As Library Funding Wanes, So Does Their Usage

From an article in The Atlantic:

Fewer Americans are Visiting Libraries --- and Technology Isn't to Blame

A curious phenomenon is gripping public libraries in the United States.

On the one hand, Americans still adore their libraries. According to a new Pew Research study, 76 percent of Americans say that libraries well serve the needs of their community. And since 78 percent of Americans say they’ve been to a local public library ever, it seems that nearly everyone who’s been to a local library at least once in their lives approves of them.

Yet on the other hand, fewer and fewer Americans are using the institutions every year. In the 12 months before the most recent Pew survey was given, only 44 percent of Americans visited a local library or bookmobile. Three years earlier 53 percent of Americans had visited a library or bookmobile.
In other words, library usage is falling. But why?


The rest of the article is here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/04/americans-like-their-libraries-but-they-use-them-less-and-less-pew/477336/