RIVERSIDE REGIONAL LIBRARY EXTENDS HOURS PERMANENTLY

JACKSON -- The director of Riverside Regional20Library says public response to the library's extended hours of operation during January, February and March was "very positive," and the board of directors has decided to make the extra hours20permanent.

During the three-month trial period, the library center in Jackson remained open an extra hour,20from 5-6 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays.

"We're very pleased with the response to the extra hours of operation," said library Director Elizabeth Link. "Many people that came to the library during the extra hour we were open told us they worked until 5 p.m. and did not have time to stop by before closing time. They are very happy to be able to use the library. In addition, we have had a number of people obtain library cards and become new patrons of the library, all because of our extra hours of operation."

The library's new hours of operation are 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. The library's Saturday hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Link said the extra hours are only for the library's Jackson central center at 204 S. Union.

"By remaining open an extra hour on those two days, people who have reserved a library book can stop by and pick it up after work," she said. "The bottom line is the extra hours we are opening allows more people to take advantage of our many library services."

Link said children who live out of town or have activities after school are using the extra hour to study or do homework at the library before going home.

Riverside Regional Library is a full-service library, offering checkout of books and other periodicals, audio cassettes, videotapes, filmstrips, screens, filmstrip projectors and other audio-video equipment.

The library, organized with 7,000 books in 1955 to serve the rural Cape Girardeau, Perry and Scott counties, has a collection of 130,000 items.

In addition to the main center, the library has branches in Scott City, at 608 East Second Street;20Benton, on Highway 61 near the Scott County Courthouse; Oran, on East Railroad Street; Morley, in the community building, Perryville, on North Jackson, and Altenburg, next to the post office.