Monday, September 14, 2009

Philly Free Library System Is Kaput

Cory Doctorow over at BoingBoing has the sad news - the Philadelphia Free Library System is out of money, and it's being shut down. All of it.

This includes "all branch and regional library programs, programs for children and teens, after school programs, computer classes, and programs for adults" and "all children programs, programs to support small businesses and job seekers, computer classes and after school programs" and "all library visits to schools, day care centers, senior centers and other community centers" and "all community meetings" and "all GED, ABE and ESL program."

That's just lousy. I can't think of many entities that give broader access to information resources at a lower cost than libraries, especially for segments of our population that often have scant resources available in the first place.

Doctorow sums it up nicely:

Picture an entire city, a modern, wealthy place, in the richest country in the world, in which the vital services provided by libraries are withdrawn due to political brinksmanship and an unwillingness to spare one banker's bonus worth of tax-dollars to sustain an entire region's connection with human culture and knowledge and community.

Think of it and ask yourself what the hell has happened to us.

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