You know all the libraries in Allegheny County have computers now. They've been humming for better than a decade. You probably don't know how they got there.

In the mid-1990s, Robert Croneberger, then director of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, and former county Controller Frank Lucchino, as good a friend as libraries have had since Andy Carnegie left the Earth, decided the system needed computers.

They set out to raise $11 million.

At a breakfast meeting at the Duquesne Club, Croneberger and Lucchino sat down across from the heads of the city's major foundations. They walked out of the club -- which Carnegie and a fellow named Frick founded -- with a pledge of $6 million for library computers.

The nature of who used libraries, and how people used them, changed forevermore. A side benefit of the computerization was that every book in every library became available to every library card holder; all one has to do now is request a book and, if any library in the county has it, it will shoot to the branch of one's choice in a matter of days.

I bring this up because the $3,720 Duquesne Club membership for Barb Mistick, the current president and director of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, has been in the news.

That's a lot of money, way more than my YMCA membership. But let's leave open the possibility that it, and her $168,000 salary for running the $23 million organization, have paid off.

The library's capital campaign, begun by Mistick's predecessor Herb Elish in 2000, reached its $55 million goal in public and private contributions this past summer. About $29 million of that came from foundations, corporations and just plain (but mostly rich) folks. Most of that has come since Mistick arrived in 2005.

The problem, of course, is the dichotomy between those numbers and the fact the library plans to go from 19 to 14 branches. Its board says we can't afford them all. There is genuine sense of betrayal in neighborhoods such as Beechview, Lawrenceville, the West End and Hazelwood because other neighborhoods are getting new and better libraries while theirs are being shut down.

The critics are right -- the branches must stay open.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is seeking a special audit of the library system. The Regional Asset District board, which sends $17.6 million to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, will decide next week whether to examine the library's long-range finances and the decision to close the branches.

That's fine. Before the city increases its investment in libraries, as it must, it's wise to kick the tires of the bookmobiles and such, even if the $10,000-plus cost of the audit exceeds the cost of the director's travel and club membership.

But the audit is also a diversion from this truth: Surrounding communities give more to their libraries than Pittsburgh, which contributes only $40,000, the same amount it gave in 1895.

Bellevue contributes $65,000 to its library, Baldwin borough contributes $180,000, Bethel Park $522,000, Brentwood $150,000 -- and that's just the Bs on the list of 43 independent libraries in this county. Shaler contributes $530,000 -- "we call it 'the jewel of the township','' township Manager Tim Rogers says -- and Wilkinsburg cut a check for $176,000 this year. This neighboring borough, roughly a 20th the size of Pittsburgh, dedicates 0.71 mills -- about 5 percent of its property tax -- to its library.

A RAD audit might find some ways to save, but it won't tell us why surrounding communities manage to make the library a priority while Pittsburgh punts. It won't stop the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's projected deficit from rising to $6 million in five years if all branches stay open.

City Councilman Patrick Dowd of Highland Park thinks the city can find a short-term fix to keep the branches open until a dedicated funding source is found. The city saved plenty on fuel this year due to a decline in the cost of gasoline, and that could cover the projected deficit of $1 million-plus next year, Dowd said.

Long term? How about our sports palaces? RAD, which gets its money from a 1 percent county sales tax, allocates $14.4 million each year to fund the debt service on Heinz Field, PNC Park, the old hockey arena, the new hockey arena and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. They, in turn, generate millions of dollars in amusement taxes and parking taxes for the city each year.

How 'bout dedicating a slice of that amusement tax to the libraries? It's no honor living in the No. 1 Sports City, no honor for the mayor to ride in victory parades, if half the town can't read.