Nearly 50 Washington State Library Employees Face Layoffs Amid Funding Shortfalls

Nearly 50 employees at the Washington State Library and the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library in Seattle are facing layoffs due to significant state and federal funding shortfalls. The libraries requested $6.7 million in the state budget to sustain operations, but lawmakers did not include this funding, leading to plans for layoffs by June 30 for state-funded staff and September 30 for federally funded staff. These cuts threaten to reduce or suspend key services, including public access to the main library, the Ask A Librarian program, and the production of braille and audio materials for the blind and disabled. The funding gap is partly due to a sluggish housing market reducing revenue from real estate transaction fees that support the library. Washington State Librarian Sara Jones emphasized the risk of denying communities critical access to information and literacy resources without stable funding, while officials acknowledge the broader impacts on local libraries relying on state support. Efforts to find alternative funding sources are underway, but the closures and service reductions appear imminent given the current budget constraints.