Gene Balk, the Seattle Times's excellent "FYI Guy," reported over the weekend that "Between 2011 and 2014, branch visits to Seattle Public Library declined by about 150,000 – even as branch hours were added." Visits are especially down in the city's lowest-income neighborhoods, for unclear reasons. Circulation of digital materials, however, is way up.

Could the lack of visits have to do with SPL leadership's "anti-book" agenda? Considering that many of Seattle's independent booksellers saw record sales during the same years that SPL's visits declined, an anti-book agenda probably isn't helping matters.