...to save its libraries from closure!

http://www.philly.com/inquirer....html?cmpid=15585797

The library as we know it maysomeday fade into something we would hardly recognize today. Or eventually just be an oddity. Or take shape in a way we can scarce imagine. Information is the commodity of the future. And the quicker and more of it is the tool of choice. The old romance of paper smells and textures and bindery may someday be fully relocated only to the lofty experiences of only poets and artists.

If a new generation comes around without the experience of books and library and all of Kindle reader, the internet displays and Twitter, Facebook and Blogging, texting and MySpace triumph in daily realities, (plus all the stuff we don't even know about yet), libraries will hold the specters of old museums gone to damp cellars, graveyards, and other nasty places.

I tend to agree. One of the lessons from Fahrenheit 451 is that it's not the physical book that matters so much, its retaining the stories, ideas and wisdom from books for sharing with others, and for future generations.

But that's not why Philadelphia (and other places, no doubt) is shutting down its library services!