Impact on cultural and civic engagement

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We provide opportunities for cultural enrichment and civic dialogue through exhibits, workshops, collections and community discussions.

Programs and Services to Support Cultural and Civic Engagement in 2017

Impact on Cultural enrichment & Civic engagement
Seattle Reads graphic
We launched the first ‘one book, one city’ reading program in the nation in 1998.
Seattle Reads 2017 selection: Angela Flournoy’s “The Turner House”
900+ people attended Seattle Reads events related to the book
Intentional outreach with community partner helped grow program attendance by 55 percent from the previous year
80% of participants rated the program an 8 out of 10 or higher
“Earlier this spring, I attended the tremendous author event you hosted with Ms. Angela Flournoy reading from her book ‘The Turner House.’ Thank you very much for the substantive community outreach you commit to; it is meaningful and is definitely meeting a need!” – Library patron Tom Hundley
peak picks
Peak Pick display
Nearly checkouts in 2017 43,468 fiction 25,443 nonfiction 69,000
Patron showing their checkouts from our Peak Picks collection
18,000+ patrons checked out a Peak Picks title in 2017
“I LOVE Peak Picks! What a great idea. . . . THANK YOU! I love the element of chance and discovery. No holds, no renewals, luck-inthe- moment. AND it makes me want to come in all the time now, to see what’s new. Giant, brilliant, kudos to whoever thought of it!” – Library patron Jean Kruse
Exhibits
We hosted free and unique local and touring exhibits in the Central Library Level 8 Gallery.
Promotional materials from our Baseball: Culture in Cuba exhibit
Promotional materials from our Open Set exhibit
Promotional materials from our Rhythm in Colors exhibit
16,500 people visited exhibits exploring local jazz, fine book binding and Cuban baseball culture
“The Open Set exhibit brought to light an artform I had little knowledge of. I now have an understanding of the tremendous creativity and skill involved in this craft.” – Central Library patron

Summary of Cultural and Civic Engagement Programs

Seattle Reads 

  • We launched the first ‘one book, one city’ reading program in the nation in 1998.
  • Seattle Reads 2017 selection: Angela Flournoy’s “The Turner House”
  • 900+ people attended Seattle Reads events related to the book
  • Intentional outreach with community partners helped grow program attendance by 55 percent from the previous year
  • 80 percent of participants rated the program an 8 out of 10 or higher

Peak Picks

  • We piloted Peak Picks, which features current popular titles to check out with no wait, at eight libraries in May and expanded it systemwide in November
  • Nearly 69,000 checkouts in 2017 (43,468 fiction; 25,443 nonfiction)
  • 18,000+ patrons checked out a Peak Picks title in 2017

Exhibits

  • We hosted free and unique local and touring exhibits in the Central Library Level 8 Gallery.
  • 10,000+ people visited exhibits exploring local jazz, fine book binding and Cuban baseball culture

Other key 2017 initiatives

  • Kanopy streaming services with over 30,000 classic and indie films
  • Pre-election forums and debates at Library branches

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