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Nine Chicago Public Libraries To Begin Sunday Hours This Weekend

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Nine library branches across the city will be open on Sundays starting this weekend, the first step towards Mayor Lori Lightfoot's plan to have Sunday hours at every library in the city by next fall.

Calling the city's libraries an "intrinsic part of every neighborhood," the mayor said they are more relevant than ever, providing not only a place for people to check out books, but for people who are unemployed to search for jobs on the Internet, and for children to learn and have fun outside of school.

"Ensuring every resident has the opportunity at their fingertips to be whoever or whatever they want to be; that is how we fully unlock the talent that exists across Chicago, and makes sure that our city, as a whole, has the opportunity to take part in the richness and greatness of the city," she said.

Starting Dec. 22, nine branch libraries will be open on Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.:

  • Portage-Cragin, 5108 W. Belmont Av.;
  • Northown, 6800 N. Western Av.;
  • Dunning, 7455 W. Cornelia Av.;
  • Little Italy, 1336 W. Taylor St.;
  • Toman, 2708 S. Pulaski Rd.;
  • Hall, 4801 S. Michigan Av.;
  • Whitney Young, 415 E. 79th;
  • West Pullman, 830 W. 119th;
  • and Chicago Lawn, 6120 S. Kedzie Av.

The only current libraries that are open on Sundays are the Harold Washington Library Center – the city's main library; two regional libraries, Sulzer and Woodson; and three branch libraries – Austin, Richard M. Daley, and Douglass – which are already open on Sundays while the new Legler Regional Library on the West Side is under construction.

The mayor said, by next fall, the city expects to have every branch library open on Sundays.

"For Chicago to thrive, we have to have all of our residents – especially our young people – connected to rich, engaging, and safe environments where they can be empowered to explore their passions and talent," Lightfoot said.

Sunday hours at the city's libraries will be funded by an $18 million property tax hike the City Council approved as part of the mayor's 2020 budget plan.

Chicago Public Library Commissioner Andrea Telli said she was "incredibly proud" of the library system's accomplishments over the past year, including eliminating late fines for overdue materials, partnering with the Chicago Housing Authority to open public housing facilities with their own libraries, and breaking ground on Legler Regional Library, the first regional library on the West Side in 40 years.

"The core mission of public libraries is to provide free and equitable access to information, experiences, and resources. So, of course, why shouldn't that access be available seven days a week? Every hour a library is open is an hour where a new reader, a new resident, or a lifelong learner can experience – as Mayor Lightfoot has called – the magic of libraries," Telli said.

Sunday hours at the rest of the city's libraries will be rolled out in waves each quarter of next year, spread out over the entire city.

"We just want to make sure that there isn't any one area of the city that's very saturated with Sunday hours and one area of the city that is an information desert, so to speak. So we're going to try to roll out the opening of libraries very equitably across our three districts, across the entire city from north to south," Telli said.

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