Saw this at Bookslut:

Richard Russo, on the possibility of his hometown library closing:

"It's not my town anymore," he wrote. "But if it were, and if the decision were mine, I'd let the snow pile up in the streets and the potholes go unfilled. I'd shut every tavern and church in town and bar their doors before I'd allow my library to close."

Just because of that, I might finally break down and read Empire Falls.  Rock on, Richard Russo.