State Legislation Passes, Free Library of Philadelphia To Stay Open

Library had prepared to close October 2

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 9/17/2009

A little more than two weeks before the Free Library of Philadelphia was prepared to close, under a "doomsday" budget prepared in case the state legislature refused to pass a new sales tax, the state Senate has acted, and the library will remain open.

(The closure warning had stirred much alarm, with some concluding that the shutdown was certain.)

From the FLP's blog:

Just minutes ago, the Pennsylvania State senate passed bill 1828 by a vote of 32 to 17. For all of you who have been following the saga over the city's budget crisis, this is indeed the legislation that was needed for the City of Philadelphia to avoid the "Doomsday" Plan C budget scenario, which would have resulted in the layoff of 3,000 city employees and forced the closing of all libraries. 

We are enormously grateful to everyone who advocated on our behalf. More than 2,000 letters to state legislators were collected from our libraries, and countless others made calls and sent emails underscoring how important public libraries are to the economic, educational and social life of our city. We also thank our incredible library staff, who despite the threat of imminent layoffs continued to provide excellent service to the thousands of people who use one of the 54 libraries in our system.

Contact the author: noder@reedbusiness.com