In 2024, The Seattle Public Library received more than 2.9 million visits to its 27 locations; 300,000 patrons used their Library card, either online or in person; 10.8 million materials were checked out, with digital materials again proving more popular.
These are just a few highlights of the Library’s 2024 Impact Report, an annual accounting of the Library’s performance and impact on the community that was published last week.
The Impact Report is published at www.spl.org/impact, and is also available in a one-page printable version online or at Library locations. It includes key Library statistics and stories of the Library’s impact.
Key highlights of the Library’s 2024 impact
Here are some of the highlights of the report. Please note that a ransomware attack significantly disrupted borrowing and overall library use from May to September 2024.
Checkouts of digital materials again surpassed physical materials. Our patrons checked out digital materials 6.5 million times (including e-books and services such as Kanopy and Hoopla) and 4.3 million checkouts of physical materials. Note that circulation decreased overall compared to 2023, likely because of the ransomware outage that affected physical and digital checkouts from May to September 2024. Our hot spot collection is as popular as ever – hot spots from our general collection were checked out 5,400 times.
Peak Picks checkouts top one million: Peak Picks, our highly popular Levy-funded program that allows patrons to check out popular books with no wait, reached a milestone. Peak Picks titles have been checked out more than one million times since the program launched in 2017.
Robust use of other Library services: The report highlighted the robust use of other services besides our collections. Patrons printed 1.5 million pages at the Library in 2024; used public computers 240,000 times; and asked 230,000 questions that were answered by Library staff. A variety of people and organizations from around the city booked our meeting rooms more than 10,000 times. More than 4,000 tax returns were filed at Library locations as part of our popular Tax Help program. Our Mobile Services team visits more than 100 facilities every month.
More than 100,000 people attended more than 4,500 Library programs: More than 4,500 library programs drew attendance of more than 100,000 to author events, business workshops, classes of every variety, drop-in English Conversation Circles, citizenship classes, Homework Help, story times, family programs, cultural celebrations, workshops for older adults, and so much more.
The report shared several stories that illustrates the Library’s impact. After its renovation, the historically landmarked Green Lake Branch can now serve as a cooling center in the summer for the first time in its history, and is expected to save 20-30 tons of carbon annually. The Global Reading Challenge has built reading joy and skills for thousands upon thousands of Seattle Public Schools students for decades. And programs such as computer classes taught in the students’ home language help English language learners gain important skills for job and life. “Now I can support my son with homework and online assignments from the school,” said one student.
See the 2024 Impact Report online