Proposed Dallas Library Closures Get Rough Reception
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The city’s proposal to transform the Dallas Public Library system was roundly rebuffed by council members at the Quality of Life, Arts & Culture Committee meeting on Tuesday, resulting in the cancellation of community meetings that had been scheduled for the coming weeks.
As previously reported by CandysDirt.com, Library Director Manya Shorr and staff developed a framework for transitioning the system to a regional model based on flagship locations with beefed-up hours and services but fewer neighborhood libraries. Four branches were identified for potential closure: the Oak Lawn Branch, the Skyline Branch in Buckner Terrace, the Renner Frankford Branch in Far North Dallas, and the Arcadia Park Branch in West Dallas.
Council members were pretty unhappy with the proposal — to put it mildly. Despite being forewarned last budget season, when Council Member Paula Blackmon (District 9) had to eat the closure of Skillman Branch, that the library system was in for a haircut totaling $4.5 million over two years, some officials at the horseshoe were in disbelief when particular branches in their districts were recommended for the chopping block.
Before delving into the shellacking staff got from council members, it’s worth pointing out that officials are responding to somewhat dueling mandates: increase public safety spending, don’t reduce services, decrease property tax collections, don’t touch my neighborhood, etc. This isn’t to say tough choices don’t need to be made. It’s just to say that they’re tough, and people really don’t like bureaucrats messing with their libraries.
Residents turned out to the committee meeting to watch the proceedings, often breaking out in applause whenever a council member attacked the proposal. Friends of the Dallas Public Library put out a call to action over the weekend, asking for residents to contact their council members and show up to Tuesday’s meeting.
While it should be no surprise that impacted council members would fight to keep branches in their districts open regardless, significant issues were raised over the selection process for proposed closures. For one, staff acknowledged that no qualitative dimension was incorporated into the decision-making matrix, which is likely how Oak Lawn Branch ended up on the list.
Council Member Paul Ridley (District 14) decried its selection by staff, arguing the library was a critical cultural institution for the LGBTQ community in the neighborhood. He read statements from Dallas Pride and the Cedar Springs Merchants Association in support of the branch and highlighted its specialized collections.
Shorr, however, pointed out that every neighborhood in the city would oppose closing their local library.
“Every library has a history. Every library has a significance to its community. I was asked to come up with a creative solution to a budget problem, and that is what I did,” Shorr said, noting that a failure to close some would force the system to reduce hours and services across every branch, which has been done eight times over the last 15 years.
Ridley suggested that that would be preferable.
Council Member Cara Mendelsohn (District 12), who is not even on the committee but represents the area where Renner Frankford Branch is located, pointed out that the city was currently shelling out taxpayer money to bring the library into ADA compliance.
“I actually thought you were going to come forward with a regional model that said we need to build libraries onto our rec centers, co-locate them. That’s what I was actually expecting you to say,” she said. “I certainly wasn’t expecting to see Renner Frankford on the list. I thought you might have said Timberglen, because somehow the department allowed bathrooms to be renovated and is now asking them to be closed while the workmen are there.”
She went on to suggest that savings could be realized from cutting spending on human resources and data operations instead of front-facing library services. She also requested that the granular data on library branch usage be provided to council members since it wasn’t visible in staff’s presentation.
Staff arrived at the closure recommendations by evaluating branch usage, community need, and existing branch coverage geographically and assigning weights. They also privileged recent bond funding over older library bond projects, which seems to have only mattered in the case of Arcadia Park.
Assistant City Manager Liz Cedillo-Pereira said that staff was directed by City Manager Kimberly Tolbert to brief the library system transformation early in the year in order to get the necessary feedback from the committee and members of the community.
“We hear the valid points about history, about culture, etc. This is something that we are going to take seriously and look to see how we do that through data-driven indicators,” she said. “It’s not all on the library staff. It’s not all on our data experts. It’s on city leadership. And we’re here today to tell you that we’re committed to starting this process, and we’re not done today. This is the beginning of that conversation.”
Staff had planned several community meetings in late January and early February to engage residents on the proposal. Interestingly enough, they caught flak from council members who pointed out that all the meetings were scheduled at future flagship branches and none of the libraries proposed for closure. A few hours after the committee meeting, those scheduled events were put on hold.
“City staff will incorporate the feedback received and we will continue to do our due diligence. We are also planning to partner with the Friends of the Dallas Public Library on a community survey before coming back to the committee,” the city said in a media advisory.
