According to an August 11 article: “The Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St., has seen a 15 percent increase in patronage from January to June as compared with last year during the same months. It saw between 1,500 and 1,700 people walk through its doors on a typical July day, up from 1,000 per day last July.”
WATCHDOG: We are glad the New Era pointed out the ever growing importance of libraries, and especially the immense service the downtown Lancaster Public Library provides to the public. The Duke Street library has as many patrons in a day as many large city libraries that are several times it size. And Lancaster libraries are without the large government subsidies typical elsewhere.
Guess what local item in the State budget did not get funded this year? If you said funds for renovation and expansion of the Duke Street library, you were right.
$170 million plus for a convention center but not a cent for a library that serves about 1500 people from throughout the county each day! Go figure.
(Full disclosure: NewsLanc’s publisher has a family member associated with the Duke Street library.
