 201 South 40th St., right on the edge of Penn’s campus. The announcement was made by Free Library of Philadelphia president Kelly Richards and outgoing Mayor Jim Kenney on Nov. 15.
In 2018, due to a lack of funding, the Free Library of Philadelphia had to close over half of its branches on Saturdays. A majority of the libraries reopened for Saturday hours months later but then subsequently shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, the library system laid off over 200 people, which led to most branches being open for only four hours a day, for a few days a week.
Since then, the goal for the system has been to hire more workers and slowly reopen more branches.
“It was pretty bad in the pandemic,” Richards said to The Philadelphia Inquirer. “But as we received the funding and as we started promoting, doing job fairs, people wanted to come work at the library.
Last year, the library system was given a 30% funding increase, and they aimed to hire 300 new librarians.
Richards said she has an “optimistic” timeline for reopening branches, aiming to have all 54 branches resume Saturday hours by January.
“All of the neighborhood library branches will be open on Saturday. So that’s an awesome game changer for the library,” Richards said to Billy Penn.
The Free Library at 40th has been described as a community hub for West Philadelphia residents. In 2012, the library was the most visited branch in the West Philadelphia community. The West Philadelphia Free Library is open Monday and Tuesday from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and closed Sunday.
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