The John Stanford Library at Ballard High School

Ongoing and targeted fundraising for the Library

The John Stanford Library at Ballard High School has the highest circulation of any high school in Seattle. For the 2022-23 school year, more than 13,500 titles have been checked out. This is almost double of the next closest library circulation number: Lincoln High School at 7,468 and Ingraham High School at 4,276.

The increase from 7,540 titles in 2016 to 13,584 last year can be attributed to the hard work and enthusiasm of our Teacher-Librarian TuesD Chambers and the help of full-time library assistant, Alana Gaulin. Our library assistant supports the library’s operations and functions, and we have been lucky enough to have one at Ballard High School. Neither of the other schools noted has a full-time library assistant. This is crucial in promoting a safe and welcoming environment.

Currently, our library assistant has made it possible to add 2,769 books this year alone! This year she has also removed 1,614 books from our catalog — this makes room for new, hot titles students want to read as we remove books that are old, out-of-date, or problematic.

In comparison, this is what our library looked like in 2016:
17,814 books, average age was 1992, and we had 39% of the collection support diversity, equity, and inclusion, and 24% of the collection support social and emotional learning for our students.
This year, 2023, we have 21,210 books, the average age is 2012, 53% of the books support diversity, equity, and inclusion, and 45% support social and emotional learning for our students.
This is a huge leap for our students!

The Ballard High School Foundation has raised more than $350,000 for the library since its inception. As library services grow in popularity, more assistance is ALWAYS needed. If you would like to allocate money toward library resources and support, please donate here