Philly Libraries Under Threat?

It's been a while since we were able to introduce you to a new writer on Phillyist, but today, we have the pleasure of introducing you to Colleen Clemens. Colleen became a feminist on the marching band field, and an English professor on the Lehigh campus. We're thrilled to add her, and her Ph.D., to the mix.

Photo by Flickr user Chocolate Geek

If you haven't heard, on Phillyist or elsewhere, Philadelphia is in the midst of a budget crisis. The threat to close all of the city's libraries looms large. What we love about the public response is the certainty that the libraries would never shut down. This absolute defiance in the face of large bureaucracy, the attitude that no one would ever take away our libraries, gives us great pleasure. It says that the residents of Philly see access to books, media, and information as a right, not a privilege, and certainly not something that any public official would deign to deny the public. In "man on the street" interviews aired on WHYY, residents didn't seem too worried about losing their libraries, even though the Free Library's website says that if funds aren't secured, "All Free Library of Philadelphia Branch, Regional and Central Libraries [will be] Closed Effective Close of Business October 2, 2009." The thought of all Philly libraries with barred doors must be more than Philadelphians can imagine; otherwise, we would think they would be publicly protesting like they did last November (see WHYY's coverage of protests here). Perhaps we all just can't believe a system that means so much to so many residents could just disappear. But this disbelief shouldn't get in the way of residents taking action. The Free Library's web site has more information about what they would like all of us readers and borrowers to do. We sure do hope the library doors remain open; their fall line-up of author events is incredible.