Seattle's Ever-Renewing Relationship with the Public Library

When threatened with a lockdown—which, given our recent bouts of snow and viral contagion, we’ve become somewhat accustomed to—Seattleites empty shelves citywide. Toilet paper at QFC. Kale at PCC. And Peak Picks at SPL, culled to the display stands’ bare wire frames.

Seattle Public Library’s monthslong Covid closure, during which employees hustled to extend due dates and offer curbside services, wasn’t the first time the library was forced to shut its doors. After a 1901 fire lit the Yesler Mansion and most of its 35,000 volumes aflame, the city’s dedication to its house of books surprised even benefactor Andrew Carnegie, who balked at the idea of

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