How to Close the Digital Divide? Fund Public Libraries

By Donna C. Celano & Susan B. Neuman

Tough times call for tough measures. And for the nation’s public libraries, times could not be tougher. When it comes to balancing city budgets, local libraries are often one of the first institutions to feel the heat. In Philadelphia in 2008, Mayor Michael Nutter became the center of controversy when he proposed closing 11 libraries, nearly all in poor neighborhoods, to bring the budget into line. And library budgets have faced the chopping block this year in cities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and other states.

While this course of action may seem to be a quick fix to a city’s economic woes, closing libraries renders a crushing blow to the nation’s neediest children. Not only does it shut off their access to books and other printed materials that promote literacy, but it also has another serious side effect:...