Completing the Library
I 100%-ed the library! By that I mean I visited every branch of the Seattle Public Library (SPL) system.
I love libraries. The books and librarians are enough of a draw, but it's also one of the few third places we have access to today and I try to do my best to make my visitation rounds. For me the library is often a place to do computer work — a place to get out of the house and into a new environment for a few hours when I don't have meetings.
When I moved to Seattle in early 2022 I was wrapping up my masters thesis and the sublease I was staying in was too small to work well in. I went looking for new places to pull some hair out while trying to understand quantum compilers, and quickly stumbled upon SPL's Montlake branch. The branch quickly became my homebase for writing when the weather was nice since it was a beautiful walk from my place through Interlaken park[1]. The libraries beautiful wooden beams and ceiling light up the space when the sun pours in from the massive windows on the north side of the building. Much needed during Seattle's dark February/March.
Since wrapping up my thesis and moving to a new neighborhood, I quickly found myself visiting the branch nearest my new place Sure enough the Douglass-Truth branch is also a wonderful library and it left me wondering if all of Seattle's libraries were this nice. Shortly thereafter the idea was born to visit all 27 branches SPL has to offer. It took me just over 2 years to make the trip to all the branches (some are far away in parts of the city I never go to, okay!), and another year to figure out what to say about the experience, but it's here now.
The branches
| Branch | Notes | Rating (x/5) |
|---|---|---|
| Central Library | The pinnacle of SPLs. Awesome building, great lighting—even during the big dark—and lots of quiet space despite the open concept. I recommend the 10th floor if you want to work. | 5 |
| Ballard | Nice space with good light and room to spread out, but there is a kids area near the "work" area which means you're either working or being distracted by screaming. | 3 |
| Beacon Hill | Awesome high ceilings with big exposed wooden beams and good lighting. | 4 |
| Broadview | Went here after my car got towed a near 2 hour journey from home by public transit. It's also the branch I got set up with an SPL account at. Despite the circumstance, it's a great library for working. | 4 |
| Capitol Hill | Quite an interesting building with some nice exposed brick and vines. Seating and working area is limited, however. | 3 |
| Columbia | Nice space, but I had the experience of being here after school got out and was packed with kids not quite respecting the "don't play music out loud in the library" rule. | 3 |
| Douglass-Truth | This review comes with more bias than others since it is the branch I live closest to. Always a spot to sit, good lighting, and relatively quiet. | 4 |
| Fremont | Even though I drove by this branch many times, I never knew it was a library until I visited it. A super cute older building tucked on the side of the road, but not much space to work. | 3 |
| Greenwood | Pretty standard good (but not great) library. | 3 |
| CID | Very small with limited space to work, especially when others are there. Helpful staff though! | 2 |
| Madrona-Sally Goldmark | Very small, but I get the feeling it's usually quiet since it's in a bougie neighborhood. Warning though, it does seem to be a kids-oriented library so there may be screaming. | 3 |
| Magnolia | Great neighborhood, okay library. | 3 |
| Montlake | Everything you want from a work library. Good lighting, light chatter, and good view out the window. | 5 |
| NewHolly | Small kids library in a kind of sad building, but basically no one there. Somehow didn't have any phone service and needed to make a call. | 2 |
| Northeast | The nice landscaping of the outside clashes with the boring interior. It does mean you get nice plants to look at while you work though. | 4 |
| Queen Anne | Cool building, but it was really busy (for a library) and it feels dark and dingy. | 2 |
| Wallingford | No desks, so unusable for work (still a functioning library). | 1 |
| West Seattle | Nice, open concept with some comfy seats facing the windows. Good for pondering. | 4 |
| University | Nice lighting, but not much space to work from. Kinda smells. | 2 |
| Lake City | Big library with lots of space, but they need to re-layout the place. Who put the desks are next to the bathrooms... | 3 |
| Green Lake | Really nice space with good natural light and brand new bathrooms, but not a ton of table space. | 4 |
| Northgate | Nothing to write home about. Worth stopping at if you're at the mall. | 2 |
| South Park | Had low expectations here since South Park seems kind of drab, but it pleasantly surprised me. | 4 |
| Southwest | Large open space with plenty of tables. | 4 |
| High Point | Nice, but limited desk space. Visited this library same day as Southwest since they were close and I didn't have meetings :). There were children here. | 3 |
| Delridge | Full of kids, and weird shaped desks. | 2 |
| Rainier Beach | Nice big space, but feels sterile. Not sure if it was the hospital lighting, or something else, but not the place I wanted to hang. | 3 |
As you might have noticed, a theme I ran into is that libraries that cater towards kids generally don't function as well for working. With the potential exception of visiting during times when those kids are in school
Visiting all these libraries left me thinking about what I like, and dislike about the library. I love that it's free, that I can browse books or walk around as I please, that I can stare out the window, that there are librarians to help me find information, that there's free Wi-Fi and water, and that there's no expectation to do much of anything while there besides not disrupt others.
There are, however, some ways in which I wish the library served me even better. Most libraries have relatively limited hours, and sometimes I want to code at 10pm at places other than my home. I wish the library had more resources focused beyond that of the written word. Last year I had the pleasure of visiting Helsinki's Oodi library which offered access to video games, 3d printers, instruments, sewing machines, laser cutters, and more. America is not quite ready, in my mind, for that level of supporting neighbors, but I do see the desire among others to have resources like this. Take the many versions of the tool library that have popped up in Seattle (and I hope other cities), where folks can rent power tools for no cost to themselves[2]. I've found myself on multiple occasions wanting to use a typewriter for a specific project, but never wanting to bite the bullet and buy (and then store) one. After much hemming and hawing I did eventually buy one and used it thoroughly for a months time. Since then it has mostly just taken up space. Well run libraries can help solve the problem of massive waste generation from everyone buying items we only temporarily need! Whether or not we continue to call them libraries as the progress on to their next generation of support is another question.
While I am not planning on 100%-ing the libraries (book and otherwise) in King County, I do still love visiting new libraries when the opportunity arises. E.g. the Bellevue library is a great library, even if placed in one of the most despicable cities imaginable. I hope this inspires you to check out your local library(s), even if you're not a completionist!
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Writing in public