Lucy Raulston reaches for a book on the shelf at the Rossville Public Library on Tuesday, June 5, 2012, in Rossville, Ga. Raulston has been a member at the library since 1961 and said that reading is her biggest hobby.Cherokee Regional Library cutbacks
• Libraries will cut back to 30 hours per week and likely will be closed Mondays and Wednesdays.• Three employees will be laid off.• Three will lose health insurance.• Nine will have their hours reduced.
LaFAYETTE, Ga. — After July 1, the Cherokee Regional Library’s branches in the Georgia cities of LaFayette, Chickamauga, Rossville and Trenton will be open only 30 hours a week.
The reduced hours will most likely mean that all four libraries are closed Mondays and Wednesdays — though that hasn’t been decided.
Three employees will lose their jobs, three will lose health benefits and nine will have their hours reduced.
The library board approved the cuts Tuesday after an $83,000 budget shortfall caused by an increase in state health insurance costs and a reduction in funding from the Walker and Dade county school districts.