Starting next month, the McCleary Timberland Regional Library branch will be open 365 days per year.

The branch will begin testing a service called Open Plus on Feb. 2, when it will be available to patrons until 8 p.m.

The library will more than triple its available hours from 27 per week to 91 per week. It also will be open seven days a week. The library will be staffed the same 27 hours per week once Open Plus expands available times.

“Every time we survey our patrons, the number one request is for increased open hours,” Corby Varness, the Grays Harbor County representative to the TRL board, said in an email. “Open Plus has been very successful in other communities.”

Cameras and a keypad have been installed to track who’s using the library and to watch for problems. A large portion of the expenses for this project, including equipment and product subscription, is being funded by Bibliotecha, which markets Open Plus. The McCleary Open Plus test will serve as an example for the company, which has offices in Minnesota and Georgia, along with in 20 other countries.

Patrons 18 years old and older will have to opt in to the Open Plus system to use the library during off hours. They have to agree to the rules (no letting other people in is a big one). Children will be allowed as long as a parent or guardian is with them and has signed up to be responsible for the children.

McCleary branch manager Karen Kienenberger knows that the expanded hours will be valuable to patrons. Currently, the library is open four days a week. When Open Plus goes into effect, the library will be accessible from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

“There is a speaker that does automatic announcements telling patrons they are closing,” Kienenberger said. “Somebody from the administration will be monitoring the cameras at closing” to make sure everybody leaves.

And Kienenberger has been getting positive feedback.

“There has been a lot of interest,” she said. Patrons can sign up beginning Feb. 2.

People at closing will need to leave and come back in to track who is using the library during the expanded hours. The cameras will not be on during regular business hours.

The Winlock branch also will test the Open Plus system, though no date was set for the Winlock test to begin.

Kienenberger said that a library in Vancouver, Washington, “reports great success” with a similar system.

There has been one hiccup already. The keypad will be lowered to allow easier access to all patrons.

Computer system updates, which are done on holidays, could interfere with patrons’ use of computers during the expanded hours. Library staff expect to post notice when this is being done.

Library employees also expect more of a celebration in early March for the start of the system in McCleary.

This article has been changed to correct that cameras will not be on during regular business hours and that the staff will continue to work the same hours.

McCleary Library Manager Karen Kienenberger discusses the changes coming to the Timberland Regional Library branch when it becomes a test site for the Open Plus system, which will allow patrons to enter the library and use its services during expanded hours when the branch would otherwise be closed. Picture taken Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019, in McCleary. Michael Lang | Grays Harbor News Group