<\/p>\n
A man heads for the front door of the closed J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, July 10, 2026, after the city decided to furlough employees to save money. He found the doors locked and a sign informing him of the furlough.<\/p>\n
Tom Fox\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Dallas plans to keep all 29 library branches open next fiscal year, but the proposed budget eliminates 72 library positions, ends the city-run adult learning program and shifts the system toward a new model centered on five flagship branches<\/a> with extended hours and services.<\/p>\n City Manager Kimberly\u00a0Bizor Tolbert unveiled a $5.6 billion budget proposal Friday that would close a $51 million shortfall<\/a> without raising taxes, partly by laying off employees and reducing hours and programs at some city facilities.<\/p>\n In the proposal, the library budget falls to $41.6 million, a decrease of roughly $1.9 million, or about 4.4%.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Under the plan, Dallas would adopt a regional library model that concentrates longer hours<\/a>, programming and other resources at five larger branches. The city says the locations were selected to put every Dallas resident within a 15-minute drive of a library.<\/p>\n The Bachman Lake, Vickery Park, Fretz Park, Hampton-Illinois and Pleasant Grove branches would serve as the flagship locations. The J. Erik Jonsson Central Library would remain the system\u2019s primary anchor.<\/p>\n Other neighborhood branches would operate with fewer or redistributed hours. Tolbert characterized the change as a way to make library hours more predictable rather than repeatedly cutting schedules whenever the city faces budget pressure.<\/p>\n \u201cI call it a redistribution of hours,\u201d said Tolbert. \u201cOur residents will still have access to a library that is within reach, but we have to make sure that our libraries are open when people need us to be open, not just when we want to open the libraries.\u201d<\/p>\n Denise McGovern, executive director of the Friends of the Dallas Public Library, said keeping branches open does not resolve what she views as years of instability caused by recurring budget reductions.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThe library is continuing to be hit by cuts,\u201d McGovern said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Related: Dall<\/a>as residents left frustrated as city furloughs begin<\/a><\/p>\n McGovern pointed to the city\u2019s summer furlough, when libraries closed for a day, as an illustration of how residents rely on the facilities.<\/p>\n \u201cThe importance of the library in people\u2019s everyday lives is not always seen so visibly. And then when it\u2019s not there, you see it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Staffing reductions<\/p>\n Of the 72 positions proposed for elimination, about 30 are currently filled.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Four positions at the Arcadia Park Branch and one data coordinator position in the community libraries program are also cut in the budget proposal.<\/p>\n Tolbert said many of the library jobs are shifting to part time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n