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Seattle's libraries have seen a "dramatic upswing in business" as a result of the deepening recession, The Seattle Times in the US has reported.
Although Seattle is already considered "one of the [US's] most literate cities", public libraries have seen "a surge" in membership, with one library reporting a 21% increase in the number of books checked out.
The Seattle area's two library systems, the King County Library System and Seattle Public Library, each loaned more than a million more items in 2008 than in 2007, the newspaper claimed.
KCLS director Bill Ptacek was reported as saying: "I think the economy has a lot to do with it. It's an adage in the library world that the level of use or circulation on public libraries is inversely proportionate to the state of the economy. When the economy's down, when things are tough, people come to libraries."
One library user explained why he had made the move from buying to borrowing: "We used to go to Borders all the time," he said. "We were spending a lot."