Hillsboro: Shute Park Library Circulation Drops 23.6% While Brookwood Climbs 3.8%
- Total circulation at Hillsboro's Shute Park Library fell 23.6% in September from a year earlier, to 22,490 items, while the larger Brookwood Library rose 3.8%, to 184,382.
- Across both libraries, September circulation was 206,958, down 0.1% from September 2025.
- The branch breakdown on pages 33 and 34 of the packet shows where Shute Park's decline sits.
Total circulation at Hillsboro’s Shute Park Library fell 23.6% in September from a year earlier, to 22,490 items, while the larger Brookwood Library rose 3.8%, to 184,382. The figures are in the Library Board’s Oct. 15 meeting packet, and on Oct. 20 the City Council voted 6-0 to merge two part-time library jobs into one full-time post.
Across both libraries, September circulation was 206,958, down 0.1% from September 2025. Open hours fell 4.2% over the same stretch, the statistics report says, with Brookwood’s hours down 6.0% and Shute Park’s down 2.3%. Circulation combines physical checkouts, renewals and digital loans, and those three moved in different directions at the two branches.
Inside the Shute Park decline
The branch breakdown on pages 33 and 34 of the packet shows where Shute Park’s decline sits. Physical checkouts slipped 1.6% and digital loans rose 4.9%, while renewals fell 73.1%, to 2,686.
| September 2026 | Brookwood | Shute Park | Both libraries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total circulation | 184,382 | 22,490 | 206,958 |
| Change from Sept. 2025 | +3.8% | −23.6% | −0.1% |
| Change in open hours | −6.0% | −2.3% | −4.2% |
| Physical checkouts, change | +1.9% | −1.6% | +1.4% |
| Digital loans, change | +3.6% | +4.9% | +3.8% |
| Renewals, change | +5.7% | −73.1% | −5.0% |
Source: Hillsboro Public Library statistics, Library Board packet for Oct. 15, 2026, pages 33–34. The two-library total includes a small third category that the charts label “NovelBranch.”
By our calculation, Shute Park’s total a year earlier was about 29,440, which means the branch lost roughly 6,950 items. Renewals alone fell by about 7,300, from roughly 9,990 to 2,686, more than the branch’s entire decline. We worked back from each September 2026 figure and its percent change; the percentages are rounded, which makes these results approximate.
What the packet says about the roof work
The statistics pages do not say why renewals fell. A staff newsletter in the same packet says Washington County Cooperative Library Services (WCCLS), the county library cooperative, extended most due dates through Oct. 20 as part of the Shute Park roof repair project. The newsletter also says the branch’s south parking lot closed Sept. 21 for construction staging and safety.
Minutes of the board’s Sept. 17 meeting made a similar link for August, when Shute Park renewals fell about 66% “because due dates were extended during the repairs.” The packet does not draw that connection for September, and it does not explain the drop in open hours. The newsletter projected the roof work would finish by Oct. 20, adding that weather and construction conditions could shift that date.
A manager’s job on hold
The Sept. 17 minutes also describe management changes at the branch. Shute Park Manager Magdy Carillo Sotomayor accepted the director’s job at Tualatin Public Library and planned to leave Hillsboro in October. In the interim, the minutes say, existing managers will share leadership at Shute Park, with Stacy Johnson overseeing the branch’s supervisors.
Library Director Tammy Wallin told the board that day that the library was working through an organizational restructuring, with a new structure “anticipated by the end of October.” Recruitment for the Shute Park manager job is being deferred until the library decides how management duties will be organized, according to the minutes. The Oct. 15 packet does not describe the new structure.
Two part-time jobs become one
The council’s Oct. 20 vote touched a different part of the staff. A human resources memo in the council packet asked to turn two vacant part-time Library Support Specialist jobs, each 0.625 of a full-time position, into one full-time job. By our calculation, that takes the library from 1.25 full-time equivalents in those jobs to 1.0.
The memo keeps the pay range at $56,005 to $73,702 a year and says the added cost comes from full-time benefits. Its combined figure for this change and a water department upgrade is about $47,667 a year in base salary plus roughly $25,000 in other payroll costs. Savings from vacant jobs should cover that in fiscal year 2026-27, the memo says.
Council President Rob Harris pulled the item from the consent agenda. According to the meeting video, he questioned making staffing changes in the middle of a two-year budget and said rising personnel costs concern him. City Manager Robby Hammond said the full-time job is meant for one of the library’s digital navigators and noted that part-time employees do not get health benefits.
Wallin said two vacancies in one job class rarely come open together, and the job likely won’t be filled until spring 2027. She said no staff are added: in 2027, the two part-time jobs and an existing full-time post would become two full-time digital literacy positions. With that explanation, Harris backed the item, which passed 6-0 at the meeting that also adopted data center limits.
Digital help moves toward permanent staff
The library’s planning documents describe the same shift. The third-quarter strategic plan update in the Oct. 15 packet says money was found for contract digital navigator positions in 2026-27, with permanent positions to be built into staffing plans starting with the 2027-29 budget. Digital Literacy Supervisor Rose Waldman has started work, and recruitment for Digital Literacy Librarian positions is underway, the update says.
Public computer use is also up. Logons at both libraries rose 9.1% in September from a year earlier, to 5,185, while open hours fell 4.2%.
Top image: File photo, 2022: the entrance to Shute Park Library in Hillsboro. Photo: Simon Tsu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).
