On Wednesday afternoon, the Oak Lawn library was quietly busy. A toddler crawled on the carpet in the children’s zone, adults sat at the row of computers, keys clacking, and a college student wandered the shelves, tracing the spines of the books with colorful stickers. Watching the library patrons come and go with tote bags filled with books, you wouldn’t know that Oak Lawn is one of four library branches on the chopping block as Dallas considers moving to a regional library system amid budget constraints.
The city has proposed closing Oak Lawn, Skyline in Buckner Terrace, Renner Frankford in Far North Dallas and Arcadia Park in West Dallas. The Skillman Southwestern branch closed last year. The city said closing these branches would save an estimated $2.6 million by consolidating services at larger, regional libraries with longer hours. The J. Erik Jonsson Central Library would continue operating normally.
City staff said the recommendations are based on circulation numbers, visitor counts and proximity to other branches. On paper, the plan sounds tidy, but as neighbors got the news that their local library could be shuttered, the future of the libraries feels less settled.
Some City Council members seemed surprised by the recommendations when they were presented to the council’s Quality of Life, Arts and Culture Committee on Jan. 20. Is the proposal moving faster than conversations about the libraries?
Opinion
Yes, we need a serious conversation about costs and benefits of our library system. There is no question that the way we use libraries is changing, and usage isn’t what it once was. But libraries are more than book-lending facilities. They are one of the few remaining third spaces, places that exist outside of home, work or school, where parents bring their children on the weekends, students study in the evenings, and seniors or anyone else who doesn’t have a computer can check their email.
While the city took into account the number of visitors each branch receives and the circulation of materials, many library services aren’t captured by these metrics. For example, the Arcadia Park branch shares a space with a Dallas ISD school. If the library were to close, would the school take over its operation?
At the Oak Lawn branch, the library houses a LGBTQ collection of fiction and nonfiction materials. If the branch closes, what happens to the collection that reflects and serves the community around it? Can it be replicated somewhere else?
For now, the city is hitting pause to reassess. Community meetings scheduled for January and February were postponed, and an additional community survey, one that looks at the historical significance of locations, proximity to other civic facilities and public transit access, will be presented to the council in March.
In the coming months, if the city decides some library branches must close, it should make sure to involve community members in the process and to ease people into the changes.
We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here.
If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com