Established on February 18, 1891, and by 1898 had the largest circulation in the world, the landmark Free Library of Philadelphia system could close. The Philadelphia Free Library announced in early September that the main library on the Parkway and all its branches and regional libraries will be closing their doors on October 2, 2009 due to lack of funds from the city. Philadelphia is the only major city closing a large number of its library branches.
“All branch and regional library programs, including programs for children and teens, after school programs, computer classes, and programs for adults, will be canceled All Parkway Central Library programs, including children programs, programs to support small businesses and job seekers, computer classes and after school programs, will be canceled. We are exploring the possibility of relocating the Philadelphia Author Series programs to other non-library facilities All library visits to schools, day care centers, senior centers and other community centers will cease.” 
“All community meetings at our branch and regional libraries, and the Parkway Central Library, will be canceled. All GED, ABE and ESL programs held at Free Library branches will be discontinued, students should contact their teacher to see if other arrangements are being made.In addition, all library materials will be due on October 1, 2009. This will result in a diminishing borrowing period for books and other library materials, beginning September 11, 2009. No library materials will be able to be borrowed after September 30, 2009. “ accessed from http://libwww.freelibrary.org/closing/ on 09/16/2009
Philly has an amazing number of poorly-educated adults. Sadly 22 percent of the 1.1 million adults who live here don't even have basic literacy skills. Almost 400,000 adults have not earned a high school diploma. In the city where America was founded, the great city of firsts, we now might have the dubious honor of closing the nation’s first great library system.
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