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Study: Budget cuts, branch closures drove down library attendance
Surprising no one, PEW finds that people love their libraries, and they need them. But it's been a tough few years for Philly's Free Library system.
Study: Budget cuts, branch closures drove down library attendance
The recession and the cuts to library services that accompanied it have significantly impacted library usage in Philly, even though residents consider public libraries to be more important than ever, according to a new Pew Philadelphia Research Initiative study of libraries in 15 cities.
"Philadelphians use their libraries less than their counterparts in most of the 14 other urban communities studied. On a per capita basis, the Free Library of Philadelphia is below average in terms of circulation and visits, even though it ranks relatively high in terms of branches per capita," the study found. "One factor contributing to Philadelphians’ relatively low use of their libraries has been the extraordinary number of times that branches have experienced temporary, unscheduled closings in the past few years. In Fiscal 2010, the system had 8,000 hours of such closings, an increase of more than 1,000 percent from two years earlier. In Fiscal 2011, unplanned closures were down to 3,662 hours. Many of these hours were lost due to staffing shortages, which happened in none of the other cities studied except Detroit."
Revenues fell by 19 percent from 2008 to 2010, the second-worst hit among the 15 cities Pew studied.
Still, library usage in Philly is up 11 percent since 2005. Special programs such as story times, resume workshops, and author talks are consistently popular. Program attendance was 639,049 in 2011. Pew also reports an 80 percent rise in public computer use in the last six years.
The 53-page PEW report can be found here, and a panel discussion about the report and its implications will be held on March 14, at 6 p.m. in the Parkway Central branch. Registration is required for this free event. Sign up here.
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