I used to live in Steubenville. Met my first real girlfriend there. She worked for the Public Library of Steubenville while pursuing her Master's degree at Pitt. Then she moved to Seattle and took various library jobs there. I chose to stay in Ohio. That was a dozen years ago.
Maybe I should have moved there. I don't think the state of Washington has threatened to wipe out its library system in a week anytime over the last dozen years. Ohio has. The deadline is next week.
What's this post got to do with the libraries closing? Well, here's a list of closures the Steubenville library system faces if Governor Strickland's proposed budget goes through: Adena, Brilliant, Dillonvale, Tiltonsville, and Toronto. That comes straight from a press release from the library, which also announces the end of bookmobile service, 35 staff layoffs, and reduced hours at the main library and Schiappa branch of the library (the one by the mall).
That's one library system. Five closures and 35 people out of work.
Only 174 more libraries that are solely supported by state funding to go.
Jefferson County is a pretty rural county. If the branch libraries close, we'll have to go to Steubenville to use the main branches, which is pretty far for some of us. We can't afford to buy books, we can't afford the gas to drive to a library that's further away. The library programs here (I go to Dillonvale/Mt. Pleasant library) are fantastic for the neighborhood kids and adults alike. We need to support our libraries- there must be some other solution rather than just closing down most of our county!
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