UPDATE:
Dallas Voice has received information from Robyn Gerard, communications and media relations administrator with the city of Dallas, correcting information posted Tuesday night regarding an anonymous donation to support city libraries.
Although it was initially reported that the donation was intended to support the Oak Lawn Branch of the Dallas Public Library system, Gerard said, “The anonymous donation was not designated to keep the Oak Lawn Branch open.
“The trust identifies the Dallas Public Library as one of five beneficiaries, and the funds will be placed in a city‑administered Library Special Fund to support systemwide priorities across all library locations,” Gerard told Dallas Voice. “The donor included only one restriction: the funds may not be used for building construction.”
Gerard said the city council is scheduled to consider acceptance of the donation at its June 24 meeting, and, pending approval, the funding is expected to support systemwide initiatives across the library system.Â
ORIGINAL POST:
The Oak Lawn Branch of the Dallas Public Library — one of four branch libraries recommended for closure by Library Director Manya Shorr earlier this year — “will likely remain open for the foreseeable future … thanks to an anonymous donor’s extraordinary gift of approximately $2.8 million in cash and securities,” according to Lee Daugherty, writing for TheStripOnCedarSprings.com.
Dallas City Council is set to formally accept the gift at its June 24 meeting, Daugherty noted, this authorizing “acceptance of the funds in a city-held brokerage account, immediate sale of the securities and eventual transfer of all proceeds into the Library Family Donation Fund,” Daugherty noted. He continued, “Additionally the city will accept an estimated $25,000 from the future sale of mineral rights, bringing the total estimated revenue for the Library Family Donation Fund to $2,825,000. The item also authorizes the establishment of appropriations of up to $560,000 from this fund.”
Shorr had recommended the closures in the wake of adoption of a 2026 budget that “left the library not funded at a level to provide impactful, meaningful service at 28 locations and eight floors at the Central Library,” according to a press release posted on the library website in October last year.
The press release said that the budget changes forced the city to “develop a regional model” that would “concentrate services and extend hours at geographically dispersed locations around the city while closing and/or reducing hours at the remaining branches.
“A regional model will allow for deeper service in the community because the budget and staffing will not have to be stretched out to operate as many service points,” the press release continued.
The proposal set off an immediate backlash from Oak Lawn branch supporters and prompted library officials and the Friends of the Dallas Public Library to send out a survey in February seeking feedback on library usage. Response to that survey indicated that 71 percent of those responding opposed cuts to the library budget, and nearly 87 percent want to see funding increased.
Watch TheStripOnCedarSprings.com for Daugherty’s ongoing updates.