Wednesday, January 13, 2010

St. Paul Residents Love Their Libraries

(Except for Monday, no evening hours.)

Link to January 2 Star-Tribune article, "St. Paul keeps libraries open amid budget, staff shortages".

Excerpt: St. Paulites are pretty passionate about their libraries.

When a proposal to shut down the Hamline Midway branch surfaced in 2009, a community uproar kept the doors open.

When Mayor Chris Coleman proposed cutting the library's 2010 budget by 6.7 percent, the City Council lessened the blow at the last minute to 4.8 percent.

When the economy turned sour, more people turned to the library.

While the
St. Paul Public Library continues to keep its doors open to all, the civic institution has been going through a transformation. That has meant dealing with a leaner budget, fewer employees and an explosion in digital technology that presents both challenges and opportunities in fulfilling a century-old mission: to provide free public education.

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