"State of our economy: Use of libraries booms"
Mary Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
2/5/2009
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09036/946973-55.stm

With our economy the way it is right now, people are starting to use more and more of our free recourses. One of the most popular being our libraries. According to library directors, there has been a huge upward trend of people using the library. They are coming in to use free services such as the internet. With the economy bad and people without jobs, many are no longer willing to pay twenty or so dollars a month to use the internet at their home, instead they are heading to libraries where staff has said their computers are being used up all day along with the rentable laptops. Many are also bringing their own laptops to use the free Wi-Fi that libraries provide. Along with that, many are going to get help with online resumes, searching for jobs, and unemployment benefits. Utilizing both the free internet along with the free service the librarians give with help on the topics. Sales of books have also gone down due to the lack of disposable income, and have led to a large increase in the amount of books being checked-out. This not only applies to books but also with DVD’s that many libraries allow people to check-out. Not only are there less titles sitting on the shelf but a long waiting list for the more popular titles exists according to one librarian.
In my opinion, this is a very good thing that people are using these free services provided to them. The library is a great place to go since there is so much information along with many people there to aid you if you are confused on something. It is also a great way to save a lot of money. Instead of renting from an expensive video store, they have many of the same titles at the library available for free. Same goes with books, instead of buying it then putting it aside forever when you’re done, you can just borrow it and send it back to the library for others to read. I think this trend should continue even if the economy picks up again because libraries are great source of free information that usually go underutilized.