Say goodbye to leisurely Sunday visits to the library.

The Toronto Public Library staff is proposing to discontinue Sunday service in at least eight neighbourhood branches, among other measures, in an effort to reduce its operating budget by 10 per cent as demanded by Mayor Rob Ford.

It’s also proposing reducing hundreds of weekday hours at many other branches. These recommendations were made public Thursday.

“Sunday and morning services are drastic cuts and will negatively impact us,” said Ward 27 Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam. “It’s a strategic step backwards for the city.”

Closing libraries was suggested by consultant KPMG some months ago. Ford backed down after an unprecedented public outcry led by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. But the mayor left the door open to a reduction in operating hours and other cuts.

Now the cuts are here:

•An almost 30 per cent reduction in the number of hours that neighbourhood branches will be open on Sundays.

•At least 25 neighbourhood branches losing some morning service from Monday to Saturday.

•Nearly 20,000 fewer open hours from Monday to Saturday.

•Two research and reference libraries will lose two mornings each.

•A reduced acquisition budget, meaning more than 106,000 library items won’t now be bought.

These proposed cuts will save about $7.3 million annually.

“I won’t be supporting any cuts to the libraries,” said an angry Ward 30 Councillor Paula Fletcher. “And I hope other councillors will also think of it as a core service.”

She pointed out that by cutting service “we are limiting access of citizens, especially for youth who go there and do their homework or access the internet. People in my ward are going to be angry.”

Fletcher and Wong-Tam, both left-leaning councillors, said that hundreds of Torontonians were clear at the recent executive meetings that they wouldn’t tolerate any cuts to the libraries.

“There has never been an uprising like that,” said Fletcher. “I guess they (library staff) didn’t hear what people said.”

Wong-Tam raised the question of growing lineups for books, computers and other reference material at some branches if specific libraries will be closed on Sundays.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“People will have to travel further and wait longer for what they need at their libraries,” she said, adding that Toronto is adding about 100,000 people to its population annually “but city services are not growing at the same pace.”

These recommendations will now go to the library board, then the city’s budget committee and then council in January.