The Seattle Public Library (SPL) did not bounce back after its planned eight weeks of rolling closures from April 12 to June 2. With significantly less fanfare than their announcement in April, SPL unveiled new summer hours starting June 20 that reshuffle the closures but cut an additional 11 hours of service per week across its 27 locations. SPL did not give The Stranger a clear end date to the service cuts, but it doesn’t seem as if the Library wants to get patrons’ hopes up for much to change until budget season this fall. And that’s assuming the anti-tax corporatists who run this City feel compelled in any way to choose public goods over austerity.
Eight Weeks
On April 11, The Stranger broke the news that SPL would cut nearly 1,500 service hours over eight weeks because they did not have the staffing necessary to keep libraries open. Chief Librarian Tom Fay and Mayor Bruce Harrell struck a deal, granting SPL limited exemptions from his hiring freeze on all departments except for cops, fire, and the new dual dispatch program. Technically, SPL is not under the Mayor’s purview and they don’t have to adhere to the freeze, but he signs the budget, so there’s a strategy to playing nice with him. #OneSeattle.
SPL spokesperson Laura Gentry said they would use the eight weeks to hire 12 more mostly temporary staff members, but she made no guarantees that they would restore service hours at the end of that period or after hiring the new workers. The Stranger asked Gentry how many people SPL hired since the reductions took effect, but she said she’s having difficulty accessing that information after the recent ransomware event. The ransomware event “complicated [SPL’s] onboarding process, along with a whole lot of other processes, but [SPL’s] HR team is looking for creative ways to welcome new hires despite the technology outage,” she wrote in an email.
Regardless of how many people SPL hired in the last eight weeks, it’s not enough to fully restore hours for summer when more school-age kids and those seeking refuge from the heat will seek their facilities.
New Hours, Same Sadness
According to the new hours posted on SPL’s blog, Capitol Hill and High Point will reopen on Sundays, South Park will reopen on Mondays, Montlake will reopen for a partial day on Tuesdays, and Douglass-Truth will reopen on Saturdays. According to SPL’s blog, the new schedule increases hours at larger, heavily used locations with air conditioning in anticipation of a hot, dry summer ahead.
On the other hand, SLP announced new closures for Deldrige, Chinatown International District (CID), New Holly, and Northgate on Sundays, and the University Branch on Saturdays. That puts CID, New Holly, Northgate, and University branches at two closures per week. Fremont and High Point will close two hours earlier on Tuesday and Wednesday. University Branch’s hours will shift two hours early on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the branch will still be open eight hours both days.
Your Move, Mayor
Gentry did not have a lot of information about the future of the libraries—”The short answer is: We are still waiting to learn more about our financial situation in 2025, and we should have a better understanding of our staffing capacity once the Mayor announces his proposed budget this fall. We have hired a few new staff and continue to work on hiring, but those positions are helping to create more stability rather than to expand hours.”
The Mayor’s Office did not respond to a question about the future SPL’s budget. Instead, mayoral spokesperson Karissa Braxton said, “The ongoing budget process has no impact on the summer hours announced by the Libraries last week.”
But that statement ignores the reality that the new schedule continues service cuts brought on by a staffing shortage that SPL cannot address until they see how austere the Mayor goes with his budget proposal. Braxton did not respond to my follow-up questions.
SPL’s staffing capacity will be but one line item in the Mayor’s and the city council’s budget, which they will endeavor to balance either by raising revenue or by cutting programs and staff in the face of a $250 million shortfall. Council Member Tammy Morales came out in immediate support of pumping new revenue into the libraries to increase capacity.
“This is a wake-up call for our city,” Morales said in an April 11 press release. “Without urgent action, things will get so much worse than this.”
Other council members have not taken strong stances in support of new progressive revenue to restore service at the libraries.
The council does not have a clear progressive-revenue-supporting majority—likely because most of them have corporate donors to please. Budget Chair Dan Strauss supported new revenue during his campaign, but he is holding off on implementing any until the fall. The council member who should care the most, Chair of the Libraries, Education, and Neighborhoods Committee Martiza Rivera, didn’t jump to throw money at SPL but rather blamed the Library’s budget issues on e-books and the union. I asked Rivera (again) if the recent closures have inspired her to support new revenue and she did not respond.
“On April 11, The Stranger broke the news that SPL would cut nearly 1,500 service hours over eight weeks because they did not have the staffing necessary to keep libraries open.”
That reason was false back then, too, as the linked story at the Stranger shows:
“As a non-executive department with its own hiring authority, SPL technically does not have to abide by the Mayor’s hiring freeze, but Chief Librarian Tom Fay instituted a freeze to keep in step with the Mayor, Gentry said.”
That exact same point appears in this post, too:
“Technically, SPL is not under the Mayor’s purview and they don’t have to adhere to the freeze, but he signs the budget, so there’s a strategy to playing nice with him. #OneSeattle”
And in that last jab is the true reason for the Library closures: to blame the Mayor for something which is not his fault. Of course the Stranger runs with it, facts be damned.
My favorite part of this “story”…
mayoral spokesperson Karissa Braxton said, “The ongoing budget process has no impact on the summer hours announced by the Libraries last week.”
Like @1 points out, SPL is choosing to create this drama all on their own – and folks from DSA want to spin it as an attack on Harrell. What a crock – I hope SPL leadership understands this type of politics is likely to have unintended consequences (maybe they should focus on keeping their systems clean of ransomware, leave the grandstanding to folks like morales).
Here’s what I don’t get about this microdrama – the library may not have to go with what the mayor says, but if they go over their budget, they have to try to get a supplemental from the council, so wouldn’t they want to stay within their budget?
@3 SPL receives nearly 40% of its budget from two levies (2012 & 2019) – a promised outcome of the 2019 levy was increased operating hours (something not delivered upon until 2023). See https://www.spl.org/about-us/the-organization/budget-and-operations/library-levy/previous-levy-reports
It’s disingenuous to blame current reduced hours on the mayor as previously stated (they play by their own budget rules). And if the council decides to balance the current deficit on the back of SPL, then I would expect voter blowback when the current levy comes up for renewal in 2026 (I believe this falls into the category of penny wise, pound foolish).
And lastly, a hiring freeze is not a budget clawback – it’s a mechanism to lessen potential staff disruptions when/if the next budget needs to be trimmed. Specific to SPL, given that the 2019 promised increased hours, the chances staff would be targeted is low (I would expect budgets to be tightened in other areas – be that new ebook spending, new digital offerings, etc.).
So SPL leadership, please knock-off the politics – it’s a losing proposition (regardless of what your DSA allies are telling you).
If as the article clearly says “Chief Librarian Tom Fay and Mayor Bruce Harrell struck a deal*, granting SPL limited exemptions from his hiring freeze on all departments except for cops, fire, and the new dual dispatch program. ” it’s therefore pretty clear that Harrell initially asked SPL to abide by the hiring freeze or else. Selective quoting of the article by @1, @2 and @4 underline their wishes to absolve Harrell from bearing responsibility for austerity at SPL and pin the blame on SPL and wtf? their “DSA allies”? are you on drugs?
@5 clearly lacks ready comprehension
mayoral spokesperson Karissa Braxton said, “The ongoing budget process has no impact on the summer hours announced by the Libraries last week.”
That’s a direct quote for the Mayor’s office – the comment you highlighted is supposition on behalf of Hannah.
@6 From your couch, and without presenting any evidence, you are accusing Hannah Krieg of lying.
Whereas, the April 11 The Stranger article also states that Harrell and SPL eventually agreed on 12 new hiring, which shows that Harrell initially wanted the hiring freeze to apply to SPL: “With the green light from the Mayor’s office, SPL will use these next eight weeks to hire 12 more mostly temporary staff members and then reassess the service cuts.”
https://www.thestranger.com/news/2024/04/11/79463199/the-seattle-public-library-announces-1500-hours-of-closures-in-the-next-eight-weeks
Are you still saying that Ms Krieg is lying when she says that Harrell green lighted the 12 new hires? If so you better explain yourself because smearing reporters without proof is pretty shitty.
@7: If you’d actually read the very next sentence after the one you’d quoted @5, you’d know: “Technically, SPL is not under the Mayor’s purview and they don’t have to adhere to the freeze, but he signs the budget, so there’s a strategy to playing nice with him.”
Let’s try that again: “…SPL is not under the Mayor’s purview and they don’t have to adhere to the freeze…”
And, just in case you were wondering: “…SPL is not under the Mayor’s purview…”
(Because the Stranger’s unnecessary use of the meaningless qualifier, “technically,” seems to have confused you.)
So, SPL does not have to abide by the hiring freeze. Full stop. That they are doing so results from politicking by the head of SPL, not any need (note: not “desire,” but “need”) to do so.
SPL patrons are being short-changed by SPL management, not by anyone else. And “anyone else” includes the Mayor.
“And, just in case you were wondering: …SPL is not under the Mayor’s purview…”
which is a meaningless statement given the mayor controls the library budget. Harrell agreeing to 12 new hires shows that he decides whether SPL hires or not. It’s not rocket science.
You are really poor at what you do. Your continual attempts at twisting words, spinning, partial quoting and pretending that war is peace are not only tiresome but really not convincing.
@9: “…given the mayor controls the library budget.”
Given that you’re wrong, as you could already easily have learned, by reading @4: “SPL receives nearly 40% of its budget from two levies (2012 & 2019) – a promised outcome of the 2019 levy was increased operating hours (something not delivered upon until 2023). See https://www.spl.org/about-us/the-organization/budget-and-operations/library-levy/previous-levy-reports“
(Also, as the same commenter instructed you @6, you really should learn the difference between statements of fact, and statements of supposition. Especially when the latter contradict the former, and doubly so when the latter also advance the writer’s agenda.)
@10 Harrell doesn’t control 100% of the library budget = hair splitting presented as foundational fact
…. really, really bad at what you do
@11: 40% of the budget comes from levies, the rest comes from the City Council. How, then, does the Mayor’s office “control” the Library’s budget? As already noted, the very article you’re quoting doesn’t support your claim.
@12 the mayor doesn’t control the budget, the major signs the budget = more hair splitting presented as a win by Tensor the spinner
@13: “… the mayor doesn’t control the budget,”
@9: “… the mayor controls the library budget.”
I’m just going to let the two of you fight it out amongst yourselves. (That should make for an epic contest in hair-pulling, if nothing else…)
I forgot the quote but the rest of the sentence made Tensor the Spinner was talking. Anyhow, go on your spinning details into decisive moments
Next from Spinner: “Mayor decides on hiring freeze but Mayor doesn’t control budget”
@15: “Mayor decides on hiring freeze but Mayor doesn’t control budget”
Again, from this very headline post:
“…SPL is not under the Mayor’s purview and they don’t have to adhere to the freeze,”
So, according to your ‘logic,’ SPL’s not needing to adhere to the hiring freeze is proof the Mayor controls the SPL via a hiring freeze?