2008 State of America's Libraries

U.S. libraries play a key role in learning and development, and public libraries are engines of economic growth, according to ALA's 2008 State of American Libraries report. While school libraries are acknowledged to be particularly important and effective, funding for them continues to drop. Other findings:

• Ebooks continued to emerge as a regular feature of libraries of all types.
• library supporters won an important victory in 2007 when the Environmental Protection Agency was ordered to re-open many of the libraries it had closed in the past year.
• College and research libraries continue to find innovative new ways to meet the rapidly evolving needs of the academy.
• Libraries and librarians of all stripes continue to stand up for the First Amendment rights of all Americans, responding in public discourse and in court to unconstitutional snooping and aspiring book-banners. The right to read — freely and in private — remains a core value of the profession.