City of Dallas is seeking alternatives to library closures. Here’s what we know

The road to saving $2.6 million from the Dallas Public Library’s budget remains an unclear one, as staff’s proposed closure of four city libraries has been met by pushback from city council and Dallas residents.

Library staff have been asked to provide alternative proposals to save money, proposals that could prevent closures but cut hours of operation throughout the city. 

“No one, least of all me, wants to close libraries,” Library Director Manya Shorr told city council. “We have found ourselves at the crossroads of a really tough time.”

When adjusted for inflation, library funding has remained stagnant for more than 20 years, according to staff reports. This has happened despite population increases and technological advances, as well as more branch locations being built with bond money but not funded to meet operational needs.

In last year’s budget, the Dallas Public Library system was asked to find $1.9 million in savings from the city’s $5 billion budget, and this year staff have been tasked with saving $2.6 million.

To accomplish this, library staff proposed the move to a regional library model and the closure of four branch locations. The closures would save the necessary funds, and the designated regional branches would be open seven days a week to provide concentrated services.

The libraries on the chopping block are Arcadia Park, Oak Lawn, Renner Frankford and Skyline.

When presented to the Quality of Life, Arts and Culture Committee in January, city council members criticized the proposal. Many members cited a lack of contextualization of each branch’s impact on their communities and said more specific data needed to be available for them to view. 

“This analytical model pays no attention at all to the community significance of individual branch libraries,” said District 14 councilmember Paul Ridley, who represents the Oak Lawn branch.

Other members said that elements like transportation barriers and community feedback needed to be included, even in this initial proposal.

Staff did propose a set of community meetings during the presentation, but the committee voted to hold these meetings until staff came up with more data and alternative cost-saving proposals.

Since then, staff have been working on an expanded proposal for city council. At the February Municipal Library Board meeting, Shorr said they’re working on an option that would still have the five flagship regional libraries open seven days a week and robust services, while hours of operation and staff would be reduced throughout the rest of the library system.

A third option would have no regional libraries and would lead to fewer cuts to operation hours than the first two options, although staff would still be impacted, and services and hours would be spread thin.

The new proposals were slated to be presented at Monday’s Quality of Life, Arts and Culture Committee meeting, but at that meeting, Morr said the updated proposals will be presented in April.

Coincidentally, nearly a dozen town hall meetings for the city’s 2026-2027 budget are scheduled for this week.

Watch the January QLAC meeting here. Watch the February Library Board meeting here.