2025 Winter Message from Chief Librarian Tom Fay
Seattle’s Chief Librarian shares gratitude for support during a challenging year and looks ahead to 2025
From Chief Librarian Tom Fay
Posted January 14, 2025
Dear Library friends,
Last September, we hung giant posters in each of our Library locations that asked a simple question: “What do you love about your Library?”
We invited patrons of all ages to write their answers on sticky notes and add them to the poster. Over weeks, hundreds of these messages accumulated across the city, providing insight into the Library’s role in the community. Here are just a few that were posted:
- “The many resources and the manga and graphic novels.”
- “Being able to print from my home! Life saver!”
- “Everyone is welcome and treated with dignity and respect.”
- “Student + adult tutoring in English, Spanish + Vietnamese.”
- “Access to the New York Times crossword! News! Recipes!”
- “Thank you for ALWAYS helping!”
- “Video games.”
- “Homework Help.”
- “Your Next 5 is fantastic!”
- “It is a safe place to learn, read and grow.”
- “Witnessing tiny moments of joy and resiliency in community.”
As a new year begins, I find myself reflecting on that question as well and feeling such gratitude for our community of patrons, volunteers, staff, and supporters in 2024. During a year in which we recovered from a ransomware attack and navigated budget challenges, Library staff continued to provide extraordinary customer service while the community showed us extraordinary support. With that in mind, here are a few things I’ve loved about the Library in the past year.
Our Creative Staff and Supportive Patrons
In the aftermath of the Memorial Day ransomware attack, our IT team worked around the clock to contain the attack, securely restore our systems and services, and accelerate security upgrades on an ambitious timeline. During our recovery, all library buildings remained open as scheduled, in-person programs continued, and staff navigated the challenges with creativity. They adopted a manual checkout system, created local resource lists, and engaged patrons in new (and old) ways, even bringing out a vintage typewriter to type up answers to reference questions. Our patrons showed similar resiliency: You kept your returns when we asked, showed patience at every turn, and sent us hundreds of messages about how the experience made you realize the value of what we provide.
Historic Buildings That Serve Modern Needs
After a lengthy closure, the Green Lake Branch reopened in late October with a wonderful celebration that drew community members and city leaders to tour and use the remodeled spaces, including a seismic retrofit, a new electric HVAC system to reduce carbon emissions and provide air conditioning, accessibility improvements, new meeting rooms, and other interior changes. We are grateful to Seattle voters, who approved the 2019 Library Levy to support the project. A FEMA grant, awarded to the Library in August, will help us add air conditioning to the last few branches that don’t yet have it.
Our Dedicated Community Partners
We collaborate with hundreds of community partners each year to bring their expertise and resources to Library patrons for free. Two examples: Memory Hub, a dementia-specific community center, worked with us to develop programs that were directly informed by people with memory loss and their caregivers, including a summer concert series that provided this community respite and the joy of movement.
And in September, I had the honor of joining members of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Upsilon Omega chapter (AKA DUO), for a tea that celebrated 60 years of partnership with the Douglass-Truth Branch. AKA established the African American collection at the branch in 1965 and also led the 1975 renaming of the branch after Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth.
For 2025, we have planned even more to love, including expanded hours at nine branches starting January 29 and a Library mobile app planned to launch later this year. And don’t forget to check out our calendar at www.spl.org/Calendar to learn about the hundreds of free programs we are offering this year, including author programs that will inspire and delight.
Finally, I encourage you to check out this video about the Library’s new 10-year strategic plan, which was informed by thousands of community stakeholders. With your support, it will be our guide to improving services and making a lasting impact on our city.
Thank you, as always, for being a valued Library patron.
Tom