Rev. caffinepwrd ☕It's wild I can check out a book worth $1,000 from #SPL
Just walk out the door with it. Public Libraries are awesome!
DrWebExploring the Library’s Photography Books – Shelf Talk
Exploring the Library’s Photography Books
February 2, 2026
I love reading photography books. Flipping through their pages brings a much-needed sense of creativity and inspiration, while also providing a window into history, community, connection, and the world around us. Here are some that I have enjoyed recently:
Annie Leibovitz travels to locations that hold meaning for her, including Emily Dickinson’s house in Amherst, Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, the homes of Virginia Woolf and Charles Darwin, Thoreau’s cabin on Walden Pond, and more.
National Geographic: The Photo Ark
A collection featuring Joel Sartore’s lifelong project to make striking portraits of the world’s animals, especially those who are endangered, reminding us of the beauty of so many species.
Photographer Anthony Barboza refers to the act of looking at the world as “eye dreaming,” in which he remains open to glimpsing people and places that feel familiar. In capturing them on film, he finds connection and art in the everyday.
This collection features Paul Child’s photos of Julia Child and their life together in France, along with personal stories told by Paul’s great-nephew Alex Prud’homme.
Continue/Read Original Article Here: Exploring the Library’s Photography Books – Shelf Talk
#AnnieLeibovitz #AnthonyBarboza #France #JoelSartore #JuliaChild #Libraries #NationalGeographic #PaulChild #Photography #PhotographyBooks #PostedBySiriA #SeattlePublicLibrary #Shelftalk #TheSeattlePublicLibrary
What Seattle read in 2025: Seattle Public Library’s most popular books – The Seattle Times
What Seattle read in 2025: Seattle Public Library’s most popular books
Dec. 18, 2025 at 6:00 am, Updated Dec. 18, 2025 at 6:00 am
“Three Days in June” by Anne Tyler. (Knopf)
“Three Days in June” by Anne Tyler. (Knopf)
By Elisa Murray
Special to The Seattle Times
The Seattle Public Library loves to promote books and reading. This column was submitted by the library to highlight local checkout trends. Find out more at spl.org.
It’s always fascinating to compile The Seattle Public Library’s top checkouts for the year to get a sense of what’s been on the minds of Seattle’s readers. In 2025, they turned closer to home and explored local voices — perhaps not surprising given the state of national dialogue.
Several of our most checked-out print books were written by local authors, including Seattle Times journalist Moira Macdonald’s debut novel “Storybook Ending”; travel writer Rick Steves’ memoir “On the Hippie Trail”; and David B. Williams’ “Wild in Seattle.”
A little further afield, Spokane author Jess Walter’s new novel “So Far Gone” also ranked as a top print checkout, and Oregon writer Omar El Akkad’s “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This” was in the top 10 for nonfiction print books. Bainbridge Island author Kristin Hannah’s “The Women” ranked high for e-book and audiobook checkouts.
Of course, Seattle library patrons also followed national reading trends, checking out bestsellers such as Anne Tyler’s “Three Days in June,” Percival Everett’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “James” and Rebecca Yarros’ wildly popular romantasy “Onyx Storm” thousands of times.
Another takeaway: Seattle readers want compelling stories, which can mean looking to older titles with a lasting impact. The audiobook version of “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer, originally published in 2013, has been the top checked-out book of any format for the past three years.
Below are the top 10 checkouts from The Seattle Public Library in five categories for 2025, from Jan. 1 through Nov. 30 (data does not include renewals). As always, SPL values and protects patron privacy, and all checkout data is anonymous.
Most popular adult fiction physical books
See more at below link: ebooks, audiobooks, and more…
Continue/Read Original Article Here: What Seattle read in 2025: Seattle Public Library’s most popular books | The Seattle Times
#eBooks #Fiction #NonFiction #SeattlePublicLibrary #SPLOrg #TheSeattleTimes #TopCheckouts #Washington #WhatSeattleReadHow Seattle, King County libraries get books into your hands
How Seattle, King County libraries get books into your hands
Nov. 2, 2025 at 6:00 am, Updated Nov. 2, 2025 at 6:01 am
Tony Lauricella, automated materials handling system lead, dumps a tote of books into a singulator to be sorted at Seattle Public Library’s Maintenance and Operations Center in Georgetown on Sept. 11. (Karen Ducey / The Seattle Times)
1 of 11 | Tony Lauricella, automated materials handling system lead, dumps a tote of books into a singulator to be sorted at Seattle Public Library’s Maintenance and Operations Center in Georgetown on Sept. 11. (Karen Ducey / The Seattle Times)
By Sara Jean Green, Seattle Times staff reporter
Under a pitch-black sky, Jason Hayes and Chris Little loaded stacks of blue storage totes into box trucks parked outside a Georgetown warehouse that, up until a few years ago, housed luxury sports cars.
On this particular Tuesday, Hayes would drive to Rainier Beach, Columbia City, Beacon Hill and Leschi while Little made stops downtown and at seven sites in the northeast part of the city.
Hayes manages the Seattle Public Library’s materials distribution and fleet services, coordinating drivers who fan out every day to deliver totes filled with books to 26 library branches. Little, a library driver for 28 years, said the “bread-and-butter” of his job is the mobile library, the unofficial 27th branch that holds pop-ups at Seattle Housing Authority buildings and housing complexes for seniors and people with disabilities.
“It’s getting the library to people who can’t get out,” he said. “‘It’s like Christmas once a month’ — that’s what people literally say.”
Hayes and Little are two of the 18 library employees who work out of the Maintenance and Operations Center, a nearly 20,000-square-foot industrial warehouse on Corson Avenue South. Known as the MOC, it serves as the Seattle Public Library’s hidden hub, where an average of 10,000 books a day begin their journeys across the city, with 60% of them destined to fill online holds and the remainder returning to their home branches.
In an industrial park 25 miles to the east, off Interstate 90 in the tiny, unincorporated community of Preston, the King County Library System’s distribution center handles three times the daily volume of books processed through Seattle’s central sorter and serves 50 branches across a vast geography, from Skykomish to Algona.
A borrowing agreement between the Seattle and King County library systems — first signed in 1943 — meansresidents can borrow from both.
For library patrons, it can seem as if books magically appear on hold shelves in their neighborhood branches. But the infrastructure, technology and logistics involved in moving books — along with CDs, DVDs and mobile Wi-Fi hot spots — reflects the value placed on public libraries and is indicative of the Seattle area’s literary culture. The two libraries’ digital collections of audiobooks and e-books are attracting even more readers who prefer listening and scrolling to turning pages.
An abundance of books — and e-books
The Seattle Public Library and the King County Library System are beloved institutions with a combined collection of 6.8 million copies of physical and digital books. E-books and audiobooks are gaining in popularity but have yet to surpass demand for bound and printed copies. Source: https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/GWj9m/
Seattle Public Library, King County Library System (Fiona Martin / The Seattle Times)
The two library systems are part of a larger ecosystem, said Stesha Brandon, Seattle Public Library’s literature and humanities program manager. Our region boasts numerous local authors and “a committed community of readers” who shop at local bookstores, attend readings, take part in programming, use libraries and support library levies, she said.
“It really is the kind of place where we kind of breathe literature,” Brandon said. “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.”
Continue/Read Original Article: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/how-seattle-king-county-libraries-get-books-into-your-hands/
#2025 #America #Books #Education #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Reading #Science #SeattlePublicLibrary #Technology #TheSeattleTimes #UnitedStates
Jacky KapadiaThe Heart of Seattle's Community.
The iconic, modern architecture of the Seattle Public Library's Central Library. Its distinctive geometric glass and steel facade stands out against the backdrop of surrounding skyscrapers, showcasing a blend of contemporary design and urban landscape. The angled, diamond-patterned glass panels create a visually striking effect, while the street-level view highlights the building's integration within the city's bustling environment.
#SeattlePublicLibrary, #SeattleArchitecture, #LibraryLove, #Bookworm, #ModernArchitecture, #UrbanLandscape, #Cityscape, #PacificNorthwest, #WashingtonState, #TravelPhotography, #LandmarkBuilding, #ArchitecturalPhotography, #DesignInspiration, #PublicSpaces, #CommunityHub, #KnowledgeIsPower, #BooksAndBeyond
The iconic, modern architecture of the Seattle Public Library's Central Library. Its distinctive geometric glass and steel facade stands out against the backdrop of surrounding skyscrapers, showcasing a blend of contemporary design and urban landscape. The angled, diamond-patterned glass panels create a visually striking effect, while the street-level view highlights the building's integration within the city's bustling environment.
#SeattlePublicLibrary, #SeattleArchitecture, #LibraryLove, #Bookworm, #ModernArchitecture, #UrbanLandscape, #Cityscape, #PacificNorthwest, #WashingtonState, #TravelPhotography, #LandmarkBuilding, #ArchitecturalPhotography, #DesignInspiration, #PublicSpaces, #CommunityHub, #KnowledgeIsPower, #BooksAndBeyond
RonCode Red (It really is this color).
#SeattlePublicLibrary #Travel #TravelPhotography #Seattle #Abstract #UrbanPhotography
#SeattlePublicLibrary #Travel #TravelPhotography #Seattle #Abstract #UrbanPhotography
TengrainYou can also participate in the #BooksUnbanned project from the #SeattlePublicLibrary: https://www.spl.org/programs-and-services/teens/books-unbanned
DoomsdaysCW#Seattle #PublicLibrary goes low-tech after #cyberattack
Clare McGrane
June 07, 2024
"Creative solutions
While the attack crippled key systems, the library's 27 branches are still open, hosting events and checking out physical materials.
"For 10 days after the attack, checkouts were done manually with a #PencilAndPaper. Librarians wrote down patrons' library card numbers and cataloged each item borrowed on stacks of forms. One joked that they were back in 1990.
"Now staff have cobbled together a temporary solution that relies on Microsoft Excel, moving forward in time to 1995.
"'I just scan your card into the spreadsheet,' said Spenser Hoyt, demonstrating the check-out process. Hoyt is the borrower services operations manager at the library's central branch.
"'We are able to use our fancy RFID tag technology, so all I have to do is set [the book] on the pad... and it is 'checked out' to you," Hoyt said.
"Hoyt puts air quotes around the phrase "checked out" because the item isn't technically logged in the library's cataloging system. For now, the spreadsheet acts as a record of checkouts that will be uploaded into that system when it's back online.
"One wrinkle in this work-around: There's no way to check materials back into the library's collection. (SPL is asking patrons to hold on any books or other materials until they can process them again. The system doesn't charge late fees.)"
Seattle Worldcon 2025One of Seattle’s most daring structures is its library. Described as “the most exciting new building it has been my honor to review” by The New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp, this hulking geometric geometric mass of glass and steel is one of downtown’s most distinctive buildings. The central branch of the Seattle Public Library opened its doors in 2004, but the design will make you feel like you’re visiting a sci-fi utopia of the future.
“Seattle Central Library” by Andrew Smith is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.The building is representative of architect Rem Koolhaas’ distinctive style, with clean lines, tons of natural lighting, and large scale. Inside, visitors can experience the unique Books Spiral, which displays the library’s entire nonfiction collection in a continuous wheelchair-accessible ramp; the gooey Red Floor, where 13 shades of red paint create a sense of entering the beating heart of the building; and the Zine Collection, home to over 30,000 examples of zines, minicomics, and indie publications.
At an eight-minute walk from the conference center, the Central Library makes for a great excursion during Worldcon.
https://seattlein2025.org/2024/10/09/around-seattle-seattle-central-library/
Andrew Smith
Explore Andrew Smith’s 683 photos on Flickr!
Seattle Worldcon 2025Around Seattle: Seattle Central Library: The flagship branch of the Seattle Public Library system is a futuristic crystal palace designed by renowned architect Rem Koolhaas. … (#RemKoolhaas #SeattleCentralLibrary #SeattlePublicLibrary)
Full post: https://seattlein2025.org/2024/10/09/around-seattle-seattle-central-library/
