Berryessa Branch Library will no longer be open Sundays. Effective July 6, Sunday hours ended at the Berryessa library at 3355 Noble Ave. as well as most City of San Jose libraries due to citywide budgetary cutbacks.
San Jose City Council adopted the city's $2.7-billion budget on June 24, which had an estimated $29.6-million general fund shortfall.
Among the concessions to balance the city's budget this year, was eliminating hours at most San Jose libraries.
Only two San Jose libraries will keep their Sunday hours: The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library at 150 E. San Fernando St., and the Tully Community Branch Library at 880 Tully Road.
Through most of August, those two libraries will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. On Aug. 25, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, which shares library system resources with San Jose State University, will see the expanded academic year schedule take effect, with Sunday hours from 1 to 7 p.m.
Ned Himmel, the city's assistant library director, said the San Jose library system will need to absorb $250,000 in annual cutbacks, which include reductions to library supplies and services.
"No one lost his or her job, but (work hours) were reduced for a number of people," he said.
Himmel said the loss of Sunday hours will affect the San Jose library system, which has a $29.2-million budget this year.
"I think it impacts the public because they will either have to go to the main library or to Tully," he said.
However, he said any other cuts should not be visible to patrons of the San Jose library system, which boasted about 14.4 million in items checked out last year.
Berrryessa Branch Library's regular hours are Monday, 2 to 7 p.m.; Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For more information on City of San Jose library, call 808-2000 or visit www.sjlibrary.org. To contact the Berryessa Branch Library, call 808-3050.
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