For anyone who is sitting out this library thing because your branch is staying open, you need to read this.

It is now an openly discussed fact amongst a lot of librarians that these library cuts are Round One of two rounds, and that if Nutter is successful in closing these 11 branches, he will move onto another round of branch closings. I do not know where, and I do not know precisely when, but I have heard this from many people within the system. It is expected, and is (I suspect) why ACSFME has joined the lawsuit.

I did not support Michael Nutter for Mayor so he could close dozens of libraries in the poorest neighborhoods of our city. That is inhumane and wrong.

I do not believe in downsizing our city. City services make our city better and we should value them and preserve them at all costs, especially in a time of economic downturn when they are most needed. The estimated cost to keep these eleven libraries open would be $5-9 per Philadelphian per year. That's a fucking hoagie.

Apparently the only argument I should be making now is that we should keep our libraries open because educating our children is a "long term infrastructure investment," as if our children were sidewalk concrete or sewage pipes. Well they are not sidewalk concrete or sewage pipes, they are our future, and I wonder what kind of world we live in that we have begun to think this way.

It does wrong by our city.

I am asking for your help. Please, if you can, come to City Hall at 930 AM on Monday morning. This will be the start of the hearing on the injunction to keep the libraries open. If you've never been to City Hall, don't worry - it's easy to get around. Room 426 (that's on the fourth floor). It is important to be there.

The witnesses are going to talk about why their library branch is something you just can't replace, and may involve Siobhan Reardon and others on the stand.

Any questions, please email golden.notebook at gmail.com or just call my cell. 215-888-8036.

Thanks, and have a great holiday.

In solidarity and love.
Hannah