Link to July 4 Philadelphia Inquirer article, "Lower funding follows last year's 20% cut. Libraries feel pain of 9% less from Pa."
Excerpt: In recent years, libraries have coped with repeated rollbacks in funding by reducing hours and staff, charging small fees for borrowing movies and CDs, and scaling back on book-buying and special programs, such as the popular children's story time.
Now, librarians say, they will have to pare even more while library use is higher than ever - thanks in large part to the economy.
In city and suburbs alike, people line up at library computers to job-hunt or apply for aid. Statewide, visits to libraries are up 11 percent this year, computer use up 19 percent, and circulation up 9 percent, said Glenn Miller, executive director of the Pennsylvania Library Association.
But thanks to reductions in state aid, Miller said, "we're hanging on by a thread."
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