The Wareham Free Library was curiously devoid of children Tuesday evening. For the second straight week, there were no children at the Teddy Bear Storytime, a children's event in the Library's summer reading program.

“We used to do a Teddy Bear Storytime, so it’s bringing it back for the families who may be working,” said Marcia Hickey, Wareham librarian. “It’s after supper, and things are quieting down. We’re trying to reach another audience of people who haven’t made it to the library.”

In an effort to garner more awareness of the library’s summer programs, library officials have created signs that read, “I’m A Library Hero.” She said that when the library first started facing budget cuts, residents and businesses put up signs rallying to save the library.

“It really made a difference, because people would come into town and they would see the signs all over,” Hickey said.

Over the past couple years, the library has seen budget cuts and decertification, causing severely reduced hours and staff. Beginning this summer, the library’s new budget has allowed the Wareham Free Library to stay open longer on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and reopened the Spinney branch, extending the library’s total open hours from 18 hours per week to 29 hours per week.

“Before, when we closed at 4:30 p.m., it prevented a lot of kids from coming because parents were working,” Hickey said, “Extending it to 7 p.m. now means that more of these working families can come here, especially for the school-age kids who need a book for a project.”

Hickey said the library is “pleased with our new hours. And even at the Spinney branch, there have been more people coming.”

The librarians have learned to be economical and efficient in the face of reduced hours and money constraints and maximize any advantage they have. In order to use the new hours to their full advantage, the librarians have decided to do prep work during open hours.

“We’re hectic from the beginning, but it gives the patrons more hours,” Hickey said.

Hickey acknowledged that the times are changing and the demand for digital material has increased. Though the library has kept up with this demand, she also said the children learning to read need physical books, too, and that the library uniquely fulfills this need.

“The research shows this. I know there are all these wonderful apps on your iPads now … but kids need to be able to pore over books,” Hickey said. “They need to know what’s upside-down, and what’s not. A tablet just flips it for them.”

Hickey said that, frankly, the library not being open for longer, and thereby offering more learning time to the children of Wareham, was a shame. She said not having the library open for longer periods of time shows a lack of concern for the education of Wareham children, and that families feel as though the town is cheating their kids out of the best education possible.

“I know a lot of those families that have taken those kids out [of the Wareham School District],” Hickey said. “There was one family – their son graduated from first grade going on to second grade, and [his mother] told me she is pulling her son out, and sending him to Bourne.”

Hickey hopes the library’s sign effort will generate positive change in the town.

“This is a positive thing. That’s what we are trying to show our town leaders. We are trying to promote that the library is back in business,” Hickey said. “We are here for the families. We are doing our best.”