As Usage Rises, Libraries Struggle to Stay Open

It's an all-too-familiar cycle in municipal budgeting: the city's on the verge of going broke, officials propose cutting funding to libraries, community members protest. It's happened in countless cities, especially since the onset of the recession. In Philadelphia, the record seems to be skipping: that city's libraries have been the recurring focus of proposed and realized cuts. When officials proposed shuttering 11 of 54 branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia back in 2008, outrage followed, community members pushed back, and eventually the branches were spared. Though the closures were prevented, cutbacks were not. Hours were slashed. And the drama has waged on over the years, with the mayor periodically threatening to close down or severely constrict the city's libraries.

Things are bad in Philadelphia, thought Larry Eichel, project director of the Philadelphia Research Initiative at The Pew Charitable Trusts. But are they this bad everywhere else?