these fora facilitate, subject only to narrow limitations.  See Kreimer, 958 F.2d at 1260 (noting that a public library does not retain unfettered discretion “to choose whom it will permit to enter the Library,” but upholding the library’s right to exclude patrons who harass patrons or whose offensive personal hygiene precludes the library’s use by other patrons).  Moreover, like traditional public fora, public libraries are funded by taxpayers and therefore do not charge members of the public each time they use the forum.  The only direct cost to library patrons who wish to receive information, whether via the Internet or the library’s print collection, is the time spent reading.

By providing Internet access to millions of Americans to whom such access would otherwise be unavailable, public libraries play a critical role in bridging the digital divide separating those with access to new information technologies from those that lack access.  See generally National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S.  Department of Commerce, Falling Through the Net:  Defining the Digital Divide (1999), available at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fttn99/contents.html.  Cf.  Velazquez, 531 U.S. at 546 (invalidating a content-based restriction on the speech of federally funded legal services corporations and noting that given the financial hardship of legal services corporations’ clients, “[t]he restriction on speech is even more problematic because in cases where the attorney withdraws from a representation, the client is unlikely to find other counsel").  Public libraries that provide Internet access greatly expand the educational opportunities for millions of Americans who, as explained in the margin, would otherwise be deprived of the benefits of this new medium.

Just as important as the openness of a forum to listeners is its openness to speakers.  Parks and sidewalks are paradigmatic loci of First Amendment values in large part because they permit speakers to communicate with a wide audience at low cost.  One can address members of the public in a park for little more than the cost of a soapbox, and one can distribute handbills on the sidewalk for little more than the cost of a pen, paper, and some photocopies.  See Martin v.  City of Struthers, 319 U.S. 141, 146 (1943) ("Door to door distribution of circulars is essential to the poorly financed causes of little people."); Laurence H. Tribe, American Constitutional Law Sec. 12-24 at 987 (2d ed. 1988) ("The ‘public forum’ doctrine holds that restrictions on speech should be subject to higher scrutiny when, all other things being equal, that speech occurs in areas playing a vital role in communication – such as in those places historically associated with first amendment activities, such as streets, sidewalks, and parks – especially because of how indispensable communication in these places is to people who lack access to more elaborate (and more costly) channels."); Daniel A. Farber, Free