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this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2024
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The issue probably goes deeper. I'm sure they have struggles/difficulties about having more accessible hours. I do wish my libraries had better hours too though.
I think it might have something to do with the explosion of homelessness in Seattle over the last few years. When I moved to Seattle ten years ago that library was amazing, and open pretty late (I think 8 pm). But last time I went there like a year ago it was completely overrun with homeless people. They were everywhere in the library, just sitting around doing nothing (not reading or using computers), and dozens of them were outside of every entrance too. So, I think they might have adjusted the hours because of that, instead of directly dealing with the problem. I don't really have an issue with homeless people taking advantage of a public resource, that's why it's there, but a lot of other people do, and the city has to consider everyone's perspective.
There should be a better solution for homeless people than for them to have to overrun places like that. It's sad, and detrimental to all sides. That's crazy to think about how it used to be a place that could stay open like you said, and then turned into something else that wasn't able to because of external influences and impacts.
Where's the resiliency?
There's got to be some kind of proactive way of dealing with an issue like this vs. going the 'limit hours' route, which harms the accessibility of everyone. This is probably affecting a lot of libraries right now.