Originally Posted by old goat: "Libraries can't continue to depend upon government financing to exist."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew H.
Sez who?
It might be *harder* to fund libraries when you have 10% unemployment, perhaps, but my community finds a way to come up with over $40 million dollars *every year* for libraries. The library's funding last year was $300,000 below their budget; as a consequence they reduced hours and some services. But the existence of the library is not in doubt - they have been a government supported institution for the past 140 years and I don't think that will change any time soon.
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Would you be willing to pay a small fee to help offset that $300,000 shortfall last year, and possibly higher next year, to balance the budget so hours and services didn't have to be cut? Would you be willing to pay 3 cents or 5 cents or as much as 25 cents for your ebook?
I love libraries, please don't get me wrong, and I hope they will still be around another 140 years. If it takes paying a small fee for a DVD, ebook, or whatever to keep libraries around for another 140 years then I'm all for it. I'm not saying that libraries must charge a fee starting this year, but it is something they will have to consider in the next 140 years.