The State of America's Libraries Report 2009

"The value of libraries in communities across the country continued to grow in 2008 - and accelerated dramatically as the national economy sank and people looked for cost effective resources in a time of crisis, according to the American Library Association's annual State of America's Libraries report, released as part of National Library Week, April 12-18, 2009. U.S. libraries experienced a dramatic increase in library card registration as the public continues to turn to their local library for free services. More than 68 percent of Americans have a library card. This is the greatest number of Americans with library cards since the American Library Association started to measure library card usage in 1990, according to a 2008 Web poll conducted by Harris Interactive. The report also says library usage soared as Americans visited their libraries nearly 1.4 billion times and checked out more than 2 billion items in the past year, an increase of more than 10 percent in both checked out items and library visits, compared to data from the last economic downturn in 2001"