Knowledge Base: Library Help

This article explains how library opening hours vary across communities in the Northern Lights Library System and provides guidance on how to interpret those hours in context, particularly for school-housed libraries.

The attached spreadsheet shows population, weekly open hours, evening hours, and weekend hours for each member library.

Key Trends in the Data

1. Population strongly correlates with evening and weekend access

In general:

• Larger communities provide more evening and weekend service

• Smaller communities tend to offer fewer evening and weekend hours

• Libraries in mid-sized towns usually operate on a hybrid model

• Urban libraries offer the strongest consistency in after-hours access

As population increases, so does true public availability.

2. School-housed libraries appear as statistical outliers

Seventeen libraries in the system are housed in schools.

These libraries often report:

• High total weekly open hours

• Limited evening service

• Little or no weekend access

Their hours reflect school building access, not a traditional public-library service model.

As a result:

• A library may report 30+ hours per week

• But still offer little availability for the public outside school hours

Without context, these libraries appear over-resourced when compared strictly by hours.

3. Evening and weekend access indicates public usability more than raw hours

Looking only at weekly totals is misleading.

A better measure of community access is:

• Number of evenings open

• Availability on weekends

• Presence of consistent, staffed public time

A 20-hour municipal library with nights and Saturdays can provide more real-world access than a 35-hour school library open only during daytime.

School-Housed Libraries (17)

The following libraries operate within school facilities and should always be interpreted differently when reviewing hours:

🏫 School-Housed Public Libraries

1. Wandering River Women’s Institute Public Library

2. Frog Lake Library

3. Rochester Municipal Library

4. Chauvin Municipal Library

5. Glendon Public Library

6. Grassland Public Library

7. Radway Public Library

8. Lamont Public Library

9. Kitscoty Public Library

10. Andrew Public Library

11. Plamondon Municipal Library

12. Three Cities Public Library (Paradise Valley)

13. Phyllis Craig Legacy Library (Irma)

14. Marwayne Public Library

15. Myrnam Community Library

16. Ashmont Public Library

17. Mallaig Public Library

How to Interpret the Spreadsheet

When evaluating libraries, consider:

• Building type (school vs. municipal)

• Staffing model

• Evening hours

• Weekend hours

• Community population

• Governance model

• Ability to offer independent programming

What the data should be used for:

• System analysis

• Advocacy

• Budget and staffing discussions

• Board education

• Strategic planning

• Identifying access gaps

What the data should not be used for:

• Comparing manager performance

• Ranking libraries

• Drawing conclusions without context

• Making assumptions based on total hours alone