The Library Stays Open Late

Starting next month the Willowbrook branch library will stay open until eight on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The two extra hours are paid for, at least through spring, by the Friends of the Library bake sale, which raised more in one Saturday than it had in the previous three years combined.

Nobody is entirely sure why. The organizers point to the pies. The treasurer points to the weather, which was the first dry Saturday after a wet month. The head librarian points to a sign that said 'Every pie is one more evening with the doors open', which turned out to be a promise people wanted to keep.

The late hours are aimed at parents who work until five and children who need a quiet table for homework. The children's room will stay staffed. The coffee machine, which has been broken since the summer, will not, though a volunteer has offered to look at it.

If the evenings are used, the board says it will look for a way to keep them after spring. If they are not, it will be one more good idea that a bake sale paid for and a town forgot to use. We would rather report the first.