After utilizing a drive-up service and opening for limited hours because of the pandemic, the Honey Brook Community Library will resume its normal hours starting on Monday, March 15.

Days and hours of operation will be Mondays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The library is closed on Sundays. For patrons who are uncomfortable coming into the building, curbside pickup will still be available.

"Each board decides its own hours according to their community needs. Some libraries (in the Chester County Library System) are on regular hours and some are on restricted hours," noted library director Jennifer Spade. "We are doing it to coincide with the time change because there are longer daylight hours for people to come out in the evenings."

"We are at the point where we are ready to open for our regular hours," she added, noting that masks and social distancing are required of all library visitors.

The weekly session of story time will continue to be offered live on Facebook. The spring session will start on Wednesday, April 7, at 10 a.m. Children may watch live or at any time after each week's program is posted.

"If May is a warm month, we will try to move story time outside in the pavilion," Spade said.

Spade also provided an update about the library's capital campaign goal for its planned expansion. "We have raised $87,188 toward our goal of $600,000 to begin building," she reported. "We will be adding a community room, new children's area and more space in the adult area for more books."

The money raised so far has come from Honey Brook Township and community patrons. "People have been really giving, and most people are very excited and ask how much we are up to in donations," Spade said. "Donations have been strong even through the pandemic."

The expansion project also includes adding windows for natural lighting, relocating the Friends' book boutique, expanding the restrooms and developing a local history section dedicated to Honey Brook.

According to the architect's sketches, the expanded library will have a U shape and the main entrance of the library will move from the front of the building on the Route 10 side to the back of the library. On the left part of the U will be the community room, which will hold about 70 people. The existing library will be the section for adults, and the new section on the right side of the U will be the children's section.

Spade hopes to raise enough money through the capital campaign to apply for a Keystone Grant. "We need to have in our account $300,000 to apply this year," she said. "We are almost a third of the way there."

Honey Brook Community Library is located at 687 Compass Road (Route 10), Honey Brook. For more information about the expansion or contributing to the capital campaign, readers may contact Spade at 610-273-3303 or jspade@ccls.org. More information about library activities is available by visiting http://www.honeybrooklibrary.org or searching for "Honey Brook Community Library" on Facebook.