Dallas Committee Backs Keeping All 28 Library Branches Open

A Dallas City Council committee signaled Monday it wants to keep all 28 neighborhood branches of the Dallas Public Library open, rejecting a proposed $2.6 million budget cut that would have shuttered four locations.

The Quality of Life, Arts and Culture Committee stopped short of a formal recommendation but heard presentations from Dallas Public Library Executive Director Manya Shorr outlining three operating scenarios, including one that would close four branches, first floated at a January meeting. Committee members made clear they didn’t want that outcome.

“I support fully restoring the budget,” said council member Chad West. “I support keeping the branches fully intact.”

The $2.6 million reduction was proposed in response to reduced projected sales tax revenue for the city, with the cuts expected to take effect heading into fiscal year 2027. Shorr laid out a middle path: a flagship model that would expand hours and services at five branches while keeping all 23 remaining neighborhood branches open. The five branches under consideration for flagship status are Vickery Park, Fretz Park, Bachman Lake, Pleasant Grove and Hampton-Illinois. The J. Erik Jonsson Central Library in downtown Dallas brings the system’s total to 29 libraries.

Shorr didn’t sugarcoat the problem.

“No library director wants to close libraries and no community wants its libraries closed, but we have a very real problem to solve,” she said.

After the hearing, Shorr told reporters she left encouraged. “How this moves forward is up to the city manager and the city council, but what I heard today was a mandate to open flagships and keep libraries open,” she said.

A handful of residents attended Monday’s hearing at Dallas City Hall wearing red shirts reading “Support Dallas Libraries.” Among them was Denise McKnight, executive director of Friends of the Dallas Public Library. McKnight said the committee’s reception gave her reason for optimism, though she didn’t soften her message about what’s at stake.

“The residents of Dallas, and the voters, want to have their libraries prioritized, funded and invested in,” McKnight said.

The library funding fight isn’t new. Last fall, the city council voted to close the Skillman/Southwestern branch in east Dallas, saving $386,000. That closure put the broader system on notice. “The thought of losing four more started to feel very much real,” McKnight said.

A February survey of 4,000 Dallas residents put community sentiment in sharp relief: 87% supported increased library funding and 71% opposed closing four branches even if it meant expanded hours at five other locations. The branches at risk included the Oak Lawn Branch and the Skyline Branch in Buckner Terrace, among others.

For Preston Hollow and Park Cities residents, the Dallas Public Library system may feel distant from the Highland Park ISD campuses and private school networks that dominate this zip code’s education conversation. It isn’t. The Dallas Public Library serves a city of 1.3 million people, and the funding decisions made at Dallas City Hall reflect the same budget pressures that touch parks, streets and every other shared city service. How the city manager and full council respond to the committee’s signal will determine whether the flagship concept moves from a PowerPoint slide to an actual budget line.

The branches identified as potential flagships draw from communities across the city, and the city’s budget office will have to find a way to make the numbers work without gutting neighborhood access. Monday’s hearing offered committee buy-in. The formal budget process, and the harder votes, come later.