Ohio Libraries in Despair

There has been an awful lot of news referring to Ohio Public Libraries suffering devastating budget cuts resulting from a news conference on Friday, June 19th. I have read that Governor Ted Strickland has proposed a 30% budget cut ($227.3 million) for Ohio Libraries during the 2010-2011 fiscal year as part of his plan to fill the $3.2 billion gap in the budget that must be balanced by the Ohio General Assembly's Conference Committee by June 30. This 30% cut is not including the 20% cut that the libraries are already facing from the economic decline. This will affect approximately 251 library branches in Ohio, many are faced with cutting back hours and supplies along with complete closures. This is a devastating loss in numbers for public libraries. Funding has been slipping away from many things in this current economy but a cut like this will inevitably close the doors on many libraries in this area. Ohio needs to take a stand to show how important these libraries are to the community. If these libraries do close I hope that research is done to see how important libraries are to communities not only in economic crisis but as a general asset and necessity to the community.