Like police and fire departments, libraries are a favorite target when local and state governments faced with budget problems start drawing red lines through things. Usually in a very public manner.

This is to shut up people who think they're spending too much. "See? We're cutting the budget in these rough times. Happy now?" Or to use another image, "If we can't raise taxes, we'll shoot this dog."

Since the 2002-03 fiscal year, Pennsylvania's government spending has gone up at twice the rate of inflation, in a state where the population growth (as of the last census) has been about 4 percent a decade, or fourth lowest in the nation.

I would bet a lot of money that they aren't going broke because of too much spending on libraries.

I'm not gloating. My state is being hoisted on the same petard.