An article in the New York Times today ("People in Need are Filling and Taxing Libraries," here) reports that libraries are experiencing significant increases in traffic/use as a result of the recession.
It sounds like a lot of the increase is due to people using library computers to job search, but there is also a phenomenon of people congregating in them because they have nowhere else to go. The article says that librarians increasingly feel that they need to be therapists in addition to reference specialists.
I was at the Jefferson Madison library downtown a couple of weeks ago and it definitely seemed busier than usual.
171. I think I have read that one of the many Albemarle County capital projects that's currently "on hold" because of the budget problems is the new Crozet library - is that right?
172. Do libraries still put any newspapers and/or magazines on microfiche? Or has that technology been completely replaced by PDF's? I wonder if there's any movement, among archivists, to continue using microfiche because -- unlike PDF's -- they do create a physical record.
