Gorham’s Baxter Memorial Library will be trimming four hours from its regular schedule this fall because of reductions in the budget passed by the Town Council in June.

Seeking public input, library trustees are now conducting a survey to determine which hours to slice.

“We want to know what the people want,” Pam Turner, library director, said this week.

The library’s current hours are Monday 12:30-8 p.m.;

Tuesday and Wednesday, 8:30 a.m.-8 p.m.; Thursday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; Friday 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; and Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

The library is closed Saturdays during the summer. Turner said the reduction in staff hours doesn’t impact the normal summer hours.

The reduced hours will take effect on Monday, Sept. 14. The library hours will be cut from 47 to 43 weekly, Turner said.

The staffing collectively lost 19.5 hours because of a municipal budget cut. The staff includes 13 regular positions, 11 substitutes and 90 volunteers.

Turner said hours of staff members were collectively cut, representing about $17,400 in overall salaries, but there were no library layoffs. “We didn’t lose any people,” Turner said.

The library said in a statement that deciding when to close during the week is difficult, and the library trustees want to keep everyone’s needs in mind. The library has 7,700 registered patrons.

It has circulated in excess of 100,000 items in recent years and in the six-month period ending Dec. 31, 2008, had an overall increase of 7.14 percent.

Last year, the library celebrated its centennial. It was built as gift in 1907 by James Phinney Baxter, who was father of a Maine governor, Percival Baxter. The family’s home, adjacent to the library, also was given to the town by James Phinney Baxter as a museum.

The Baxter Memorial Library Hours Survey 2009 can be filled out online at www.baxterlibrary.org. The survey ends at 11:45 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22.

Paper versions of the survey are available at the Baxter Memorial Library, 71 South St. “We’re trying to best meet the needs of the community,” Turner said.

For more information, call the library at 839-5031.