Checked Out

Seattle Public Library closed for a week this summer. Here’s why you should give a shhhh.

Illustration: Benjamen Purvis

$1 million

Seattle Public Library budget cut for 2009 to help fill a $43 million city deficit

$655,000

Amount saved by shutting down the Seattle Public Library for a week in September

$350,000

Amount Seattle Public Library has left to save before the end of the year

$8 million

Budget cut from Philadelphia city libraries to address $2 billion state deficit

$1 million

Cut from the Oregon Historical Society, reducing its research library hours to three afternoons a week

$8.4 million

Cut from the Dallas Public Library, including 89 cut positions

$2.8 million

Proposed Seattle Public Library budget cut for next year