King County Library System Director’s Report July 2020

On July 2, Governor Inslee announced that all counties in State will stay in their current phase and paused movement to the next phase for at least two weeks. Lisa Rosenblum and other county leaders were invited to a community discussion with Dow Constantine, who urged them to reinforce key messaging to employees, customers and the public at large about the need for vigilance and responsible behavior to keep the pandemic under control until there is a vaccine.

While King County remains in Phase 2, KCLS’ service priorities include Curbside to Go service and Book Drop hours at 17 locations, along with patron engagement through Ask KCLS and Chat, and continued online programming. While it may take longer before KCLS can move to Phase 3 and reopen buildings to the public, KCLS will continue to expand Curbside to Go and Book Drop hours at more locations in coming weeks.

When KCLS closed on March 13, more than 800,000 items were checked out and approximately 315,000 items were on hold System-wide. Since entering Phase 2, staff has been very busy getting ready for the July 1 launch of Curbside to Go service, and excited to welcome patrons who have been eager to return materials and pick up new ones.

Bins at the Bothell Library overflow with returned items. Burien Library is filled with items that have been on hold as All materials are quarantined for 72 hours before being staff prepare for Curbside to Go pick up. checked in.

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On July 15, KCLS reactivated patrons’ ability to place new holds and demand was significant. More than 138,000 holds were placed in the first week, including 48,000 on the first day. The following graph, which shows daily hold counts for the last year, illustrates how that figure compares to normal.

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS KCLS partnered with the King County Executive’s Office to distribute masks and hand sanitizer throughout King County starting the week of July 13. Pallets of Personal Protective Equipment were delivered to select libraries, and representatives from hundreds of community organizations were able to pick up supplies that will be further distributed to their respective communities. As a project partner, KCLS gets to retain one million masks and an ample supply of hand sanitizer for staff and patron use. Participating libraries for the week of July 13 included Auburn, Fall City, Federal Way, Kent, Lake Forest Park, Redmond, Skyway, and White Center. Distribution of supplies will take several weeks to complete.

King County Elections (KCE) is gearing up for a very busy election season and is changing procedures and protocols in light of COVID-19. Ballot box teams will wear masks and gloves, and practice physical distancing as they assist voters dropping off ballots. Sidewalks will be marked off in six-foot increments at locations that historically have had heavy turnout, and additional signage will instruct voters to observe social distancing. KCE is projecting a 43% turnout for the August primary and an even greater turnout in November, as Washington and King County regularly eclipse an 80% turnout mark for Presidential elections. KCE is putting together traffic management plans for the busiest voting sites, which may include flaggers and potentially re-routing vehicles, but definitely includes extra staff onsite to help facilitate traffic flow. Another way KCE will try to minimize Election Day traffic in November is to encourage voters to take advantage of the State’s vote-by-mail system. KCE will be launching a “Hit 90” campaign with advertising and messaging that challenges King County to “hit 90% turnout.” The campaign is an opportunity for Washington State to demonstrate that, even in a pandemic, there can be record-breaking voter turnout. In partnership with KCLS, King County Elections has placed ballot boxes at 19 library locations.

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Lisa Rosenblum and representatives from the American Library Association (ALA) joined a conference call with Senator ’s staff to advocate for COVID Response funding for all public libraries. The Library Stabilization Fund Act, a companion bill endorsed by ALA, calls for $2 billion in federal funding to help libraries that are faced with unanticipated costs of providing PPE and other safety supplies when staff and the public return to buildings. The funding also would support urgent demand for distance learning and streaming resources, mitigate the impact of furloughs on a library’s ability to provide services, and ensure ongoing access to unemployment resources and job search tools.

Congresswoman Kim Schrier and her son used Curbside to Go service at the Sammamish Library to return books and check out a genre bag of materials selected especially for teen readers. Sammamish is one of 17 locations that began offering Curbside to Go on

July 1. Safety measures Congresswoman Kim Schrier and her son talk with ensure physical distancing is maintained and masks are Executive Director Lisa Rosenblum. worn at all times.

OTHER We Are Puget Sound: Discovering and Recovering the Salish Sea is a multimedia book and advocacy campaign that amplifies the voices and ideas of those working to protect and restore the Puget Sound ecosystem and the livelihoods that depend on it. The campaign is created by Braided River and the Washington Environmental Council, and supported by dozens of regional organizations, including Tribal Nations of the Salish Sea. KCLS sponsored a poster contest to engage the public in meaningful actions to protect endangered orca and salmon, and clean the Salish Sea. Winning posters were announced in June and can be viewed at www.kcls.org/we-are-puget-sound.

In light of current events, KCLS StaffCon 2020, which was originally planned as an all-day program to be held on the Green River College campus in March, was scaled down to a half-day livestreamed event on July 20. Staff heard from several presenters, including Eric Liu, co-founder and CEO of Citizen University.

In cooperation with the Center for an Informed Public (CIP), KUOW is hosting a multi-part series called Stand with the Facts: Community Solutions to Combat Misinformation. On July 21, Lisa joined Chris Coward, CIP co-founder and Senior Principal Research Scientist at the UW Information School, and NPR’s All Things Considered host Kim Malcolm to discuss misinformation, how it spreads, and how to be a better information consumer.

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