Libraries facing extinction? The weird world we live in at the moment has adminstrators and officials seeking to cut library operating budgets even more than they have been over the past 10 years, based on the bad economy. But the bad economy has thrifty customers coming in droves to the libraries, using the available services and looking for more. We are in the difficult position of turning away people that we have worked so hard to attract - which is why I call this a weird world. 

In this article about proposed Brooklyn Public Library cuts

there is a great quote that should be spread far and wide to all those in power over budgets, be they be public, private, health, special, education, or academic libraries:

"“Mayor LaGuardia kept libraries open seven days a week during the Great Depression,” [Brooklyn Councilman Vincent] Gentile noted at a recent Community Board 10 meeting. “The more the economy gets worse, the more important the libraries become.”"