WASHINGTON - D.C. opened the doors Monday to the new Parklands-Turner Library in Southeast, a facility stocked with 25,000 books, DVDs and CDs.But it comes as the library system cuts hours at other libraries, provoking questions about priorities."This is an interesting time," said Ginnie Cooper, the city's chief librarian. "We build for the future and deal with today." To help reduce an 11-percent budget shortfall, neighborhood libraries will be closed on Sundays and the Martin Luther King JuniorMemorial Library will push back its opening time to noon on Mondays and Tuesdays."Because so much of our budget is made up of staff, and it's staff that allows us to keep the libraries open, we have had some reductions in hours," Cooper said, pointing out the money to build new libraries comes from the capital fund, which is separate from the operational budget. That's why the city spent about 880,000 on the Parklands-Turner library despite cutbacks at other branches.Kim Jones showed up Monday to get a library card, her first in 20 years."I'm thinking about going back to school," she said. "I think this was another step towards that."And for children still in school, the new library offers a chance to read up on any subject they could imagine.Cooper says the Southeast location was chosen because it's not close to any other D.C. libraries and the area has a lot of new housing and new people.The Parklands-Turner library is one of six libraries that are set to open during the 2010 fiscal year. Four of the six will be east of the river.
