Last week, the Houston Chronicle reported that the final bookstore in Laredo is slated to close. But readers in the small South Texas city are trying to come to its rescue with a web site to try to save the store.

Laredo is a Patchwork Nation “Immigration Nation” community, with a large Latino population and lower-than-average household incomes.

Southern Texas has a strong literary history. Lonesome Dove author Larry McMurtry wrote of the city in Streets of Loredo (and spoke with NPR about his literary journey on Morning Edition earlier this week). And recently Texas Public Radio talked to San Antonio resident Sandra Cisneros, who wrote The House on Mango Street.

The story of Laredo’s bookstore is indicative of a larger trend facing bookstores and other cultural institutions across the U.S. as the economic decline hits home.

In Massachusetts, one town’s bookmobile service was forced to close recently due to lack of funds. The 75-year-old bookmobile project closed after state funds were cut, according to NPR station WAMC in Sheffield, Mass.

Detroit’s cultural institutions are also feeling the pinch after the automobile industry’s hard times. As Michigan Public Radio reported the Symphony and other arts groups are having to make massive cuts.

“The Michigan Opera Theater is also struggling. The company lost two-thirds of its funding when Chrysler and GM went into bankruptcy. So the company has had to cut its budget, shorten its season and lay off staff.”

But fortunately these challenges haven’t yet meant that great books aren’t being written. NPR’s Best Books of 2009 list features the gems of the year, including one that may have some advice for struggling readers and writers – The Financial Lives of the Poets.