Jennifer Rodriguez, 7, and Miguel Gonzalez, 8, use a computer after school at the Cesar Chavez library in Oakland, Calif. Plunging tax revenue is forcing libraries across the country to close and cut staff, while e-readers and the Internet can make a library seem quaint as a place to find a book or do research.
Associated PressBy KRISTEN WYATT
Associated Press
DENVER – A century after the nation’s library building boom, public libraries are under siege: plunging tax revenues are forcing closures and staff cutbacks, while e-readers and the Internet can make a library seem quaint as a place to find a book or do research.
Yet amid severe cutbacks, libraries are finding novel ways to generate money and are rebranding themselves as crucial employment resources for people without computers and as community gathering places that cannot be easily replaced.
“If there’s any silver lining in the downturn for libraries, it’s that it has really forced us to look at new ways of doing business,” said Audra Caplan, president of the Public Library Association, a division of the American Library Association. “We can’t depend solely on tax dollars anymore.”