Since Jefferson County voters approved a tax increase last year to give libraries an extra $8 million to work with, residents have responded — attendance and programming is up throughout the library system.

“We’re definitely seeing a great community response to our improved services,” said Rebecca Winning, spokeswoman for Jefferson County Public Library.

So far this year, the library has issued more than 14,000 new library cards and in-person visits have risen 7 percent over last year. Additionally, the library has increased its programming 24 percent and program attendance is up 11 percent.

An increase in hours possibly has had the biggest impact as most libraries have lengthened their days and are open from 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and also are open longer on weekends. For a complete list of hours for the county’s 10 libraries, visit jefferson.lib.co.us/locations.

Last year, most libraries closed by 5 or 6 p.m. at least three days per week, often causing families to scramble to get there after work or finding other means for getting books or videos.

“I think if you look at our most common complaint, it was hours. Some people just gave up on us,” Jefferson County Public Library executive director Pam Nissler said.

Nissler noted that the uptick in patrons and services was expected after the tax increase and the money is helping the libraries catch up to its peers. She added that the system had fallen behind due to budget constraints as a mill levy increase for libraries in the county hadn’t passed since 1986.

“It really did confirm our belief about improving services and what would happen,” she said.

Along with the improved services, the library has spent twice as much money this year on books and materials to stay up to date and retire old copies if necessary. This expands beyond books and DVDs and also includes online-training applications, consumer reports and offering free state park passes. The library has also expanded its bandwidth for better Internet service.

Programming has always been a big draw for every Jeffco library with reading time for toddlers and infants and computer classes for adults. With the expanded hours, more programs have been offered, allowing people more flexibility and actually decreasing event sizes while still increasing overall attendance.

“We used to cram a lot of business into limited hours. Now we can spread things out a bit and work with and spend more time with customers,” said Debby Ridgell, patron experience supervisor at the Golden library.

Ridgell also created a do-it-yourself program at the library with formal workshops on a wide variety of topics ranging from aerodynamics to cutting patterns in candles. If the program is successful, it could expand to other libraries.

Mary Vautin visited the Golden library last week and said she’s increased her visits to libraries since hours expanded and programming increased. She is now able to bring her baby to a story time every day if she can, rather than once a week.

She frequently visits Golden, Standley Lake and Arvada libraries and checks out DVDs more frequently, noticing there is a better selection. She also likes that they have more toys around for children.

“It seems like they’re getting more things for kids to play with,” she said.

The library is also reaching out to its Spanish-speaking customers by ensuring that they always have an employee on staff who speaks Spanish every hour the library is open.

“We’re providing better service to our community. We have more people available to assist with research and help with computer questions,” Ridgell said.

Moving forward, Nissler said the library will plan to update each of its libraries every 10 years as was done in the past. In recent years, the library hasn’t been able to afford that kind of rotation. The Golden library was remodeled last year and Columbine is next on the list for updates.

“It’s just exciting to be able to provide services that our peer libraries have been providing,” Nissler said. “We’re catching up and that feels very good.”