Rekha Kuver, librarian for the Fremont and Green Lake Libraries, pleaded to patrons, “please, do not leave bags of books outside.” Every branch of the Seattle Public Library system will be closed for the week of August 31 – September 7, 2009. Anyone who has recently visited Fremont, or any Seattle library, must have seen the posted notices but Kuver knew, “a lot of people aren’t reading the whole sign.” Nothing is due, she explained, and no fines accrue during the week. Materials patrons checked out before August 31 will not come due until after the libraries re-open on September 8.

All library employees will be on furlough for the week leading up to Labor Day. The doors of every branch will be locked shut, and all library services – book drops, web sites, Quick Information phone services, etc – will also be inaccessible. “We have to shut things down like the book drop,” Kuver explained, “if there is no one here to empty the book drop it would fill up in the first 24 hours.”