Mike Hardiman reads a book to Frida the dog during a storytime hour at the Denver Animal Shelter in Valverde. Dec. 17, 2023.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
The Denver Central Library has extended its hours to meet growing community requests.
Denverites can now visit the Central Library on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. While the library will remain closed on Fridays, people can still pick up reserved books from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The extended schedule also includes curbside services every day of the week.
And the change comes even as Denver city workers prepare for upcoming layoffs.
On its official Facebook page, DPL commented that, “while we hoped to expand hours at the Central Library further, uncertainties with the city’s budget and current hiring freeze have made it difficult to do so.”
“We are working closely with the mayor’s office to meet the city budget’s targets,” said Alvaro Sauceda, a communications professional for the Denver Public Library. “But at the moment, we do not have anything else to report or announce.”
The Central Library was closed for 15 months due to the pandemic and renovations, and just fully reopened last November.
The Denver Animal Shelter is also shifting its schedule.
The Denver Animal Shelter is also expanding its adoption hours to weekends to address the rising numbers of surrendered and lost animals.
Starting July 1, adoption-only services will be incorporated on Saturdays and Sundays from 9-11 a.m.
The changes come as the shelter reports taking almost 10,000 animals in 2024, a 13 percent increase from 2023 and “a 45 [percent] increase from the pre-pandemic benchmark of 2019.”
“Clients would come to the shelter later in the day, register, and then find that there wasn’t enough time for them to visit with an adoptable pet because of the large number of people we serve day in and day out,” shelter director Melanie Sobel wrote in a press release. “These additional adoption hours each weekend will give our staff extra precious time to find even more forever homes for our deserving furry friends.”
These new adoption hours have shifted the shelter’s low-cost vaccine clinics to Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
All other services are still available Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
