Not there's ever a great time to cut funding to libraries, but a recession is especially bad. Libraries help people find job, get educated and get entertainment (DVDs, books, CDs) for free.
Say you worked at Ford and you lost your job. You don't have a computer, you don't have internet access... what do you do? Hello libraries! They got some good stuff. (I work at the Brook Park branch of CCPL and I can tell you that our usage has gone way up since things took a turn for the worse economically).
You may not know this, but Ohio has ridiculously good libraries. Why? Ohio libraries get state funds, where most libraries around the US don't. So, for a big city, it doesn't make that much of a difference (but look at the top 2!), but for small towns? Woah. A city the size of Stow or Twinsburg, were it located in Indiana or Michigan, would not have nearly the same type of library (or library service).
Gov. Strickland is proposing cutting the state funds of libraries by 50%. Not good. Mike Stein (who you know from this blog) is covering this issue over at the blog The Library is Now Closed (or is it The Shuttered Library?). I highly suggest to go over there and read this post.
Please make a phone call.
* Call the Governor's office at 614-466-3555
* Call your local state representative
* Call your state senator
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