Library and 3-1-1 Hours to be Cut Back on Sunday

Photo by Gibson Claire McGuire Regester via Flickr

Photo by Gibson Claire McGuire Regester via Flickr
Sunday marks a big day of transition for Los Angeles, thanks to the city's budget shortfall. Both the Library and the city's 24-hour operator service shorten hours.

Libraries will begin a five-day-a-week schedule on Sunday, which begins the weekly closure on Sundays and Mondays. Hours at the 73 libraries throughout the city on the Tuesday-through-Saturday schedule will vary, and are listed here (.pdf).

3-1-1 will shut down on 10 p.m. Sunday, changing over from 24-hour service to 15-hour service. The operator center will then be be open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. "Right now we're really, really tight [with funding]," explained Roger Fernandez, who heads up the service for the city's Information Technology Agency. He said that call volume has gone up but staffing has gone down, so instead of keeping a slim staff around all day long, frustrating all callers with long wait times, he's putting more resources into the day, when call volume is at its peak.

Callers during after hours will be prompted by an instant voice response system. Through a series of choices, users can get connected live operators in different departments for traffic, power, animal services, non-emergency police, streets/trees and an option for city employees have issues with city cars.

3-1-1 handles about 1.8 million calls a year. "We see this just as a temporary measure," said Fernandez, who hopes when the economy picks up, the call center will go back to 24 hours.