As permananet residents of Florida my husband and I rely on the library for access to free books, tapes, movies, newspapers, magazines, etc.
When our county had money problems this library hours were cut, fines increased from $.10 to $.25, charge for internet use by non-library card holders increased from $1 per hour to $5 and the charge for non-resident library cards increased from $20 to $35. We were very sorry to see this happen but have been encouraged by the increased library use. After all, snowbirds are usually here 4-6 months of the year, financially for them it makes sense (internet use especially).

I use the on-line library service of WorldCat to find books our library system doesn't have and they will request them for me. Since these are non-fiction books, and frankly are rather specialized, I see no need for our library system to purchase them.

We are so well known at our local branch, the librarians will often tell us of new arrivals that 'fit' our interests.

It is important to support publically funded resources to keep them active - we tell all our snowbird neighbors of the joys of the library - you'd be surprised how many no so little about a wonderful place.