Allegheny County Library Association

With the “Information Age” emerging, libraries were struggling to keep up in providing residents with quick access to research materials and critical resources.

The report included recommendations in the form of 10 steps (outlined below) for better citizen access and to address several key challenges – insufficient funding, deteriorating facilities, a shift in population from the urban core, and increasing use of the independent suburban libraries.

The report concluded that Allegheny County's libraries needed to identify a stable source of operating support and establish a broad based organization to take advantage of potential economies of scale.

Twenty-five years later, ACLA, with the cooperation of its 46 Member Libraries, has met the challenges identified in “A Quiet Crisis” in ways that couldn't have been imagined in the early 1990s.

Allegheny County's libraries have many more resources at their disposal and are better positioned to meet the increased demand from residents for services in education and community enhancement.