See the article at... http://americancityandcounty.com/mag/government_changing_public_library/

Here's an excerpt...

...If museums, orchestras, public broadcasting stations and other cultural institutions in the community can raise substantial portions of their budgets from non-tax revenues, why not the library?  Change will not come overnight: It took nearly ten years for public broadcasting to change from a largely tax-funded service into a largely listener-supported one. However, public libraries' reliance on taxes is not currently working and probably will not improve soon. In the long run, the best way to save America's libraries may be to help them develop new funding tools and models they can use to save themselves.