Let’s just say it: the more money you spend building your Big Beautiful Library, the less you have to pay for staffing, and open hours.
When Seattle voters agreed overwhelmingly in 1998 to foot the $196.4 million bill for new and improved libraries all around town, I’m pretty sure they didn’t expect they’d have fewer hours a week to enjoy the fruits of their investment. But that’s exactly what has happened…. When voters approved [the downtown library], the library was open 70 hours a week…. Now, the downtown library is open 58 hours a week. [lisnews]