Survey Asks What Residents Want From Dallas Libraries as Closures Loom

Dallas residents are being asked what they want in a library system as the city weighs branch closures and staff reductions.

The Friends of the Dallas Public Library, a nonprofit organization that raises support for the city’s libraries, is launching a 32-question survey in collaboration with the Dallas Public Library to assess residents’ attitudes toward services and potential closures. Residents have until Feb. 26 to respond to the survey.

DPL staff unveiled plans at a January briefing of the city council’s Quality of Life, Arts and Culture Committee to close four of 29 existing branch libraries as part of an ongoing transition to a regional model centered around five flagship locations. Staff encountered resistance from council members, some of whom said the branches identified for closure served as crucial voting centers and community spaces.

Two of the branches at risk of shutting down (Oak Lawn and Skyline) serve as important polling places with historically high turnout, council members said. The Oak Lawn Branch also hosts a significant collection of LGBTQ+ literature, which Council member Paul Ridley said was not taken into account in the selection process.

“That isn’t reflected in this metric about the community significance,” said Ridley. “We talk about community need, but it doesn’t take into account the specialized collection at Oak Lawn. It also doesn’t address its integration into the community. And it’s important to this community, particularly to the LGBTQ population.”

Committee members also criticized the lack of transparency in the process at the meeting, with Council member Zarin Gracey noting that he had learned of the potential closure only through social media a few days earlier.

 “We all found out about this on social media. That should have never happened. As the chair [of the committee], that should never have happened. That right there is a huge problem,” said Gracey. “I’m very disappointed about that because we didn’t even have an opportunity to prepare our community.”

DPL Director Manya Shorr, who previously led Fort Worth’s library system and oversaw the shuttering of its central library, said closures are necessary to avoid more system-wide cuts. The city closed one branch, Skillman Southwestern, in 2025 due to budget constraints.

“If we do not move to a regional model and close four libraries, I will have to reduce hours and days for every library in this city, which is what we have done eight times over the last 15 years in response to budget pressures,” Shorr told council members.

The committee ultimately chose not to approve the plan to close the Renner Frankford, Skyline, Oak Lawn and Arcadia Park library branches. They also asked DPL staff to consider their feedback and engage with the community before presenting an updated scheme to the committee in March. 

What do Dallasites Want?

Nicole Paquette, board chair of the Friends group, said paper copies of the survey will be available at branch libraries across the city, along with desktop and mobile online formats.

“What we’re really hoping to do is to be able to articulate what people care about in terms of the Dallas Public Library,” Paquette said. “So you’ll see there’s questions related to hours of operation. What are the priority services that people are using? There are some questions related to the regional model and willingness to drive to locations.”

The proposed closures come as the department is being asked to identify $2.6 million in budget cuts ahead of the city’s 2026-27 fiscal year. Operational funding has remained largely unchanged from pre-2008 levels, even as new libraries have opened with bond money. Officials have suggested the branches would shut down toward the end of the fiscal year.

Closing the branches, staff said at the committee meeting, will allow flagship locations to open every day of the week and offer extended evening hours.

“[The potential cut] is really, really disheartening and concerning to the Friends of the Dallas Public Library,” Paquette said. “We love the idea of libraries being open longer because there are a number of locations that are not open in the evenings or available to people in hours that they might be wanting them. But we do not support library closures.”

One of the last questions on the survey asks which alternative locations, such as shopping centers or schools, residents would prefer to receive services at, as opposed to comparatively more expensive standalone branch libraries. Shorr expressed interest in moving toward more retail-forward services at the January committee meeting. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Gay Donnell Willis pointed to the Bookmarks location in NorthPark Center as a potential precedent.

“The days of brick-and-mortar, standalone, single-destination libraries feel somewhat outdated,” Willis said at the meeting. “I love the idea of taking the success of Bookmarks in NorthPark and expanding it across the city and into some of the areas where these locations are listed, replacing them with a model that is less expensive but still brings libraries and all of their rich programming directly to people who may not be using them as frequently. That is really appealing to me.”

Survey results will be presented along with an updated plan at the next committee meeting, which is scheduled for March 23. Paquette said the group has already received over 2,500 responses.

“The libraries have sort of been deprioritized and underfunded as part of the city budget for a long time,” Paquette said. “We hope that this survey proves that libraries have maybe been undervalued in terms of their role and impact, and so that this could shed light on that role and impact, and show how loved and appreciated they are.”