Record checkouts are jamming the hold locker, and the library has no backup power if the lights go out
The Library Board heard that August was the busiest month on record, with 11,500 items checked out, up from 10,500 in July. The surge has overwhelmed the self-service hold locker outside the building, which the director said is running at roughly triple its capacity, and patrons are struggling to read the checkout screen in direct sunlight.
“Our computer system was down for checkout last Thursday for like four hours and we could check out through barcode... we typed it all in Excel.”— Library Director, describing last week's outage
On staffing, the library says it's finally close to filling two long-vacant library assistant positions after screening more than 200 applicants and interviewing nine. Five finalists were being brought back this week, with two expected to get full-time offers. If hiring goes smoothly, staff hope to restore expanded evening and Monday hours by early 2027</b.
The board also opened a harder conversation: what happens if the power goes out. The library runs on solar panels but has no battery backup or generator, and board members debated whether, in an outage, the building should try to function as a normal library or simply serve as a warm, lit place for residents to shelter. The question isn't hypothetical — a citywide computer outage knocked out the checkout system for four hours last week, forcing staff to track loans by hand. A city meeting on generator priorities and flood response across agencies was set for the day after the board met, with El Niño-driven flooding and outages on officials' minds heading into fall.
Separately, the board settled a display-signage policy that ranks what can go on the library's new slat-wall — library and city programs first, then partner nonprofits like the Friends, Foundation and Commons, with voter registration materials specifically carved out as an exception to the no-political-materials rule — and set October 19 as the target date for a joint meeting with those three support groups.