This is the time of year when the sun sinks into the horizon earlier in the afternoon, the leaves change color and zombies roam the streets (at least during filming of Z Nation and on October 31). Some of us are prepping for Halloween: planning costumes, buying candy, spookifying the yard or, for some, battening down the hatches and making the house look vacant so no one rings the doorbell.

To put you in the mood here are 5 spooky songs from Freegal:

(Don’t Fear) The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult

Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon

Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr.

Monster Mash by Bobby “Boris” Picket

Thriller by Michael Jackson

Remember, you can download 5 songs from Freegal every week (with a library card). The calendar resets on Sunday evenings and then you can download 5 more. Plus, they don’t expire; you get to keep them forever.

A look back at the last year shows a robust and active library system and we are pretty proud of all that has been happening! There’s tons going on. Stargazing and storytelling, early literacy and local history, skills training and snowshoeing (to name a few). Activities at all the branches for everyone – from toddlers to older adults and everyone in between. Last year over 47,000 people attended our events. To give some perspective to that number, the Spokane Arena seats 14,000 – so more than three times the seating capacity of the arena attended events at the libraries! The admission/enrollment cost to attend those events? $0. (You can’t say that for many events at the arena!) Public libraries have a long history of investing in the community by offering no-cost educational advancement opportunities for anyone who walks through the doors.

Speaking of those doors, this year they are open more than they have been in the last 10 years! Because of the 2013 voter-approved library levy we’ve opened East Side, Hillyard and Indian Trail to 40 hours a week and customers are streaming through the doors. The increases in usage are staggering: East Side is showing a 46% increase over last year, Hillyard: 43% increase and Indian Trail: 21% increase! This partnership with the community to fund the hours increase has had a huge benefit on residents who now can come to the library when it’s convenient for them.

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” that quote, attributed to Aristotle, comes to mind when we think about the partnerships that have been forged in the last year and the resulting benefits to our community. One of the most notable partnerships we’ve entered into has been the Community Court project that is hosted by the library every Monday (since November, 2013).

Community Court at the Downtown Library.
Community Court at the Library is a pilot project that is modeled after a similar project in New York City. The idea is that individuals who commit low-level crimes in the downtown area are able to go to court at the library and are assigned community service and required meetings with social service providers. The social service providers are housed in the adjacent room to court. By using the library (a non-threatening, neutral location) the court has experienced a huge uptick in attendance and follow-through for participants, many of which “graduate” from the process and have assistance with getting their lives on track. Additionally the social service providers have found that, by working together in the same room, they can easily refer citizens to the help they need because it’s just at the next table over and not across town which is not easy to access when you have limited resources.

Beautifying and feeding Spokane with the Hillyard Seed Library.

This partnership started when a couple of passionate citizens approached us with the idea that we should have a seed library and hold seed-saving classes. They thought their request was far-fetched but it turns out that there are seed libraries hosted in public libraries in other parts of the country. We said, “yes!” Those passionate citizens became passionate library volunteers and sought seeds and funds so we could have an opening collection. We used an old card catalog to hold the seeds and the project was up and running. Since then 899 packets of seeds have checked out to customers. Just think of all the flowers, herbs and vegetables growing in Spokane from these free seeds!

What’s new?

Another way to look at the last year is to look at all the new things at the libraries. The partnerships listed above are definitely new. Here’s a short list of cool new stuff at the libraries:

• New library director, Andrew Chanse started in May, 2013
• New computer skills training opportunities with GaleCourses and Microsoft IT Academy
• New, increased open hours at three locations
• Downloadable magazines from Zinio
• Seed Library at Hillyard
• Community Court and social service providers at the Downtown Library
• Weekly Build! sessions at each library with building toys to engage young brains

What’s next?

We’re working closely with the Library Board of Trustees and City Hall to explore funding ideas for 2018 when the library levy expires. We’ve seen how positively the expanded hours have been received by the public and want to be sure to keep them available. We’re expanding our outside funding with an emphasis on what the Library Foundation and Friends of the Library can do to assist. We are spending more time out in the community so we can talk to individuals and groups about their lives and aspirations, both personally and for their community. We’ve started tailoring our programming and curriculum to more specifically meet those aspirations because we know that the library can play a role in making Spokane and its citizens successful.

Feedback

We’ve been getting outside the library walls more often recently. If you see us at a community event please stop by our table and chat with us. If you know of a community event that you think the library should attend please let us know also. Look for a customer satisfaction survey coming in the next month – we want to hear from you, because, after all, this is your library!