Endangered Library

Even when I was a kid, I loved libraries. When I spent days with my Aunt Helen, and those times corresponded to the bookmobile stopping in a nearby church parking lot, we always went. I always had books checked out from my school libraries, and I visited the bookmobile when it came by there, too. While my mother did the usual summer activity things such as take us to the pool or park, my favorite outings were to the library in Moundsville.

As I might have mentioned before, I was - and still am - a book nerd. I worked for the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library from 1989 to 1996, and for the Anoka County Library in 1997-98. Buying books is expensive, and since I read 3-5 books a week, there is no way I could finance (or house) enough books to feed my appetite for fiction without the public library system. I love the 24-hour online access to the library catalog, and the ability to place holds and renew items from home. I need my library.

This is why what is currently happening in Philadelphia has me almost beside myself. Barring some sort of massive emergency funding in the next two weeks, the Free Library of Philadelphia will be closing on October 2. All 54 local, regional and central libraries. The entire library system.

No more books. No more newspapers, magazines, or DVDs. No more free Internet access. No more GED or English Language classes. No more literacy programs. No more computer classes, story times, or after school programs. No more job-search assistance.

Gone. There just isn't any more money.

The first public library system in the country was in Philadelphia. Benjamin Franklin founded it in 1731. And it will cease to exist on October 2 unless they can find a way to secure a whole lot of cash very quickly.

What I can't understand is why there isn't more of an outcry over this. When I started looking for news articles and blogs on the subject, there was surprisingly little. Don't people care? Doesn't anyone see what a cultural and intellectual disaster is about to take place? Is it that residents somehow know that this is all a ploy to put politicians' feet to the fire and force them to find a source of funding, and that there will be an 11th-hour reprieve? I hope so. I hope they know something that isn't being widely reported outside the Philadelphia area. I hope the library continues to exist, providing free resources to the public. I can't imagine not having access to a library, and I'm sure there are plenty of people in Philadelphia who feel the same way.

Whoever you are, wherever you are, please support your own library systems. Enjoy their resources, support their programs, buy their discarded books, donate your own gently-used books, and volunteer if you are able.

If the oldest library system in the nation can face extinction, whose libraries are next?

Not mine. I hope.

(UPDATE: An excellent article on the Philadelphia Weekly website. Take a look.)