Been to the library lately? There’s an ominous new sign on the door:
Yep, 15 branches of the Seattle Public Library, including our humble yet beloved Wallingford branch, have been forced to reduce hours starting Wednesday Feb. 3rd due to $1.7 million in budget cuts. So books can now only be had on:
Monday, Tuesday 1-8 PM
Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday 11-6
CLOSED Friday and Sunday
Sigh. You need to trek on over to Greenwood, Northeast or Ballard the rest of the time.
All the gory details at the SPL web site.
Word on the street is that the Fremont library has a great kids section.
I’m privy to a bit of the insider info on the budgeting (and the staffing issues caused by it) through friends – the library staff are really doing their absolute best to keep every branch as open as they possibly can within the budget they’ve been given. Time’s is tough 🙁
Well it was never open on Sundays but losing the evenings is too bad.
Yes, times are tough and may well get tougher.
This is too bad, the city is in a tough spot. If you can visit the Seattle Public Library Foundation: http://www.foundation.spl.org and get involved: volunteer, give.
I signed an unsuccessful petition against this. Most unfair to raise hours of branches already open more than other neighborhood libraries. Does us no good, since pickup is at our local branch.
Is it heretical to suggest local contributions through Friends of the Library?
I believe the primary change on Feb. 3rd to the Wallingford branch is that it’s closed on Fridays. Other than that, the hours are pretty close to what they were.
I, too, wish the hours were longer at the Wallingford branch; but as others have said, times are tough for public services. If this branch’s new hours allows the Seattle Library system to keep some of the student reading programs and other services going, I’m more than happy with the tradeoff.
@sunshine: Ditto! The SPL Foundation is a great organization, and worth your support.