As operating budgets dry up, more places are considering outsourcing or privatizing their library services. Here is an article from a California news site, The Union:
To Survive, Public Libraries Going Private
http://www.theunion.com/article/20091012/NEWS/910119996/1001/NONE&parentprofile=1053

Other posts on this blog regarding privatization/outsourcing library services:

Aug 16, 2007: http://libeducation.blogspot.com/2007/08/there-is-county-in-oregon-that-closed.html

Feb 29, 2008: http://libeducation.blogspot.com/2008/02/alaska-library-associations-newsletter.html

May 28, 2008 http://libeducation.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-have-written-before-about-jackson.html

March 2, 2009 http://libeducation.blogspot.com/2009/03/dartmouth-public-library-board-is.html