Shhhhhhh! (Friends of the Library Hold a Flash Mob)

Shoppers, tourists, and denizens of downtown cube-farms were perfectly positioned to catch today's Read In at noon at Westlake Center. Sponsored--or concocted--by Friends of the Seattle Library, the event was promoted via the Friends blog as "a spontaneous group read flash mob!" Someone needs to look up the definition of "spontaneous," though, since the post went up on September 24th. Six days of premeditation is the opposite of spontaneous.

Snark aside, their hearts are in the right place. The city of Seattle general fund faces a $67 million shortfall next year, with a projected loss of almost 300 jobs. Seattle Public Library is funded almost entirely from the general fund, so the library system is being asked to slash 8.5 percent of its budget, or about $3.7 million. How will the most literate city in America make up the difference in a library system that gets about 14 million visits per year and circulates 2.4 million books, CDs, DVDs, magazines, comics, et cetera?

Current proposals include extending this year's staffing reductions, another week-long closure of facilities, salary adjustments, scaling back acquisitions to the collection, and "internal library restructuring." The City Council will begin reviewing the budget on September 27 and is scheduled to adopt the McGinn proposal on Monday, November 22.

It might be too late to drop by Westlake to show your support for the Seattle Public Library, but better yet, swing by the Central Library and drop some silver in the Friends donation box. Every little bit helps.