I must confess, as much as I believe in libraries I don’t want to pay the tax to “fix” what shouldn’t have happened.
Which part of "shouldn't happened"?:
A. The Country Administration's willingness to spend vast sums to build "public places" without any planning for operating expenses.
B. The voters' failure to tax themselves for their own benefits (most folks live in areas that have sales taxed to support local services).
C. The ecologists that preferred the spotted owl over logging jobs.
D. The citizenry that failed to read the writing on the wall: "no logging means no jobs" and relocate to areas with better job opportunities.
Public Libraries in general have a problem: there are more and more folks like me who no longer have a personal use for them. Between the Internet and Borders, I no longer use libraries - don't even have a card. My Grand lads have little us for them either; the elementary school has a pretty good library and the hours at the local public library make it virtually useless for them (It closes at 6PM on M,T,TH,Fri - kids don't get home until 5:45; its stays open to 7:30 on Wed, which is Cub Scout night; it closes at 3PM on Sat, and the parents are too busy doing weekly chores to take time out to trek to a library.
In urban areas where libraries are within walking distance, they get more use.
der Brucer