Talk:Seattle Public Library

Untitled

Official history: http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=about_history_history

--Lukobe 19:14, 10 Jun 2004 (UTC)

History of size and circulation

I'd be interested in us gathering citable numbers to display the growth of the system. Here's one data point: "In 1916, 67,097 people borrowed books from the library—the number of borrowers constituting 19 per cent of the population of the city." At that time the system appears to have had more total points of contact with the public than today, though fewer branches as such: "the central library, 9 branch libraries, 8 drug store deposit stations, 32 fire-engine houses, 420 school rooms in 77 schools, 3 play grounds and 8 special deposit stations." Citable to Fleming, S. E. (1919), Civics (supplement): Seattle King County, Seattle: Seattle Public Schools. p. 43. - Jmabel | Talk 08:06, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

• Now cited in the article

More data points, from Peterson, Lorin & Davenport, Noah C. (1950), Living in Seattle, Seattle: Seattle Public Schools;

• Now cited in the article

• p. 178
  • Some library associations as early as the 1860s.
  • 1890, public library founded with about 8,000 books, operates out of various rental spaces.
  • 1899: established in Yesler Mansion, 25,000 books by the time it burned in 1901.
  • Carnegie gave $200,000 for new building; half was spent to buy the block at Fourth and Madison. Library opened in 1906.
• p. 181
  • In 1948, circulating collection included 3,500 phonograph records, which were borrowed a total of 53,000 times. Also in the circulating collection , "6000 pieces of sheet music, 6000 song books and piano albums, and 5000 books about music" and "Two hundred reproductions of famous paintings and 27,000 other pictures" which "brighten many a Seattle home".
  • In 1950, the library subscribed to "two hundred newspapers (mostly from this state) and seventeen hundred periodicals."
• p. 182
  • In 1932, four million books borrowed in a population of 368,000. Slight drop as the Depression eased. In 1948, 2.4 million books borrowed in a population of 463,000.
  • In 1950, 12 branch libraries (which, from the list/map on p. 184, appears to include the Central Library).
• p. 183
  • Some founding dates for branches:
    • Ballard Branch (as the independent library of Ballard) predated the 1907 annexation of Ballard.
    • Fremont Branch established in a rented room, 1903
    • Green Lake Branch established in a rented store, 1905
    • University Branch established in "the old Methodist Church", 1906
  • Carnegie money for branches all came 1910–1921.
  • In 1950, still 12 "book stations" for areas with no branch as such, in "rented shop space, clubhouse, or hospital, have small collections of books which are changed frequently as the patrons 'read them out.'" Open half-time; serve 1/6 as many readers as the branch libraries.
  • In 1950, bookmobile with 2,500 books, two dozen spots serviced.
• p. 184
  • Branches as of 1950: Ballard, Capitol Hill, Columbia, Fremont, Green Lake, Greenwood Phinney, Magnolia, Queen Anne, University, West Seattle, Yesler [now Douglass-Truth]
  • "Book stations" as of 1950 [most are branches by 2000]: Aloha [I think now merged into Capitol Hill], Beacon Hill, Fauntleroy, High Point, Holly Park, Montlake, Ravenna (now Northeast Branch), Wallingford
• p. 185
  • 70,000 book loans in 1948 to county patrons outside city (through King County Library System)

- Jmabel | Talk 00:37, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

From Seattle Public Library Annual Report 1915, p.10

• Circulation: 649,611 in 1910, 1,395,239 in 1915
• Volumes: 128,309 in 1910, 254,636 in 1915
• Borrowers: 41,963 in 1910, 66,186 in 1915
• Seattle population: 237,194 in 1910, 330,834 in 1915
• Appropriation (not sure what this means): 139,525 in 1910, 170,490 in 1915

- Jmabel | Talk 02:57, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

December 8th 2012: Wikipedia Loves Libraries Seattle

The 2012 Wikipedia Loves Libraries in Seattle is planned. It's Saturday, December 8, 2012, 10am-3pm at the downtown Seattle Public Library, and we'd love to have you there. Also, beforehand you can come to Wikipedia:Meetup/SeattleWLL/2012#Activities_and_Editing_Subjects to give your ideas about what to edit. Maximilianklein will be in town to running this. I should also be there for a couple of hours. - Jmabel | Talk 17:55, 23 November 2012 (UTC)

... Finding list of English prose fiction  By Seattle (Washington). Public library

http://books.google.com/books?id=0cw_AAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Rajmaan (talk) 22:25, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

buildings and dates

For some reason I can't find any mention of the year the Downtown Carnegie Library closed, or about where the library went when the 1960 building was being built on the block, or any mention of the interim library on Pike Street that was used while the current building was built, or about the storage of the bulk of the collection under Queen Anne Hill during that time. Since a number of items important to me personally disappeared during that period, I am particularly eager to see it mentioned, but in any event I think these facts are at least as deserving of mention as the Collins Block and Rialto sojourns. Either here or at Seattle Central Library would do just fine. I'm currently writing an article on the latter for the Esperanto Wikipedia (it's my contribution for today under the #100wikidays challenge). --Haruo (talk) 17:01, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Haruo A few years ago I looked for opening, closing, and location information for all existing branches of the SPL. I could not find anything, and the library itself seemed to have no central record. What you want is the same thing for closed libraries - I really would not know where to get that.

Good luck in your search. Sorry that I cannot help. Good luck also in #100wikidays! I think about it but am not ready to start myself. Blue Rasberry (talk) 21:44, 23 January 2016 (UTC)