Library director reports midyear uptick in visits and recommends adding Sunday hours pending council approval

The Mountain View Library reported rising usage in its midyear performance review on Feb. 3, and the director recommended adding Sunday hours if the city council approves the midyear budget update.

“Just to reiterate, our visits are up about 6 and a half percent. Our new cardholders is up about 2 and a half percent. The study room usage is up about 3%, and then the regular stops, for the bookmobile is up about 3% because we added a day,” Library Director Grama told the board. Grama said the six‑month total visits were about 189,000 and that last year’s total visits were roughly 355,000.

Grama described program and youth‑service growth — early childhood literacy and youth programs are tracking at about 12,000 attendees so far compared with 18,000 for the prior full year — and pointed to targeted social‑media boosts as a reason for higher registration on individual programs. As an example, Grama said a recent hip‑hop program increased from about 13 registrants to roughly 40 after a paid social boost.

The director also flagged supply issues: a book vendor’s temporary closure led to uneven deliveries and slowed how quickly new items reached the shelves. Grama said staff are working with the vendor and expect shipments to stabilize as the vendor hires and catches up.

On staffing, Grama said most librarian positions are filled but the assistant director post is in active recruitment; the city council will consider a midyear budget memo the next night that includes a recommendation to open two additional Sunday hours (proposed 12 p.m.–6 p.m.). Implementing expanded hours would require hiring two additional positions — one librarian to supervise Sundays and a lead security guard — and would proceed only after council approval and successful recruitment.

Grama also described the library’s role during extreme weather and power outages, noting that during a significant outage affecting Mountain View the library served as an emergency site and that staff monitor PG&E outage notices to prepare for visitor surges. With higher visitor volume on weekends, custodial schedules have been adjusted (a dedicated custodian now covers Saturday and Sunday) and the library recently added a nursing‑pod chair after user feedback.

If the city council approves the midyear budget memo, Grama said the library will proceed with recruitment and notify the board when new hours can start; timelines depend on HR capacity and hiring speed.