<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">From Slatest. The Slate Dozen Morning Edition<div>2 July 2010</div><div><br></div><div>Something to not brighten a librarian's morning.</div><div><br></div><div>Johnna<br><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; "><h2 style="margin-left: 1.4em; text-indent: -1.4em; "><span class="headline" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 51); ">Fox: Are Libraries "a Waste of Tax Money"?</span></h2><div style="font: normal normal normal 0.8em/normal arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><content></content></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 0.8em/normal arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Books have already been <a href="http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/75895/the-perils-progress" linktype="External" resizable="yes" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 0, 51); outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">pronounced dead</a>; it was only a matter of time before libraries were sentenced to the same fate. In cash-strapped Illinois, a Fox News station is trying to help the state figure out how to save a few bucks. Libraries, they've decided, are the sort of things that can go.<strong>"With the Internet and e-books, do we really need millions for libraries?"</strong> Fox's Anna Davlantes asks. "They eat up millions of your hard-earned tax dollars. It's money that could be used to keep your child's school running." Plus, libraries are really old! "These institutions," Davlantes says, "date back to 1900 B.C." (Nothing says "outdated" like a B.C. birthdate.) But if Illinois shutters its libraries, it won't be because they're not used. In fact, people check items out from Illinios' 799 public libraries 88 million times every year. One of the country's busiest libraries, the Harold Washington Library in downtown Chicago has 5,000 visitors a day. But Davlantes just isn't sure their activities are worthwhile. "We used an undercover camera to see how many people used the library and what they were doing," Davlantes reports. She counted 300 visitors, but "most of them were using the free Internet. The bookshelves? Not so much."</div><p style="font: normal normal normal 0.8em/normal arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "></p><p class="source" style="font: normal normal normal 0.7em/normal arial; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; ">Read original story in <a href="http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/special_report/library-taxes-closed-20100628" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 0, 51); outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; ">Fox</a> | Thursday, July 1, 2010</p><p class="source" style="font: normal normal normal 0.7em/normal arial; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; ">Full report should be at:</p><p class="source" style="font: normal normal normal 0.7em/normal arial; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></p><p class="source" style="font: normal normal normal 0.7em/normal arial; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#666666"><a href="http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/special_report/library-taxes-closed-20100628">http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/special_report/library-taxes-closed-20100628</a></font></p><p class="source" style="font: normal normal normal 0.7em/normal arial; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#666666"><br></font></p><p class="source" style="font: normal normal normal 0.7em/normal arial; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#666666"><br></font></p></span></div></div></body></html>