Set in a former residence on Collings Avenue, the Fairview branch had been in operation since 1925, a cornerstone of the neighborhood that was built as a planned community for workers from the nearby shipyard after World War I.
Today, Fairview is a predominantly low-income neighborhood, where residents can be seen mowing their lawns and sitting out on park benches in Yorkship Square, trying to hold out against the city's problems.
"There's more drug dealers on the corners. It's not the same place it was when I moved here in the 1990s, but it's still a good neighborhood," said Ethel Randall, the library assistant.
There is concern among many in Fairview that with the library closed, neighborhood children will be more inclined to hang out on the street corners and fall into drug dealing, said Jerome Taylor, a community activist.
After school and in summertime, the library is flooded with teenagers and children who use the library's books and computers for their schoolwork, or to check out web sites and e-mail their friends.
"The number of our students don't have the Internet at home far outweigh those that do," said Kristie Wilson, a teacher at Freedom Academy Charter School, across the street from the library. "At the end of the day you can watch the stream of kids going out of here and right into that library."
For the growing ranks of Camden's unemployed, the library system has been a place to go to check job listings and file electronic applications. On Monday morning at the Fairview branch, the two computer users said they were there looking for work.
"I applied to McDonald's two weeks ago. I'm still waiting to hear," said Jeffrey Carr, 23.
With library hours being scaled back and branches closing around the country, low-income people are finding it harder to stay connected in a world that is becoming increasingly digitized, said Claire McInerney, the chair of Rutgers' Library and Information Science Department.
