Programs & Services
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24 Checkouts a Minute: The Library’s 2025 Impact Report
How did our community use the Library in 2025? Hot off the digital presses, our 2025 Impact Report paints a picture of The Seattle Public Library’s impact in numbers and stories. While the Impact Report shows a record number of active patrons and growing participation in programs, as Chief Librarian Tom Fay noted, “it is… Continue reading
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Find Your Library Joy – Evening Magazine Reports from the Central Library
Tuesday, April 21 was an especially fun day at the Central Library. King 5’s Evening Magazine spent a few hours at the Library filming a story in honor of National Library Week. Host (and Almost Live alum) Chris Cashman interviewed our head of Library Experience and Engagement Kai Tang, visited the art gallery and music… Continue reading
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‘Shining a Light on our Common Humanity’: Living with Conviction Exhibit
An exhibit showcasing photographic portraits and stories of formerly incarcerated individuals struggling to rebuild their lives under the burden of court-ordered debt is now on display at the Central Library’s Level 8 Gallery. A satellite exhibit opens at the Green Lake Branch gallery on April 26. “Living with Conviction: Sentenced to Debt for Life in Washington State” displays around… Continue reading
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Pacific Science Center Returns to the Museum Pass Program
Get ready for butterflies, spiders (!), a makerspace, planetarium, and more. For the first time since COVID, the Pacific Science Center, one of Seattle’s favorite indoor spaces, is participating in the Library’s Museum Pass program! Museum Pass offers Library cardholders free admission to 17 participating museums and cultural organizations. The Pacific Science Center is offering… Continue reading
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Three Thousand Cheers for Reading: Global Reading Challenge 2026 in the Books
On Tuesday, March 31, with an electric crowd cheering at every opportunity, a team of fourth graders from John Stanford International School became the 31st Global Reading Challenge city champions. With a sweet team name — the Global Bananana Pancake Group — the Stanford students scored a whopping 115 out of 120 points. They were… Continue reading
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One Book, One Coast: Explore Stories of Japanese American Incarceration and Resistance
This spring, The Seattle Public Library is participating in the first-ever One Book, One Coast program – the West Coast’s biggest book club. Now, we’re excited to share the final details of the programs we have planned. Through May, more than 190 library systems across California, Oregon, and Washington are encouraging millions of library readers… Continue reading
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April and May 2026 Author and Community Events at the Library
Author and community programs are blooming at the Library this spring, from an evening with famed audiobook narrator Julia Whelan to One Book, One Coast programs that reframe and retell the history of Japanese American incarceration. All Library events are free and open to the public. Many of these events are supported by The Seattle… Continue reading
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Listen to This Podcast: KUOW Book Talk With Coll Thrush
What do Pacific Northwest shipwrecks have to do with settler colonialism? Author and historian Coll Thrush recently published a book, “Wrecked: Unsettling Histories from the Graveyard of the Pacific,” which explores this topic through six years of extensive research. He shared his findings in a recent KUOW Book Talk at the Central Library, in conversation… Continue reading
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Mayor Wilson Announces 2026 Library Levy Proposal
You may have seen The Seattle Public Library in the news today. At 12:30 p.m., Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson spoke from the Central Library’s Level 10 Betty Jane Narver Reading Room to announce a proposal for a $410 million Library Levy that would provide funding for The Seattle Public Library over seven years, from 2027… Continue reading
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Spring 2026 Author and Community Events at the Library
Author and community programs are blooming at the Library this spring, from a KUOW Book Talk with Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe about “Thunder Song” on March 23, to an evening with famed audiobook narrator Julia Whelan on April 15, to two One Book, One Coast events with local authors that reframe and retell the history of… Continue reading
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Learn About the Hidden Histories of Native American Activism on March 10
“How can a nation founded on the homelands of dispossessed Indigenous peoples be the world’s most exemplary democracy?” That is the question that opens Dr. Ned Blackhawk’s “The Rediscovery of America,” which won the 2023 National Book Award in Nonfiction. The Library is honored to have Dr. Blackhawk present this year’s annual Bullitt Lecture in… Continue reading
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Read George Takei’s Graphic Memoir with the West Coast’s Biggest Book Club
We have good news for Seattle readers! This spring, The Seattle Public Library invites you to take part in One Book, One Coast, a shared reading initiative connecting more than 140 library systems across California, Oregon, and Washington, including more than a dozen in Washington State alone. Organized by LA County Library, One Book, One… Continue reading
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Cooking Up a Roti-Related Business, With Help from the Library
In late 2024, when Komal Kashiramka decided to “take the plunge” to leave a corporate job and start a business in the food industry, she sought out helpful (and low cost) resources for entrepreneurs. The Seattle Public Library was not one of the places she originally thought to look. But the business research tools she… Continue reading
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We Won a Bookish Super Bowl Bet + Parade Snaps
Like all of the Emerald City, The Seattle Public Library has been reveling in the Seahawks’ Super Bowl win — but in a very library-like way. Late last week, we placed a bookish bet with Boston Public Library: The library with the winning team would get to create a booklist for the other to host.… Continue reading
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Local Authors Take the Stage for KUOW Book Talks
Want to be part of a book club that features selections by some of our region’s greatest talents, and offers you a chance to meet the author in person? Welcome to the KUOW Book Talks Live series at the Central Library. From February through May, KUOW Book Club host Katie Campbell will sit down with a… Continue reading
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Impact Story: When a Children’s Author Comes to Town
The benefits of reading for kids are well-known: literacy, language skills, empathy. But on a winter morning at Seattle’s John Rogers Elementary, a group of 40 fourth and fifth grade readers are showing something else: pure, unadulterated excitement. The students are crowded on the floor of the school library for a talk from Ernesto Cisneros,… Continue reading
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Explore Your Family’s History with Expanded Library Genealogy Programs
Before Sonia’s grandmother passed away, she passed along a host of family stories that Sonia has spent years researching. She has found marriage records, newspaper articles, and other documents that provide conflicting information — and has run into repeated brick walls, especially regarding her ancestors who were enslaved. Sonia knew she needed some assistance with… Continue reading
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“We Belong Together”: New Series by Guest Curator Amber Flame
Could you use a little more community, connection, and cheap date ideas this winter? We have just the series for you. Writer and interdisciplinary artist Amber Flame has guest-curated a new series titled “We Belong Together” at the Central Library. With a kickoff event this Sunday, Jan. 25, the three events will explore how we expand… Continue reading