Librarians are sexy. Duh.

To me a need is more like putting an end to Seattle having the smallest police force in the country, especially with the worsening economy and expected increase in street crime as a result. Getting mugged because they spent the police budget on a pretty library is completely [sic] bullshit if you ask me.

But once our two wars are over, the economy turns around, we get some socialized health care, and Seattle builds some fucking rapid transit and builds a real police force, then definitely, I would be all about a gold-plated library system. All about it, my friend.

(I know somebody education and libraries are supposed to cure our economic ills, but that's a reactionary, conservative, Republican idea, and it's not the cure. Fifty year old whose job got shipped overseas? Education! War veteran with PTSD? Education! A woman making 70 cents on the dollar? Education! Please. Give me justice and equality and I'll buy my own damn education.)

When SPL goes back to letting department librarians pick which books to buy, based on their expertise and suggestions made by taxpayers, then I would say let them have more money.

As it stands now, and as it has been for a few years, a cadre of bean counters decides what to buy. More copies of bestsellers, mostly.

Doug Nufer

"I have lived in Seattle for 15 years and have never understood the lack of depth the collections at any of the branches have. Seattle is great at making the developers happy by building/renovating libraries but when it comes to STOCKING the libraries, Seattle has failed and failed miserably. Every time you want to find a book at your local branch you have to order it from another branch at times waiting months. To be honest, if I need something right away, I go and buy it at Barnes and Noble.

Oh, and with our lack of transit in Seattle to actually get anywhere, traveling by bus to another branch is rarely an option.

If you are not going to fund the libraries, I suggest closing a few of them down. Right now most are just empty shells that look pretty."

And complaining about who gets to pick the books? They do that to save money, idiot. If they had more money, they could pay their already stretched-thin librarians to spend time picking books.

And whoever thinks that SPL managers swill lattes all day doesn't know the same kick-ass, hard-working, community-advocating SPL managers that I do.

How is the additional $1.5 million they're advocating for the materials budget going to affect Internet access one way or the other? And adding to the materials budget by $1.5 million -- how does that pay for librarian hours to spend choosing books? Salaries aren't affected by the materials budget, are they? It gives them more money to play with, but it isn't clear to me it is going to make them spend it more wisely. If anything, they'll go on a shopping spree.

2. All the pretty branches are way over built for what is really needed - state of the art computer labs. They limit the time you can be on line - yeah, weird or is it just me. I am an avid reader - since childhood, and have lived in my book heaven. Good thing I didn't do my thing on line.

3. Need to consolidate ALL of the libraies in the County and fund via a Library Disrtict - it works in Benton-Franklin very well... Mid Columbia System.

4. I can hear the howls now from The So August Seattle Library Establishment.

projected.

as in, why don't they trim the fat instead of asking for more money than the millions they've gobbled up?