The Seattle Public Library would like you, please, to not return your books.
The library and its 27 branches continue to struggle through a ransomware attack that has disabled its networks, rendered its hundreds of public computers useless and turned its normal operations upside down.
Book checkouts are being done by spreadsheet. Column A: the library user's account number. Column B: the book's bar code number. The low-tech inventory will be integrated with the library's normal account system at some future, unknown date.
With its computer networks down, the library has no way to check books back into its system, making it more convenient for everyone if you just hold onto your books for a little while. In normal times, the library says it loans out more than 1.1 million books and other items each month.
You can search the library's catalog, but only from home, or from your phone, not from any of the computer terminals in libraries.
The shutdown, which library officials have attributed to a ransomware attack, has now lingered for four weeks, with no solid estimate on when full library services may return.
The downtown library's fifth-floor computer lab — often the most crowded space in the library — is empty. Dozens of computers, normally available for free to anyone who walks in, sit idle, cordoned off as if physically infected, rather than just virtually. Bringing your own computer won't help: Wi-Fi networks are down too. (I initially sat down in the Greenwood library to write this story about the library's broken computer network, before remembering that I couldn't work there because the library's computer network was broken.)
Laura Gentry, a library spokesperson, wrote in an email "we continue working diligently toward full recovery." They will start reinstating limited staff access to the computer network this week, Gentry wrote.
The library declined to make anyone available for an interview.
A staff member at the downtown library estimated it could be at least two weeks until public computers and internet are available.
One-third of Seattle residents said they relied on library computers or Wi-Fi, according to a survey conducted by the library.
"A lot of the population that we are serving here are people who are victims of what we call the digital divide, they may not have access to their own devices or services like the internet, and so they’re able to come here and get those things for free to help them be full members of our digital society," the library said in an old informational video.
Right now though, people who depend on the library for computer access — for email, news, information, just to burn some time — are left with few options.
"Our regulars who come in every day have kind of gotten the message," a librarian at the downtown library said. "But other people keep coming in trying to use the internet."
"A lot of people come here for internet access, so it's been quite a blow to the community," a librarian at the Greenwood library said.
Some individual library branches have put together lists of nearby places that could offer similar services. But they're not great.
The downtown library recommends a FedEx, a quarter mile away, but internet access costs 39 cents a minute. There is a public law library in the King County Courthouse, but computers there are intended for legal matters only. The nearest branches of the King County Library System are all about 40 minutes, by bus, from downtown.
The Fremont library recommends nearby FedEx and UPS stores.
The library has offered few details on the outage. The library said it first realized its networks were under attack on May 25 and took its systems offline to try to secure them. It called outside experts and law enforcement.
Ransomware is an attack where hackers get into a computer system and then demand payment in return either for returning the system, or for not releasing private data, or both.
Gentry, the library spokesperson, would not give details on what the attackers had asked for. She said the library was coordinating with the FBI.
The FBI's Seattle office said it could not confirm or deny its involvement in the investigation. Seattle police did not respond to questions.
On June 7, about two weeks after it first noticed the problem, the library said its network had been secured. A week later, access to e-books was restored.
The library has said it is working to determine if any personal information has been compromised in the attack.
Karissa Braxton, a spokesperson for Mayor Bruce Harrell, said the mayor was receiving regular updates.
"Mayor Harrell recognizes the critical role libraries play in supporting Seattle communities," Braxton wrote in an email. "We appreciate the patience and grace patrons are giving the Seattle Public Library and staff as they work tirelessly to restore technology infrastructure and public services our community relies on."
