The Library Journal reports that 11 branches of the Philadelphia public library system will be closed because of financial hardship.  This is the latest painful signal of change in the library community, and bodes ill for continued broad public access to library materials.  We see a potential role for the Open Content Alliance to step into this gap by sharing its diverse collections through loaning of digital books and free, unrestricted access of materials that are out of copyright.

This harbinger of economic trouble underscores the urgency for library systems and state and local policymakers to support the digitization of library assets for permanent, free public access within the not-for-profit realm that libraries continue to occupy.

Tags: closing, not-for-profit, Philadelphia, public libraries

This entry was posted by Linda Frueh on Friday, November 7th, 2008 at 2:18 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.