By David Nakamura
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 4, 2008; 2:01 PM
The District has found $2 million to keep its public libraries open normal hours and will not be forced to cut service hours as was feared last week, officials said today.
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) said the money will come from savings on payments to the District's debt service on capital projects. Chief librarian Ginnie Cooper said 71 staff position will be restored because of the increased funding.
Cooper had said last week that each of the system's 26 neighborhood branches would be reduced by 15 hours a week, including all of them closing on Fridays. The hours of the system's flagship branch, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, would be reduced by 16 hours a week. In addition, five kiosk libraries slated to close now will remain open.
"This is a signal to our residents that we will make sure we have an excellent library system," Fenty said.
The library system lost 74 employees to an early retirement incentive offered by the District. Fenty administration officials had said many of them would be restored with reserve funds, but the D.C. Council eliminated that money after city finance officials projected a reduction in revenue.
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