Library Closings

Where Have All the Libraries Gone?

Kari Thierer | September 11, 2015

[...]NPQ has written extensively about the multitude of ways that libraries continue to be vital to communities. Libraries serve as places of refuge during periods of citywide turmoil, as in Baltimore and Ferguson, or as places to provide equitable access to technology for digitally dependent students and families. Libraries were a key component of the rebuilding of New Orleans after Katrina. So why do cities and states regularly cut funding for these organizations that are designed to support communities? They have also expanded in some cases to become lenders of “things” like seeds and household tools.

Source: http://nonprofitquarterly.org/files/2015/09/Cutting-Libraries.jpg

But as cities face shrinking budgets, libraries sometimes end up shuttered due to lack of financial support. This leaves empty holes in the net of resources available to communities already facing economic instability.

<more at https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2015/09/11/where-have-all-the-libraries-gone/; related links: http://www.ala.org/news/mediapresscenter/americaslibraries/soal2012/public-libraries (Libraries persevere through cumulative, ongoing funding cuts.) and http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2015/09/academic-libraries/closing-gap-librarian-faculty-views-research/#_ (Closing the Gap in Librarian, Faculty Views of Academic Libraries| Research. September 1, 2015)>