City Closing All Of Its Libraries

How imortant are libraries today? One city in New Jersey (Camden), they are lanning on shutting down their entire library system.

Some excerpts:

"CAMDEN, N.J. - New Jersey's most impoverished city will close all three branches of its public library at year's end unless a rescue can be pulled off."

"Camden's library board says the libraries won't be able to afford to stay open past Dec. 31 because of budget cuts from the city government."

"Paul LeClerc, president of the New York Public Library, said he started noticing a large increase in library attendance when the stock market went into its steep decline. And that attendance has continued to build. "We've got more people visiting us now than we've had in half a century," he said"

Whose fault is it? Overspending by the city of Camden? Budget cuts from the state? Or lack of usage / interest from the public? Libraries, once a community center of education and entertainment in most communities, has been relegated to antiquity in some cases. Several hundred channel television, the Internet, and even the prolification of book stores has cut into the usage / relevancy of many libraries across our nation. Have they reached a point where they should move on, or have we neglected a pivotal cornerstone of the American culture? Then again, this is Camden. And I would be afraid to go outside, let alone let people know that I could be a book reading nerd. :o)

(ORIGINAL LINK) Camden Closing Library System – FOX NY