Library Levy

Read. Grow. Belong.

The Library Levy supplements City of Seattle funding to maintain core services of The Seattle Public Library, including open hours, collections, building maintenance, and technology and online services.

We promised to make Library resources and services accessible to patrons when they need them.

2025 Levy Spending: $16 million (2019 Levy)

2025 Accomplishments

• Expanded hours above 2019 levels in Q1, ensuring all locations not under construction were open at least six days a week and one weekend day, and 13 locations were open on Sundays.
• Saw increased use of 24/7 pick-up lockers at seven locations, with checkouts doubling since 2024.
• Launched a simplified library card sign-up application form in five languages.
• Held 5,800 programs at Library locations and in the community.
• The Social Services team, partly funded by the Levy, had 600 interactions with patrons, and offered weekly programming for adults and youth at the Central Library.
• In partnership with Public Health-Seattle King County, began distributing free lifesaving supplies of naloxone at all locations, providing over 4,500 boxes of nasal naloxone.
• Implemented the Community Use Agreement (CUA), the result of a multi-year long process involving staff, leadership and community members to design an updated Library code of conduct that was more equitable, welcoming, inclusive, and aligned with Library values.
• Hired a Library Environment and Security Services Manager, a new leadership position that oversees the security team. The 2019 Levy funds 9 out of 24 positions on the security team.

We promised to provide a robust collection of books and materials.

2025 Levy Spending: $6.3 million (2019 Levy) and $700,000 (2012 Levy)

2025 Accomplishments

• Purchased more than 94,000 copies of digital titles.
• Checkouts of digital materials increased by 13%, and the Library was named one of the top 10 libraries for digital circulation in the world.
• Purchased 167,000 copies of print books, including 20,000 copies of Levy-funded Peak Picks titles.
• Piloted the Story Squad literacy program with Seattle Public Schools, a strategic plan initiative that provided classroom sets to one school.  
• Added a Portuguese collection of 300 physical titles to serve refugees and immigrants from Angola.
• The Seattle Room added more than 1,700 local history items to its collection, and held more than 530 research appointments.
• Added 985 digitized local history items to our Seattle Room Digital Collections, which now has more than 33,000 digital items.
• 130,000 unique users visited the Seattle Room Digital Collections, accumulating almost 477,000 pageviews.

We promised to promote digital equity and improve our computer and online services.

2025 Levy Spending: Operations - $2.6 million (2019 Levy); Capital - .5 million (2019 Levy)

2025 Accomplishments

• Added 50 Wi-Fi hot spots to our general collection for a total of 900 hot spots, and loaned them 6,500 times.
• Worked with 13 community partners to make 317 hot spot loans on a long-term basis to communities disproportionately impacted by the digital divide.
• Patrons booked 400,000 computer hours in 2025, printed almost 2.1 million pages on Library printers, and scanned or faxed over 487,000 pages on the Library’s ScanEZ equipment.
• Launched a mobile app that has had more than 25,000 downloads on Apple and Android devices. Users can navigate the app in Spanish, Vietnamese, and Traditional and Simplified Chinese.
• Conducted extensive process to select a vendor for the Levy-funded replacement of the Integrated Library System (ILS), the central digital platform for managing our collections materials, checkouts, patron accounts, and other services.

We promised to provide additional early learning program for children ages 0-5.

2025 Levy Spending: $.4 million (2019 Levy)

2025 Accomplishments

• Offered over 280 in-person weekly Play and Learn programs in collaboration with partners at seven branches, with 7,100 attendees. Sessions were conducted in Chinese, English, Somali, and Spanish.
• Held over 1,300 story times at Library locations and in the community, with attendance of 43,000.
• The Levy funds 35% of the Library’s children and teen services librarians.

We promised to maintain buildings for the next generation.

2025 Levy Spending: $4.8 million (2019 Levy), $.01 million (2012 Levy)

2025 Accomplishments

• Began renovation of the historically landmarked University Branch in late January. By end of year, the seismic retrofit portion of the project was 90% complete, and new HVAC units for the branch had been successfully installed.
• Completed a long-planned roof replacement for the Greenwood Branch.
• Deferred the Columbia Branch retrofit project to address a $5 million General Fund budget reduction without impacting the Library’s public services.
• Facilities and janitorial/custodial teams completed more than 12,700 work orders around the system, essential to keeping Library spaces clean, safe, and welcoming.

• Completed the first year of the Levy-funded 10-year strategic plan, which seeks to help the Library build the community’s sense of belonging and the organization’s resiliency.

• 2025 Strategic Plan milestones included hiring two Special Collections curators, piloting the Story Squad literacy program, and launching the mobile app.

• Conducted a community use survey with Olympic Research and Strategy (ORS), with results indicating that public perception of the Library has improved since 2018.