There was a time, not so very long ago, when this announcement would have greatly upset me. Starting in my teens and up to 10 or so years ago, I made extensive use of libraries – school libraries, municipal libraries, specialized libraries, military libraries, and university libraries. This funding cut primarily affects the municipal (and associated regional) libraries.
Before the advent of the Internet, municipal libraries were the only access many people had to much fiction and nearly all reference material. This was certainly true for me. Today, that is no longer true – a vast amount of fiction (most especially through open source outfits like Project Gutenberg), and the reference material (especially technical and scientific) is superior and more timely than what any library could provide. It's still true today (though I suspect for not much longer) that some libraries can still provide more depth in reference material – but this depth is found mainly in university and specialized libraries.
The last time I visited a municipal library was about 8 years ago. I was, frankly, appalled by what I found. The publicly available collections were dominated by pop music CDs, recent movie DVDs, and popular paperback books (including quite a number of bodice-rippers, soft pornography, and other such trash). And animals. You want to play with a bunny rabbit? Check it out of our library. The reference collection was smaller than my collection at home. The hardback fiction collection was heavily slanted toward books written in the past ten years. It was very sad...
I went to the library seeking detailed information on earthquake faults in San Diego County; a librarian advised me to go to the UCSD library (which I did), as it would take months for them to borrow the books I was after – if it could be done at all.
So I'm not worried by this funding cut. In fact, I think it is probably a good thing. Considering how our municipal libraries are wasting the funding they do get, I think I'd be happiest if they didn't get any at all.
I can hardly believe I'm saying that, being the bookworm that I am, but there it is...
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