This is unbelievable - Philly Libraries! (Harrisburg, Carnegie: sales, home, university)

[prairiestate]

FLP - Closing

How on earth can the sixth largest city in the country, home to one of the nation's first public libraries, shut down entirely!

While not a Philly, or even PA, resident, as an aspiring librarian (studying online at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, actually) this is definitely of concern to me. Lobby Harrisburg people!

[dberger]

Well that was the obvious next step in Pennsylvania's downward spiral. Hey, at least once everyone is illiterate there will be no one left to argue with this asinine legislation they keep pushing through.

I know this is a novel idea, and even more novel is a liberal like myself saying such a thing, but perhaps we should cut government enough so that we have the funding needed to operate places of learning. This comes on the heels of their threat to defund Temple University, also.

Pennsylvania's values don't seem to be very education-centric these days.

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by dberger

Pennsylvania's values don't seem to be very education-centric these days.

All the bumpkin Republicans care about is not raising taxes, even if that means making their communities places in which educated people don't want to live.

All the urban Democrats care about is keeping $$ flowing for healthcare and pension plans of local and state patronage workers, even if it means keeping unnecessary jobs.

[chessimprov]

Jeepers, they could at least consolidate most of the libraries and just make Internet cafes with references requiring a payment to use them.

[shoegal111]

It's not just libraries- social services are also being shut down across the state because of the budget impass. Also PBS stations across the state are impacted by the new budget- They are not recieving anything from the state. For some of the stations it's a do or die situation.

[backdrifter]

Wow, I really cannot believe that. What a shame!

[ScottyG]

Originally Posted by BPP1999

All the bumpkin Republicans care about is not raising taxes, even if that means making their communities places in which educated people don't want to live.

All the urban Democrats care about is keeping $$ flowing for healthcare and pension plans of local and state patronage workers, even if it means keeping unnecessary jobs.

All the overly impressed with themselves, close-minded, brain-washed, suburban living, with too much unearned wealth, and emotional Democrats care about is appearing to have empathy for the less fortunate while robbing the rest of us blind. Republicans do not want people who refer to them as bumpkins living in their communities. And if that means not funding every "art" project, ACORN like organizations, midnight basketball, and all those kickbacks to the wealthy Democratic politicians’ friends/relatives/pockets, then so be it.

Try doing a little research on the statistics of a "Republican" state like Texas versus a text-book perfect “Democrat” utopian peoples state of Massachusetts. There is no comparison; Texas is adding more jobs than the rest of the country combined. Why, because of a conservative approach to taxing and spending. Throwing more money at the problem isn’t the solution to Pennsylvania’s problems.

[blackcoral]

I am a librarian and since last year I am dreaming to move to Philly, I love the city, I love working in a public library and in fact there are not too many librarians who really like it. It is a very demanding and challenging job, but it happens that I like to work with people.
But of course I cannot move to Philly since there are no jobs in the public libraries there, I am afraid soon enough the city will have just 2-3 branches. From what I read and saw visiting a few branches the " culpability " can be shared between the state deciders and the ones directly in charge of the libraries who didn't adapt more quickly. In these times each branch should have permanent classes on: writing resumes, doing interviews, self help, working from home, new skills development, etc.
It will be indeed a shame and a big loss for the people if the libraries will close.
Andrew Carnegie financed and built those public libraries, I don't think we have the right to destroy them !

[bryson662001]

I am surprised that you all are falling for Nutter's scare tacticts. Harrisburg will pass the new sales tax in time (it's already approved) and the librarys will stay open.

[toobusytoday]

The city libraries probably bleed faster then the ones in small towns and suburbs. I work in a small public library and we're just holding our breath to see how many hours and services we're going to have to cut. I love working at my library but it's about the lowest paying job I've ever had. I literally do it because I like it, not because I'm paid to. The best thing you can do if you want to impact this situation is to contact your legislators today.

Pennsylvania Library Association: Save the Public Library Subsidy