Every wonder how your library holds “magically” appear at your branch?
Seattle Times reporter Sara Jean Green and photographer Karen Ducey explored this question by diving into a behind-the-scenes story of how millions of books travel around our region each year to serve the needs of our region’s Library users.
Sara and Karen joined SPL and King County Library System on early delivery routes, observed every aspect of our book sorting facilities and the wonderful people who make them hum, and asked great questions at every step. The article was published in the Sunday, Nov. 2 edition of the newspaper.
**Read the article here: How Seattle and King County Libraries Get Books Into Your Hands
Here are some of the many bookishly cool facts spotlighted in the article, and some photos that we took along the way that give you a sense of the journey a hold takes to get into your hands.
– At SPL 10,000 books a day begin their journeys across the city at our Maintenance and Operations Center, where our book sorter is housed. Our delivery drivers load up holds and other books and leave for their routes at 3 a.m., 4 a.m. and 5 a.m.
– KCLS’ distribution center in Preston handles three times this daily volume, serving 50 branches around the county, from Skykomish to Algona.
– SPL cardholders check out 18 books every minute. (In other words, you are the ones fueling all of this activity!)
– Our two library systems have combined collections of 6.8 million digital and physical items. SPL and KCLS cardholders can access all of these riches through our 80+ year-old reciprocal borrowing agreement.
– With more than 10 million checkouts, KCLS is the second-highest digital circulating library in the country and fourth in the world. In recent years, SPL has also been one of the top 10 highest-circulating libraries for digital books in the world.
– Tony Lauricella, the SPL staffer who oversees our book sorter, which has 76 chutes (!), describes his work as “kind of like playing 20 consecutive games of Tetris in slow motion.”
– Not in the article, but a neat fact: It takes anywhere from two to four days for your hold to reach its destination shelf in your home branch after it is returned and checked in.)
The article also explores the “why” behind a region that invests in libraries so deeply, and that shares values of storytelling, civic engagement, empowerment through learning, literacy and free and equal access to information.
As Stesha Brandon, SPL Literature and Humanities program manager, noted, “It really is the kind of place where we kind of breathe literature. … Stories are part of our DNA. Maybe some cities feel it more through music or sports or other things, but I think here in Seattle, we definitely feel it through books.”
We are grateful to the many library staff who participated in this story, especially the hardworking people who select our materials, process and shelve them; who keep our Automated Materials Handling System running; and who navigate the city seven days a week to bring your books, CDs, DVDs, Wi-Fi spots and other materials to you. Their professionalism and care for this work showed up everywhere in this story.
And we’re grateful to the 300,000-plus patrons who use their library cards every year to check out materials, use printers, computers, meeting rooms, and other services; and participate in programs and classes. You are the community that powers our library system, and whose commitment to education, enrichment and empowerment learning keeps those materials circulating all year long.
– Elisa Murray, photos courtesy of The Seattle Public Library