News & Stories

Research shows that being involved in early learning programs yields lifelong benefits. But what happens when there aren’t enough spots available at local learning centers?

The State of Washington estimates that only about a quarter of children ages birth to five are served by licensed child care or preschool. Many working families require other options – particularly families of color.

The library plays an essential role in filling this gap. According to CiKeithia Pugh, early learning program manager at The Seattle Public Library, library programs are critical to supporting access and expanding equity.

Programs like Kaleidoscope Play and Learn, supported in part by Foundation donors, offer more than just a free space for early education. They provide families with connections to a host of resources.

The program itself offers drop-in play groups for children from birth through age five. The library partners with community organizations to bring trained early childhood facilitators to work with children, parents, and caregivers on developmental activities.

During the pandemic, the Denise Louie Education Center presented virtual weekly sessions. Play and Learn is now back at library branches, in partnership with organizations including Chinese Information and Service Center and Villa Comunitaria.

Participants receive books and storytelling kits along with customized materials to address the needs that families and partner organizations identify. That includes art supplies, lacing boards to work on fine motor skills, or lessons delivered in Chinese, Spanish, or Vietnamese.

Partnership with community has always been a key element of library early learning programs, which are often co-designed with partner organizations. But Pugh said the changing landscape since the pandemic has only reinforced the importance of building trusted relationships.

“The library is welcoming people back, but we’re also being welcomed by partners to listen and learn,” she said. “And families want to know how they can connect past just this one program. We’ve been having candid conversations that help us ponder, what else could we be doing?”

Families report dealing with a childcare system with more demands and less resources than ever. Intentionally focusing on working with communities impacted by systemic racism, and with organizations that are deeply embedded in those communities rather than those with the largest profiles, helps the library meet people where they are.

Librarians have seen increases in requests for presentations on library services to community groups, field trips to branches, and library card sign-ups, Pugh said. Families have more opportunities to hear about programs and services which might benefit them. More broadly, the library better serves its role as a trusted space where everyone is welcome to learn and grow.

“Once you get into the library for one reason, a whole other world opens up,” Pugh said. “Play and Learn can be a gateway.”

Seventy-two schools. Nine semi-final showdowns. And it all culminated with madness in March at the Central Library, for the return of the Global Reading Challenge City Finals!

The longtime program, supported by Foundation donors, provides more than 8,000 books for fourth- and fifth-graders at Seattle Public Schools, who form trivia teams and compete using their reading knowledge. This month, busloads of students have arrived at the Central Library for action-packed semi-final challenges, with families, teachers, and librarians enjoying the program’s first in-person competitions in three years.

“We celebrate reading as an achievement, the way we celebrate sports,” said Jenny Craig, the Global Reading Challenge librarian at The Seattle Public Library. “We facilitate teamwork across grades and strengthen school traditions.”

Teams choose their own nicknames – from the Knowledgeable Narwhals to the Teeny Tiny Timothys – and have been filling the auditorium at the Central Library with colorful signs and cheering supporters. The students are “remembering to keep fun front-and-center” at each event, Craig said.

Librarians selected this year’s books to be of high interest to young readers, especially those who may not have as much experience reading or easy access to books at homes. The selection centers authors who write about their own lived experiences and feature characters of color, LGBTQ+ characters, and characters with diverse abilities.

Books are also made available in a variety of formats, including as audiobooks, e-books, and in languages other than English. Extra resources, including more books for home libraries, classroom book group support, and field trips, are provided for Title 1 schools.

The program also serves as an introduction for elementary school students to the resources and values of their public library, Craig said. A highlight of this year has been teams exploring the Central Library, sometimes for the first time, after their semi-finals.

The Dewey Decimal Dragonflies from Thornton Creek Elementary took home the top prize at the final on March 21. But there were already thousands of winners – and thousands more beloved books – across the city.

Thank you to Northwest Literacy Foundation, Rotary Club of Ballard, and many other generous individuals who support the Global Reading Challenge.

The Genealogy Collection of The Seattle Public Library aims to provide patrons with access to resources that expand their knowledge of their family history. These resources are increasingly available at the Library for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities thanks to the dedicated efforts of genealogy librarians.

In 2022, Foundation support helped add new records on African American history to the collection. These include indexes of marriages, voter registrations, military service, emancipations, and more information about free-born residents and freedmen in Virginia. Past issues of The Baltimore Sun, focused on African American news in the 19th and early 20th centuries, are now available as well.

According to genealogy librarian Mahina Oshie, the Library has faced challenges acquiring the depth of records for BIPOC communities that are available for communities with European heritage. Traditionally, the collection has relied on donations of books from individuals and historical societies.

The addition of an annual budget for the collection to directly purchase materials, supported by the Foundation and special gift funds, has enabled genealogy librarians to seek out more diverse materials.

“We look for materials that we can use to support researching free people of color ancestors, formerly enslaved ancestors, and their enslavers,” said Oshie. This requires scouring announcements from genealogical societies, tracking new publications, and soliciting recommendations from patrons and genealogists.

For example, another 2022 addition were social histories from the University of Hawai’i reflecting the culture of Native Hawaiians as well as African Americans, Filipinos, Koreans, and other immigrants. While these titles are not nominally considered works of genealogy, said Oshie, the expanded scope of the collection allows for a wider range of enriching resources for patrons.

Learn more about the Genealogy Collection, including how to research records online or make an appointment with a genealogy librarian, here. Watch our video interview with genealogy librarians Mahina Oshie and John LaMont below:

The Seattle Public Library Foundation joins the literary community, locally and internationally, in mourning the loss of Jonathan Raban.

Jonathan was an acclaimed travel writer and novelist, and an iconic Seattleite. He was awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction, the Governor’s Award of the State of Washington, and The Stranger Genius Award in literature, among many other honors. In addition, Jonathan was a great supporter of the Library. He served as an essay judge for the Foundation’s Stim Bullitt Civic Courage Scholarship for nearly a decade.

“Jonathan deeply valued the role of writing in our community and was a committed champion of young writers applying for the scholarship,” said Foundation CEO Jonna Ward. “When he saw a spark of talent, he would move mountains to help. We are truly grateful for his contributions to our city as a writer and as an ambassador for literacy.”

He is survived by his daughter Julia. His memoir, “Father and Son,” will be published later this year. Read more about Jonathan’s life and career in The Seattle Times.

The Lake City Branch was full of students of all ages on a rainy Tuesday evening. Homework Help, the donor-supported afterschool program, was back in-person.

Tim, a longtime Homework Help volunteer tutor, said that demand has been high each evening since the program resumed in September. He recently increased his volunteer time from one to two days a week to keep up with the need.

“I can definitely tell there’s been a big gap” in learning during the pandemic, Tim said. “And here, we help you get caught up.”

Tim was working with Auna and Marayam, two high school students attending the program for the first time. They are seeking to increase their math and chemistry skills, and had heard about Homework Help at school. The students enjoy working with the Homework Help tutors.

“They’re inviting and nice,” Auna said, “and I’m getting work done.”

Students are working hard to make up for the gaps that COVID created. A national assessment released in October recorded the steepest decline in math scores in three decades. Reading skills have fallen dramatically as well.

Nancy Garrett, Teen Services Librarian at the Lake City Branch, said about 25 students come to Homework Help every day. It runs two days a week for three hours at a time with 20 regular volunteers. Homework Help returned to six branches this fall: Columbia, Douglass-Truth, High Point, Lake City, NewHolly, and Rainier Beach, with plans to expand the program next year.

Students spend time on whatever assignments they bring, rotating between tutors if needed. While students are in the branch they take advantage of the public spaces, and connect with community partners, like the Hunger Intervention Program, which offers free afterschool meals.

Ayehu, a mother of three who lives in the neighborhood, has seen a noticeable impact on her kids’ work with the return of Homework Help. She brought her family to Lake City for afterschool assistance before the pandemic and tried using virtual tutoring the past two years. “This is so much better, in person,” Ayehu said.

Librarians have observed increased demand for virtual options for older students, while the younger students generally prefer in-person assistance. Since late 2020, Seattle students have joined more than 4,000 live one-on-one sessions on Tutor.com, a donor-supported program. Online tutoring has been popular with high school students, English language learners, and those without regular transportation.

The Library plans to keep Tutor.com in place, including sessions in Spanish and Vietnamese, as it expands Homework Help to more branches. This hybrid format gives more students the ability to choose what kind of tutoring works best for them.

Some students grew up with Homework Help and have used it throughout their educational journey. Hermela, a first-year student at UW Bothell, has been benefitting from the program since second grade. She has missed the in-person connections and sense of community the program creates. She plans to continue using Homework Help for support with her college assignments.

“The tutors here help me understand my work in so many different ways,” Hermela said. “I just love Homework Help.”

Visit spl.org/homework to learn more about Homework Help and how to volunteer. Your gift to the Foundation is an investment in Seattle students. Donate today!

Read more from the Foundation’s Winter 2022 newsletter, The Next Chapter.

As part of our shared advocacy work, the Foundation and the Friends of the Seattle Public Library invited candidates running in Seattle’s Washington State Legislative Districts to take a short survey about library issues.

Below are the responses from the newly elected members of the State House of Representatives for the 46th, 37th, and 36th Districts (find out what district you live in here).

And join our advocacy efforts by signing up for the Public Library Action Network here. You’ll receive updates on policy decisions and funding opportunities that impact The Seattle Public Library at the local, state, and federal levels, and learn about how you can take action to help keep the Library strong.

46th Legislative District: Darya Farivar

Nearest Seattle Public Library Branch: Lake City

Which of the following Library programs or services do you most value? (select up to five)

• Books and collections (i.e. Peak Picks, e-books, audio books, physical materials)
• Cultural programming (i.e. author lectures, Seattle Reads, Seattle Writes, Short Story Dispenser)
• Immigrant/refugee resources (i.e. English for Speakers of Other Languages, citizenship classes, Somali Books)
• Job skills (i.e. technology skills classes, Your Next Job, writing assistance, resume support)
• Library Equal Access Program (accessible programs, services, and assistive resources)
• Older adult programs (i.e. book groups, Next Chapter retirement planning, Technology for Beginners)
• Seattle history (i.e. archives, genealogy, Special Collections)
• Small business assistance (i.e. business research tools, nonprofit support, legal assistance/access)
• Youth programs (i.e. Story Time, Summer of Learning, Global Reading Challenge, Homework Help, virtual tutoring)
• Other (please specify)

If you believe Washington State should play a role in funding local public libraries, what types of projects should the State consider funding? (select all that apply)

37th Legislative District: Chipalo Street

Nearest Seattle Public Library Branch: Douglass-Truth

Which of the following Library programs or services do you most value? (select up to five)

• Books and collections (i.e. Peak Picks, e-books, audio books, physical materials)
• Cultural programming (i.e. author lectures, Seattle Reads, Seattle Writes, Short Story Dispenser)
• Immigrant/refugee resources (i.e. English for Speakers of Other Languages, citizenship classes, Somali Books)
• Job skills (i.e. technology skills classes, Your Next Job, writing assistance, resume support)
• Library Equal Access Program (accessible programs, services, and assistive resources)
• Older adult programs (i.e. book groups, Next Chapter retirement planning, Technology for Beginners)
• Seattle history (i.e. archives, genealogy, Special Collections)
• Small business assistance (i.e. business research tools, nonprofit support, legal assistance/access)
• Youth programs (i.e. Story Time, Summer of Learning, Global Reading Challenge, Homework Help, virtual tutoring)
• Other (please specify)

If you believe Washington State should play a role in funding local public libraries, what types of projects should the State consider funding? (select all that apply)

36th Legislative District: Julia Reed

Nearest Seattle Public Library Branch: Queen Anne

Which of the following Library programs or services do you most value? (select up to five)

• Books and collections (i.e. Peak Picks, e-books, audio books, physical materials)
• Cultural programming (i.e. author lectures, Seattle Reads, Seattle Writes, Short Story Dispenser)
• Immigrant/refugee resources (i.e. English for Speakers of Other Languages, citizenship classes, Somali Books)
• Job skills (i.e. technology skills classes, Your Next Job, writing assistance, resume support)
• Library Equal Access Program (accessible programs, services, and assistive resources)
• Older adult programs (i.e. book groups, Next Chapter retirement planning, Technology for Beginners)
• Seattle history (i.e. archives, genealogy, Special Collections)
• Small business assistance (i.e. business research tools, nonprofit support, legal assistance/access)
• Youth programs (i.e. Story Time, Summer of Learning, Global Reading Challenge, Homework Help, virtual tutoring)
• Other (please specify)

If you believe Washington State should play a role in funding local public libraries, what types of projects should the State consider funding? (select all that apply)

Reading aloud is key for early literacy. Studies show that seeing and hearing words simultaneously improves vocabulary and reading rates. This is especially important for children with disabilities, English-language learners, and others with barriers to reading.

“Read-Alongs” are MP3-enabled picture books that read aloud at the push of a button. And thanks to donor support, hundreds are now available at Library branches to help more kids listen as they read (pictured at left at the Central Library).

The new Read-Along books have built-in equipment that doesn’t require CDs, computers, or even internet access. Readers press play inside the book to start an audio recording as they go through the text. Some are also equipped with “learning mode,” an option to hear questions about the book when they’re done reading to build comprehension skills.

It’s a great example of how donor support drives innovative new ways to add diverse titles, engage young readers, and expand literacy. The Foundation was grateful to provide flexible grant funding to the Library during the pandemic to pilot this new format.

And the Library hopes to build on its Read-Along success in 2023. A proposed expansion would add 400 more books in English as well as 300 bilingual Spanish and 300 bilingual Chinese Read-Alongs, the two highest-used world languages for children’s materials.

We need your continued support to increase the Read-Along collection and provide more young readers, particularly those facing barriers to literacy, with a new way to read aloud. Check out the Read-Along titles currently available in the Library catalog, and help us add 1,000 more next year with a donation today!

South End Stories, an anti-racist arts education program founded by Donte Felder and his team, including his father, Dr. Donald Felder, celebrates the importance of storytelling and playful learning. This is especially important for public school students who don’t engage as well with traditional classroom instruction.

This year, they partnered with the Library to plan the donor-supported Summer of Learning, choosing a theme that reflects their mission: Superhero Summer.

Through months of planning, South End Stories and Library staff worked with local artists to create four heroes with superpowers relatable for young readers: helping their community, active listening, learning and sharing new perspectives, and using art to express emotions and solve problems.

Children could check out reading recommendations from each hero, pick up illustrated Superhero Summer action guides, and find book trackers and activity game boards at their local Library branch. And attendees of a pilot kickoff book fair at one summer school site received 10 free books to start or add to their home libraries, with a focus on authors of color and high interest books that are culturally relevant to the students.

“The kids were super excited,” said Amy Twito, Informal Learning Program Manager at the Library and the staff lead for Summer of Learning. “One student exclaimed, ‘Wow! This is the best day ever!’ as he picked out his 10 books.”

That sense of enthusiasm is why South End Stories centers superhero themes in much of its curriculum. Donte, a longtime educator at Orca K-8 School, remembers walking to the Columbia Branch as a child to pick out piles of novels and comic books. “These big superhero ideas—‘with great power comes great responsibility’—really helped define me as a man and as a teacher,” he said.

Dr. Felder saw the impact of empowering narratives in his career with Seattle Public Schools and Casey Family Programs, where he focused on improving education for children involved in corrections and the foster care system.

“Arts integrated with great teaching produces better outcomes,” he observed. “Superheroes help uplift what children think of themselves. When they enter a classroom, they start with a belief that I belong and not why am I here.”

South End Stories has consistently found that connecting lessons to pop cultural phenomena like superheroes captures the attention of students who don’t usually have an affinity for reading, Donte said. This outcome advances the Seattle Public Schools goal to improve literacy among Black elementary school students and fits well with the Library’s goals for equity based programming.

“South End Stories has been a wonderful planning partner for the Summer of Learning program due to their focus on racial equity and social emotional learning, and their commitment to arts education,” said Twito.

And the Felders hope that the collaboration continues to grow, bringing more art—and the students it inspires—into classrooms and Library branches. As Dr. Felder said, “We have a great opportunity to spearhead not just a Summer of Learning, but learning all year, in partnership with the Library.”

The Seattle Public Library is in a period of transition—both in how it operates in the aftermath of COVID-19, and under the leadership of a new Executive Director and Chief Librarian, Tom Fay.

Tom was unanimously selected by the SPL Board of Trustees in March, after serving as Interim Chief Librarian since April 2021. He previously served as Director of Library Programs since 2015.

We asked Tom a few questions about his perspective on library work and his vision for what’s next:

How did you first get involved with libraries?
Growing up in a small rural community in Nevada, my local library was a constant in my life and I loved to read. About the time I turned 16, the town librarian asked me if I wanted to work in the library in the late afternoon and evening as a page.

I was working construction jobs and we were generally done by 2 p.m. due to the heat in the summers. So, I was pretty excited about a job with air conditioning. I spent more than 32 years in Nevada libraries, and retired from Las Vegas-Clark County Library as the Chief Operating Officer/Deputy Director.

What were your main objectives at the beginning of your tenure, and how have they progressed?
I first focused on moving the Library from constant pandemic-era crisis management to more normalized operations and pacing. This includes getting as many services and programs back up and running for our patrons as possible.

I have also focused on meeting and talking to many people as I introduce  myself to the community. I’ve dedicated the last three months to planning for our future work, including hiring a foresight consultant to work with the Library on identifying plausible and preferred futures for which we can plan and move towards.

What do you want Seattle residents to understand about the Library and how it’s evolving?
Libraries are one of the most adaptive institutions due to the diversity and engagement of library patrons. The Library is always evolving with the needs of our patrons and our community because we listen and we adapt.

The foresight planning process we began this summer will ask our staff, our community, and our stakeholders to think of what libraries can and should be 10 years from now. Are we looking at more contactless, self-service kiosks? Will librarians harness the power of artificial intelligence to serve our patrons’ information needs? Will libraries hold a space in the Metaverse and if so, how do we make sure there is equitable access to virtual reality technology and spaces? So many possibilities…

Are there any Library programs and services that you feel especially exemplify this evolution?
During the pandemic, you saw some evolution of the Library as a hybrid institution, providing program delivery both in-person and virtually. We have begun adding 24-hour lockers at branches so that patrons can access their materials at any time convenient for them. Our student tutoring solutions have expanded from providing in-person Homework Help at some branches to also providing Tutor.com, an online platform that provides real tutors online to help students in three languages.

As the Library’s physical spaces reopen fully, what challenges and opportunities lie ahead?
It has been 25 years since the 1998 Libraries for All campaign that built up the system we enjoy today, with our world-renowned Central Library and 26 neighborhood libraries. We maintain our buildings well, but they were built for services and programs from nearly three decades ago.

We have seven historic Carnegie-era locations that are over a century in age. It is once again time to invest in our physical spaces to make them welcoming, inclusive, and relevant for those today and for future generations.

The challenge for such large-scale improvements comes down to funding. We must be more creative than ever in finding and leveraging funding sources that combine public and private investments into our physical spaces to ensure relevance and enjoyment for another generation of Seattle readers and learners.

What do public libraries mean to our society?
Libraries are the most democratic institution in our city and our society. We are one of the pillars of an informed electorate, and today, with the amount of misinformation present in our country, our work is more necessary than ever. We must continue to amplify new voices and new thought, and we must protect the freedom to read, think, develop, and pursue happiness. There will be challenges on all fronts to library collections and services, because accurate information and the development of knowledge strike fear in authoritarians and tyrants.

What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year?
I really liked our Seattle Reads choice last year – “The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett. I found it an intriguing story and incredibly well-written. I think everyone will enjoy the 2022 Seattle Reads selection, “The House of Broken Angels” by Luis Alberto Urrea, as well.

As demand for social connections surged among immigrant and refugee communities during the pandemic, the Library turned to a trusted partner organization, Literacy Source.

The donor-supported English Conversation Circle program helps non-native English speakers increase language skills and develop cultural competencies. It aims to build abilities that can help participants accomplish their goals, whether in job searches or other aspects of American life.

“There’s definitely a big appetite for conversation,” said Carissa Hastings, an instructor at Literacy Source, “especially in communities that were already isolated and have only become more isolated.”

The Conversation Circle format gathers small groups of people to discuss a topic, ranging from travel and food to more serious issues like racial discrimination or cultural identity. Hastings said that the comfortable environment created by the students, staff, and volunteer instructors keeps people engaged. “The students are asking for these deeper topics because they feel safe,” she said. “It’s amazing to see them continually coming back, and sharing more, and sharing deeper.”

The program has proven more popular than ever. Despite taking place virtually, attendance increased every quarter last year, reaching an average of 21 people per session. One evening slot drew twice as many virtual participants compared to the same in-person program before the pandemic.

The flexibility of hosting on Zoom allowed more students to access the program, Hastings said. Traditional participation barriers like transportation and childcare are eliminated. And people from all over the world can participate. Students invite family members from Colombia, Somalia, South Korea, and beyond. “They don’t mind the time difference, they jump on anyway,” Hastings said.

More than 200 people participated in Conversation Circles last year, representing 40 countries and at least 28 languages. “My favorite part was the opportunity to discuss different topics with people from all over the planet,” said Wallace, a former Conversation Circle student from Brazil. “Those people provided me with a desire to visit, explore, and learn more about every single culture I’ve had contact with.”

The experience was so meaningful for Wallace that he chose to volunteer soon after he developed English fluency. “I decided to volunteer because of my fear of communicating,” he said. “The program team has guided me through roads that I haven’t explored before, and because of them, I decided to do the same for others.”

Volunteers like Wallace help run breakout rooms so students can get to know each other. Former students also help develop the programs and create activities and lessons that are engaging to foreign-born students. Wallace created several murder mystery games for his classes.

“On my day as a facilitator, I could see how the program really touches souls. No matter where you are from and your age, we are always open to learning through experiences,” Wallace said. “I will remember that until my heart stops beating.”

In 2021, 149 donors gave to the Foundation’s Equity & Access Fund, raising more than $400,000 specifically to expand equitable programming. Add your name by contributing here.