Montana libraries can be open fewer hours. Dozens aren’t happy about the change.

Montana libraries can now reduce their hours of operation, a move the committee that made the decision says can let libraries use any money they save to bolster things like online services. But some local libraries around the state worry it will embolden community leaders to cut funding. 

The Montana State Library Commission, which decides standards for local libraries, sets the minimum number of required hours a library must be open to receive state aid. For the most part, libraries are funded by local governments, state aid, donations and grants. Some libraries, like Cascade County’s Wedsworth Memorial Library, also make money from avenues like in-house copy machines. 

State funding represented only $70,544, or about 1%, of funding at Billings Public Library in 2024. But smaller, rural libraries rely more heavily on state money. Wedsworth Memorial Library receives about $2,500, about 10%, of its funding from the state. 

On Wednesday, the commission reduced the number of hours a library must be open each week by 30%. For example, libraries serving populations of 25,000 or more would have their standard reduced from 50 hours a week to 35, about five hours a day. The requirement for libraries serving populations of less than 3,500 would be reduced from 15 hours a week to 10.5 hours. The new amendment also introduced more flexibility by changing the metric for determining open hours from a week-to-week standard to an average measurement over time.

“We’re saying, ‘Make your library work. Here’s more freedom,’” Commissioner Tammy Hall said at the Wednesday meeting.

But dozens of the state’s 82 public libraries and 30 public library branches signed on to public comments opposing the measure by the end of a public comment period in November. (One library director submitted a comment in favor of the proposal.) 

Barbara Hvizdak, a trustee of Lincoln County Library in northwestern Montana, said in an interview that local officials might cite the reduced minimum number of hours as a justification to cut local funding, which makes up a larger portion of budgets. For example, that’s about 81% in Billings and 97% for the Wibaux County Library in eastern Montana.

“They can point their fingers at that and say, ‘You only have to be open 32 hours,'” Hvizdak said. “Fewer open hours would mean less demand for staff. And that means our employees will look for employment somewhere else.”

But commission members in favor of the change believe it would empower libraries to improve their online resources by boosting money available for those services and enable rural libraries to adapt to their community’s needs. Other commission members cited declining library visits as a reason to decrease minimum hours.

Statewide, Montana libraries recorded 3.2 million visits in 2024, down 32% from 4.7 million in 2014. The number of Montanans with a library card has also declined, from 48% in 2014 to 35% last year.

Commissioner Carmen Cuthbertson, in arguing for the change, highlighted that 89% of Montana libraries already exceed the current standard for hours they operate. 

“We even add a recommended column to let librarians know what the state library actually thinks is ideal. So we are absolutely absolutely not telling them to go down to the minimum, but we are obligated to create a minimum standard by law and that’s what we’re doing with this,” Cuthbertson said at the meeting. “And the fact that almost 90% of libraries exceed the minimum anyways, I really think that this is a non-issue.” 

Hvizdak believes statistics about declining visitation played an outsized role in the decision-making process.

“It does not reflect what actually takes place in a library,” Hvizdak said.

Eric Dietrich contributed to this reporting.