Budget Forces County
Technical Library to Close
The King County Transportation and Natural Resources Library in Seattle, Washington, is scheduled to close April 1 due to a loss of state revenues resulting from last November’s passage of Initiative 695.
Shutting down the library will save the county $412,000 during the current year and $267,000 the following year, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported March 22.
Pam Bissonette, director of the county’s Department of Natural Resources, which administers the library, said only about 20 county employees use the library during the year. However, Leroy Chadwick, a cataloger who is one of four library staff members being laid off, said that on February 4 there were more than 1,000 books and reports checked out to 383 different people. In 1999, he added, the library loaned 3,338 documents to other libraries or institutions.
The library’s holdings, including over 40 years of transit, sewerage, and water-quality documents, will be dispersed. Bissonette said she may consult the University of Washington’s library internship program for help in sorting out the library’s material.
Posted March 27, 2000.
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