15 Seattle library branches will reduce their hours

Fifteen branches of the Seattle Public Library will reduce their hours beginning this week as part of budget cuts adopted last year by the Seattle City Council.

Eleven branches will be open 60 hours a week, seven days a week. For those branches, that's an increase of 5 hours a week, a move to provide services to library-goers at branches where hours are being reduced.

The council, in its budget negotiations, made a big priority of saving library hours. Members ended up restoring about $860,000 in cuts proposed by the mayor. Beginning Wednesday, the majority of library branches will be open just five days a week and will have reduced hours the days they are open. Currently, most are open six or seven days a week.

According to the American Library Association, Seattle with its central library and 26 branches is one of the top cities of its size in the nation for library visits — more than 6 million a year. Nearly one in 11 Seattle residents uses the library, which is at least double the rate of many other library systems in the country.

The reduction in hours is part of a $1.7 million cut to the library's 2010 budget because of the economy. Originally, former Mayor Greg Nickels asked the library to cut $2.6 million, but the council restored $860,000.

In addition to the cutback in library hours, the entire library system again will be closed for a week, Aug. 30 to Sept. 6. However, library officials say there will be no layoffs because vacancies have been left open.

Hours at the downtown Central Library will remain unchanged.

Seattle Public Library reports that library usage in the city has soared, from 4.5 million in-person and virtual visitors in 2000 to 13.2 million last year.

A 2008 survey of America's most-literate cities, determined by its library saturation, put Seattle fifth. Cleveland was first.

A usage survey by the Washington State Library found that, between 2007 and 2008, circulation in surveyed libraries, including Seattle's, rose 11 percent, and computer usage in the libraries grew almost 10 percent. The survey reported a 20 percent rise in virtual library visits, where people signed onto the library online.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com