Heat (Map) of Summer Library Hours

Did you know that some library locations change their hours in the summer? When school is out, summer reading is in full swing, and many people’s routines shift, it can be beneficial for libraries to adjust their hours in response. In addition to changing weekly schedules, there may also be instances when some libraries open as cooling shelters outside of normal operating hours.

In Colorado, around 14% of library locations reported that their weekly public service hours varied in 2024. The Public Library Annual Report tracks how many total hours libraries are open per week, how many evening and weekend hours open, and the general schedules of each library location. Of the 40 Colorado public library locations that reported varying weekly hours, nine provided us with two different weekly schedules depending on the season. In this post, we will focus on the schedules of these nine libraries to determine when they’re generally open, when they’re less likely to be open, and what scheduling adjustments they’re making during the summer. Of course, libraries are also full of activities outside their regular hours for activities like teen nights or special presentations. The PLAR doesn’t capture the time that goes into all these unique services, but it can give us a baseline of operating hours. To compare these baseline regular and summer schedules, we’ll use a type of chart aptly named for this time of year: a heat map…

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