As the Fort Worth Public Library nears completion of an update of its multiyear strategic plan, members of the city\u2019s Library Advisory Board considered strengths and weaknesses at their June 4 meeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n J.R. Clanton and Monique Ziesenhenne, representing BerryDunn consulting, which the city hired to research and construct the plan, posed five questions to the board:<\/p>\n What are the library\u2019s strengths? Answers included strong leadership at the branches, responsiveness to neighborhood needs, solid summer programming, alignment of the city\u2019s focus on arts and a warm welcome. The strategic plan team has also been reaching out to gather community feedback. Anyone still interested in providing inputs can do so at this link<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n East Regional meeting location<\/p>\n The meeting was held at the East Regional Library<\/a>. Each library serves a unique community. Lareka Bailey, regional supervisor, highlighted programs such as watercolor clubs and adult sewing classes. She also emphasized the branch\u2019s reading programs, new volunteer program and the success of their second annual spring festival.<\/p>\n Community members Rosemary Galdiano and Victoria Bargas congratulated the board on voters\u2019 approval of a $14 million proposition for libraries in the city\u2019s May 2 bond election.<\/p>\n Both speakers said they were pleased the city will use some of the bond funds to reopen the Seminary South branch<\/a>, closed in 2022, They hoped it would be a short timeline to reopen the branch, which supports communities such as Worth Heights, Rosemont, South Hills, Ryan Place and Fairmount.<\/p>\n Library Advisory Board Meeting<\/p>\n Documenter: Cynthia Cordial<\/p>\n Date: June 4, 2026<\/p>\n Learn more about this meeting by clicking here<\/a>. For the agenda, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cynthia Cordial is a member of the Fort Worth Report Documenters<\/a> crew. If you believe anything in this account is inaccurate, please email us at news@fortworthreport.org<\/a> with \u201cCorrection Request\u201d in the subject line.<\/p>\n This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/06\/27\/what-are-the-fort-worth-librarys-strengths-what-needs-to-be-fixed\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n <img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/?republication-pixel=true&post=632112&ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/06\/27\/what-are-the-fort-worth-librarys-strengths-what-needs-to-be-fixed\/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } <\/script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/fortworthreport.org\/p.js”><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Janna Franzwa Canard, Fort Worth Report June 27, 2026 As the Fort Worth Public Library nears completion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[8219,116,118,126432,117],"class_list":["post-355324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-documenters","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-library","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhat needs to be fixed? Answers included longer hours, especially on Sundays, increased awareness of programs, social media presence and addressing misperceptions about the continuing need for libraries.
\nWhat is the library\u2019s role in Fort Worth? Board member Shawana Washington answered \u201ca door to creativity.\u201d Other thoughts included internet access; training for personal finance, job search and other needs; community gathering place; innovative responder to needs; empowering people; and literacy.
\nWhat barriers exist to the library? Top answers included geographic, hours and public awareness.
\nWhat can help the library be more valuable to patrons? Two board members suggested the libraries should serve in close proximity or parallel to the city\u2019s community centers.<\/p>\n