NATCHEZ — A broken air-conditioning unit has temporarily closed the Judge George W. Armstrong Library.

Library director Pam Plummer said she hopes to know by Monday when the city-owned library, located at 220 S. Commerce St., will open again.

“It started warming up last Friday,” Plummer said. “That’s when we found out (the air-conditioning unit) was broken.”

Plummer said broken unit would cost approximately $6,000 to fix, according to a quote from a Jackson air-conditioning company.

That cost will fall on the City of Natchez.

“The city has been repairing the unit over the years,” she said. “It’s to the point now where it just needs to be replaced.”

With temperatures reaching the lower 90s, Plummer said keeping the library open was out of the question.

“It was just unbearable for the staff,” she said.

The library’s heating and cooling system was overhauled in June 2013, repairs that totaled $206,600.

Plummer said she hopes to receive a completely new system next.

“It could take four to six weeks for all the parts to come in,” Plummer said. “We can’t, and we won’t, stay closed for that long.”

The library currently employs nine people. Plummer said only one employee, who works part time, would go without pay while the library is closed.