I went to Finkelstein Memorial Library in Spring Valley last night. Just before 7 p.m., I walked in the door (after having to park in the lot across South Madison). I walk in the door and see a line, about 10 deep, of people waiting to check out books. Waiting! To check out books! Wow!

Finkelstein’s Director Bob Devino said the library’s usage, always tops in the county, has grown. He noted that libraries get a boost in a bad economy. “It’s historical,” he said, and noted he’s seen it first-hand. “Ever since I’ve been in the library business, every time there’s been a hiccup in the economy, our circulation goes up. ” It makes sense, he says. “We’re essentially giving away free books.”

Here’s the proof: In November, 34,294 people came in the library, 403 people signed up for library cards last month. In way of comparison, 624,068 items were circulated by Finkelstein from January through October this year, compared to 615,379 items in all of 2007.

All this happened in spite of the fact that library has trimmed back on services after its $6.6 million budget plan was defeated at the polls. The library cut hours this year, (they close at 5 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. on Fridays, and are open 1-5 p.m. on Saturdays, instead of 9-5 p.m.) They also limited the number of items that can be checked out per card—12 items can be checked out at any one time; it used to be 50 items. That decision was made to control the amount of items going out, since the budget cuts included buying fewer copies of new books, magazines, CDs and other items.

With all the cuts, “we anticipated our circulation would go down and our visits would go down, and that is not the case,” Devino said.

By the way, I was at Finkelstein to speak this year’s Teen Leadership Rockland group about media literacy. Teen Leadership Rockland is a community leadership training program run by our local Cornell Cooperative Extension and Leadership Rockland. I muddled through discussing media, newsgathering, fact. vs. opinion, with a group of 15-year-olds. They were very sharp on the issues, polite, and tried to stifle their yawns.