King County Library System - Director's Report

King County Library System
                                   Director’s Report
                                            July 2021
REOPENING UPDATE
As of July 14, all 50 locations have reopened for in-
building service, with most locations open five days
per week, Tuesday through Saturday. Services will be
modified at first and will expand over time; current
services include browsing the collection, using a
computer, printer, copier or scanner, and checking
out holds. All locations providing Curbside to Go and
express holds have concluded these services.
                                                           Fairwood Library patrons leaving notes
The staff at Redmond library created a welcome back        about what they missed during the
video that was shared on social media. This video          building closure
featured 30 staff members and welcomed patrons back
in 15 languages.

Patrons can learn more about the path to reopening at https://kcls.org/reopening/.

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
                              Government Relations Manager John Sheller attended a
                              ribbon-cutting for the new King County Elections ballot box at
                              the Kent Panther Lake Library on July 15. He was joined by Julie
                              Wise, King County Director of Elections, and Councilmember
                              Dave Upthegrove from the 5th District. This is the 23rd ballot
                              box placed at a KCLS library.

PROGRAMS AND SERVICES
Heat wave response – In response to the unprecedented heat wave that hit the Pacific Northwest
during the final days of June, KCLS opened 10 branches as neighborhood cooling centers on a day
they would normally be closed, providing patrons a welcome respite from the heat. Special thanks
to library staff who modified their schedules to work on that Monday, members of the KCLS
Leadership Team as well as Service Center staff who worked at various locations. Thanks also to
Jenny Engstrom and Angie Benedetti for coordinating the staff volunteers; to ITS for ensuring PCs
were operating, and FMS for making sure air conditioning was functioning and that bottled water
was delivered to all locations.

Patrons resting in the Auburn cooling center       Woodinville had nearly 200 patrons in the first
                                                   three hours

KOMO news featured the Issaquah Library in this story about the extreme temperatures in the
Issaquah Highlands: https://komonews.com/news/local/issaquah-highlands-reach-scorching-116-
degrees-knocks-out-power-for-thousands

Issaquah Story Walk – Between June 13 and July 2, the children’s book Drawn Together was
featured in a StoryWalk along the Rainier Trail in downtown Issaquah. Drawn Together,
written by Minh Lê and illustrated by Dan Santat, is a recent winner of the Asian Pacific
American Librarians Association’s award for Literature/Picture Book. It is an endearing story of
a young grandson and his Thai-speaking grandfather, who overcome their communication
barriers through art. The story path in Issaquah ultimately leads to the library, where patrons
can borrow books inspired by the walk. The event was made possible by PopUp StoryWalk and
the City of Issaquah, in collaboration with the Issaquah Library and the Downtown Issaquah
Association.

OTHER
KCLS’ new Director of Collection Management Services (CMS) is Tracey Thompson. Tracey
comes to KCLS most recently from Pierce County Library System (PCLS) where she oversaw the
Collection Management Department; there she was responsible for the team that ordered,
received, processed and cataloged all materials, both print and electronic, for the 20 branches
in their System. Prior to working at PCLS, she served at the Metropolitan Library System in
Oklahoma City and the New Mexico State University Library.

Community Engagement & Economic Development Manager, Audrey Barbakoff successfully
defended her doctoral dissertation at the USC Rossier School of Education and earned a Doctor of
Education in Organizational Change and Leadership degree. The topic of her dissertation was
building organizational capacity for implementing a community-led approach to library
programming in order to increase equity, diversity and inclusion.

KUDOS
Recent patron comments:

  On behalf of the Vashon Island community, thank you for providing cooling space for those
  in need. What a gift!

  So good to be back in the library again. So good to browse the shelves and book kiosks. I felt
  safe with the new layout; sorry that some things had to go but so glad  familiar

faces meet me at the door and at checkout. Librarians knew exactly where to fetch my book
club book – thanks! Was glad to see all safety protocols followed - no issue at Kent!! Will still
use a tablet for reading – thanks to Libby. Thanks to all!!

Thank you for returning my call about the fact that we could not launch the close-
captions/subtitles on the KCLS copy of “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.” Thanks to your
suggestion, I got a prompt response from Ask KCLS. Your colleague . . . said she has put a
hold on this film and, when it becomes available, she’ll examine it and let us know whether it
has close-captions or subtitles. We watch a lot of DVDs from KCLS and choose those with
captions. Captioning is so valuable to folks with hearing loss/impairment. The author of a
book my wife read recently (Matt Haig, Midnight Library) wrote “Librarians are soul-
enhanced search engines.” We think you’re a lot more than that, but it surely applies to this
positive experience!

“Dearest Librarians, Woah, this library had lots of DVD’s and maybe 3, 5…..this many (10
fingers). 3, 4, 5 lots of them books. I LOVE it!” ~Maren Age 3 after her first visit inside the
library (since March, 2020 so really within her living memory) Needless to say she is very
excited to visit! Thank you for keeping us sane during this pandemic!