PICAYUNE — The Pearl River County library board in a press release on Tuesday said the libraries will shave 12 hours at Picayune and 16 hours at Poplarville from the operations.

At Poplarville, the cuts will mean the library at 202 W. Beers St., will be open only two days per week, Tuesday and Thursday, each day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. At Picayune, the library will be open three and one-half days a week.

The drastic cuts in operation were adopted by the library board at its June 28 board meeting only a few days after the Pearl River County board of supervisors cut the funding of the county library system by $50,000 for the last quarter, which is essentially the amount of money the library was to receive from the county in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year.

The county’s fiscal budget year runs from Sept. 30 to Oct. 1, as does the library system’s.

The county, saying it was running out of money for the last quarter of its current budget, made budget cuts on June 25 of $78,000 to government supported entities, including the SPCA and library, which took the deepest agency cuts.

County employees were ordered to take furloughs of one day every two weeks, which was supposed to save $150,000. Total savings from all furloughs and cuts was $278,000, which was still short of a projected $500,000 that the board said it needed to free up in the current budget to make it to Oct. 1, when the new 2012-2013 budget takes effect.

While the county employees took the brunt of the hit, the library’s $50,000 cut last week, coupled with other cuts over a two-year period, has devastated the county library system budget, according to library officials.

And the library officials are expecting more trouble since the amount of money they get from the state is based on the amount of local support the system receives through local governments. If local funding is cut, state funding eventually will be cut, too, library officials said.

After outlining five steps the library board plans to implement, board chairman Dr. James L. Schrock said, “These directives are necessary and may not be enough the closer we get to the end of the budget year. It will be touch-and-go from now to the end of September, as we just try to keep operations going. Further cuts and reductions may become necessary.”

Linda Tufaro, the library system director, after telling employees to begin lining up other jobs, if possible, said, “I want to take this opportunity to personally thank the library patrons all over the county for their many donations of books and materials that have helped us over the last two years.”

She added, “Because of them our libraries have been able to continue to offer at least a portion of the new materials that we can no longer afford to purchase. We are at this point mostly trying to maintain Internet access for job seekers and help for those who are doing various types of research and need help to get it.”

In its press release, the library board said, following its June 28 meeting, that it will implement the following five directives:

— Maintain present functions to get through the children’s summer reading program, which ends on Friday, July 13.

— Purchases, except those absolutely necessary or already in progress, have been canceled. Periodical subscription services have been canceled. Only gift subscriptions will be available.

— Cuts in salaries have been instituted and furlough days have been extended for the remaining staff.

— All utilities will be closely monitored in order to keep the computer systems at a proper temperature as necessary.

— Reduce hours open while trying to give as much variety as possible for the greatest number of library patrons. New hours will go into effect on Monday, July 16.

The new hours at Picayune will be: Monday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Wednesday closed; Thursday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday closed; and Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

New hours at Poplarville are: Tuesday and Thursday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed the remaining days of the week.

Tufaro said the library system receives its funding through the county, City of Picayune, City of Poplarville, and the state. Since the beginning of the fiscal year 2011, the system has absorbed cuts totaling $122,600 from supervisors and has also cut five staff members because of cuts.

She said the state funding will now be cut, too, unless funding from the county is restored.