The Hall County Library Board approved the library system’s 2010 furlough schedule at its meeting Tuesday.

The library system was included in across-the-board cuts made by the Hall County Board of Commissioners to balance the budget for 2010.

Furlough days are used to reduce personnel expenses without layoffs.

Adrian Mixson, director of Hall County Libraries, said the schedule was difficult to arrange because the system employs local and state employees with different furlough requirements.

There are four library employees who are paid by the state of Georgia. Those employees will take their furlough days when the libraries are open. Because there are so few state employees, operations will continue as normal.

Local employees will follow a furlough schedule similar to Hall County employees.

There are a few differences, such as Presidents Day, which the libraries traditionally use as a training day.

The libraries will close on the 10 furlough days, which fall around holidays throughout the year.

Even the book returns will be closed, Mixson said.

"If we don’t, those returns will be overflowing. There will be books on top of the returns; they’ll get rained on," Mixson said. "I have to staff book returns."

Mixson said one of his biggest concerns about furlough days is on-call employees.

Some of the furlough days will fall in December around Christmas, when winter weather can cause problems.

"My issue is how to respond to emergencies," Mixson said. "I worry about frozen pipes, broken water lines, fallen trees ... in the case of a furlough day, you’re furloughed."