The lengthy, well-written article (sad? unfortunately yes) provides several stories and a number of stats about how people use Toledo-Lucas County Public Library and what they're doing (or not doing) because of the cuts. What follows are a few highlights from the story. Make sure to read the entire piece.
And by the way, circulation at at Toledo-Lucas County Public Library was up 9% last year.
The people who use Toledo-Lucas County Public Library system are as diverse as the county's population itself, spanning all ages, ethnicities, interests, and income levels. Many have something in common: drastic funding cuts to the library system are affecting their lives.
Faced with an approximately $6.4 million budget shortfall this year, Toledo's library system has cut hours, eliminated staff, purchased fewer books, and trimmed youth programs. The result is stretched resources at a time of sharp increases in demand for library services, a phenomenon administrators link to the economic downturn.
The cuts have left both users and staff scrambling to adjust, having to make do with less, and sometimes going without.
"It's a drastic change for a lot of people," library spokesman Rhonda Sewell said. "We have such a diverse type of population that uses libraries: students, home schoolers, people who need social services, businesspeople, wealthy donors."
She added: "When people heard that the libraries were going to be cut, they were outraged."
That outrage has slowly been replaced by a resigned acceptance since the cuts went into effect last October, Ms. Sewell said.
[Snip]
Statistics show the number of materials checked out in 2009 was up 8 percent from the year before.
At the same time, staff numbers have decreased.
The cuts resulted in the loss of 21 full-time employees through retirements or layoffs, and 40 other part-timers were let go.
Those included all of the library's pages, whose job was to put books back on shelves.
FreePint Family
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