Donations to Boost Hours at 5 Libraries

With a major contribution from the city of Ventura and smaller donations from private groups, five county libraries will be open longer hours each week starting Tuesday.

The biggest change will occur at the H. P. Wright Library in mid-town Ventura, which will operate 12 additional hours each week. On Mondays and Wednesdays, the library will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. And on Saturdays, it will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed on other days.

In downtown Ventura, the E. P. Foster Library will be open an additional six hours each week. Under the new schedule, the branch will operate from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

The Avenue Library, Ventura’s smallest branch, will open at 1 p.m. on Mondays, one hour earlier than the current schedule.

The library also will be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays and from 2 to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

In other communities, the Camarillo and Oak Park libraries also are expanding their schedules.

The Camarillo branch will open two hours earlier on Wednesdays, operating from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. On Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, it will continue to operate from noon to 8 p.m., and on Saturdays, the doors will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In Oak Park, the library will now be open on Saturdays from 1 to 5 p.m.

The longer hours at the Ventura libraries were made possible by a $145,000 contribution by the city of Ventura and donations from the Make a Difference Day campaign.

The Camarillo Newcomers Club donated $2,500 to the city’s branch, and the Triunfo Sanitation District gave $7,000 to the Oak Park library to pay for the longer hours and to purchase books relating to water.