A moment of silence for the untimely demise of Philadelphia's Free Libraries.
.............
As posted on their website, the FLP will be closing the doors of all branches as of October 2, 2009 as a result of a so-called "lack of funding."
An open letter to all FLP patrons reads:
"All Free Library of Philadelphia Customers,
We deeply regret to inform you that without the necessary budgetary legislation by the State Legislature in Harrisburg, the City of Philadelphia will not have the funds to operate our neighborhood branch libraries, regional libraries, or the Parkway Central Library after October 2, 2009."
The mind boggles. How can the wealthiest nation in the world NOT afford to contribute to the education of its citizens? See Cory Doctorow's amazing rant over at Boing Boing for a little catharsis, and ponder on this:
"Picture an entire city, a modern, wealthy place, in the richest country in the world, in which the vital services provided by libraries are withdrawn due to political brinksmanship and an unwillingness to spare one banker's bonus worth of tax-dollars to sustain an entire region's connection with human culture and knowledge and community."
Unbelievable.
2 comments:
p.s. if you'd like to be a proactive librarian, go to http://www.library.phila.gov/about/actionnow.htm to find out how you can protest this...we're gonna say it...idiocy!
If you'd like to read more about why the FLP was at risk, click on this link to read more about the "doomsday" plan C budget.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20090912_Questions_and_answers_on_Phila__budget.html
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