The doors at both libraries in Pearl River County will stay open longer in order to allow patrons to take full advantage of their services.

This week, the Pearl River County Library System extended its hours at the Margaret Reed Crosby Memorial Library and Poplarville Library.

The Crosby library is open later on Tuesday, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The library was originally open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pearl River County Library System’s Director Carol Phares said they changed the hours to cater to patrons who work during the day.

“We like to call those hours executive hours. We wanted to tailor it to commuters. Many haven’t been able to use the library because we would close earlier. So this will allow them to come to the library after work and bring their children who may need to use the library to do their homework,” Phares said.

The Poplarville Library extended its hours on Tuesday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and plans to reopen on Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The rest of the schedule for both libraries remains unchanged.

Eden Nitcher, head librarian at the Poplarville Library, said the extended hours will help boost circulation.

“Since we’re getting back to being open four days out of the week at the Poplarville Library, that means we’re able to offer our services to the public more and hopefully boost circulation of our materials such as the DVDs, audio books, books and our resources like the learning express and our magnolia database,” Nitcher said.

Phares said they were able to extend the hours mainly due to the reinstatement of previously cut budgetary funds recently approved by the Pearl River County Board of Supervisors.

Last month, the board set the budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year and allocated $222,000 to both libraries, an increase from last year’s $200,000. In July, Phares spoke to the board about the financial woes concerning the county’s two libraries. Phares had requested an additional $27,000 during that meeting to offset rising costs.

While they don’t have enough funds to hire more personnel, Phares said this is a positive step to provide more services to the community.

“We’re anticipating a positive response. Now we’ll be able to accommodate the people that couldn’t use our services before,” Phares said.

The Margaret Reed Crosby Memorial Library is located at 900 Goodyear Blvd. The library is open Monday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The Poplarville Library is located at 202 West Beers St. The library is open Monday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information, contact the Crosby library at 601-798-5081 or the Poplarville library at 601-795-8411.