The Dallas Public Library (DPL) is the public library system that serves the city of

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. With more than 4 million items and 30 locations, the Dallas Public Library is the largest

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

system in

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

. A Dallas Public Library card is available at no cost to anyone who lives in, teaches at or attends school in an educational institution within City of Dallas city limits. Educational institutions include public schools, charter schools, private schools, community colleges, colleges and universities, etc. A library card is also available to City of Dallas employees. The monthly average in total numbers from all 30 Dallas Public Library locations are 648,840 items circulated (digital & physical), 3,398 new

library card A library card can refer to several Plastic card, cards traditionally used for the management of books and patrons in a library. In its most common use, a library card serves similar functions as a corporate membership card. A person who holds a ...

s, 628 technology checkouts ( wi-fi hotspots & laptops), 679 volunteer hours, 120,058 online visitors. As of fiscal year 2023, the library had 643,892 card holders with 3,925,173 physical materials circulated and 3,889,401 e-materials circulated.

Special collections and services

Several special collections are housed at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library including the Siddie Jo Johnson Children's Literature Collection (2nd floor), the Patent and Trademark Resource Center (6th floor), the Fine Books collection (7th floor), and the Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck Genealogy Collection (8th floor). Dallas Public Library holds one of the largest and comprehensive collections for family history research in the Southwest. Many of the library branches hold special book collections like Spanish language, LGBT Resources, and African-American history.

Historic Documents

The Dallas Public Library is home to a copy of Shakespeare's

First Folio ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...

, the only copy in a US public library outside of New England. It was purchased by the Dallas Shakespeare Club in 1984 at a cost of $275,000 and was gifted to the Library in 1986. It is displayed on the 7th floor. A Dunlap Broadside copy of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

is also housed on the 7th floor. Printed by John Dunlap of Philadelphia, it is one of only twenty-six known to survive. This is the only copy west of the Mississippi, and one of only 3 displayed by a public library. It was purchased by a number of individuals for $500,000 and given to the city.

Makerspaces

The J. Erik Jonsson Central Library also has three makerspaces, called Creative Spaces, that serve a different creative endeavor: storytelling, fiber arts, and preservation. The Story Center on the 3rd floor is a studio with equipment for storytelling in all its forms: recording a podcast, making movies, or digital creation. The Fiber Arts Workroom on the 4th floor offers equipment to help people of all skill levels bring their ideas into finished projects. The Heritage Lab on the 8th floor contains digitization tools to make copies of irreplaceable photos, home movies, documents, slides and audio cassettes. In 2024, D Magazine named Dallas Public Library best arts incubator in the city.

Services

GED and Citizenship classes are available throughout the year in English and Spanish through the Adult Learning program. In person and online English classes are also available. Job application, search, and resume help is available through the library's Career Launch Pad service. The service is available at all Dallas Public Library locations except for Bookmarks.

Notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

services are offered at no charge at several locations.

History

In 1899, the idea to create a free public library in Dallas was conceived by the Dallas Federation of Women's Clubs, led by president Mrs. Henry (May Dickson) Exall. She helped raise

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

11,000 from gifts from public school teachers, local businessmen, and Alfred Horatio Belo of ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...

''. The library became a reality when Mrs. Exall requested and received a

50,000 grant from philanthropist and steel giant

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

to construct the first library building in Dallas. On October 22, 1901, the Carnegie library opened at the corner of Harwood and Commerce streets with a head librarian, three assistants, and 9,852 volumes. The first story held the entire collection; the second floor held the Carnegie Hall auditorium and an Art Room. The art room was the first public art gallery in Dallas and eventually became what is known today as the

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the A ...

. An

Oak Cliff Oak Cliff is an area of Dallas, Texas, United States that was formerly a separate town in Dallas County; established in 1887 and annexed by Dallas in 1903, Oak Cliff has retained a distinct neighborhood identity as one of Dallas' older establ ...

branch opened in 1914 to serve the citizens of the area, annexed into Dallas in 1903. Four more branches opened in the 1930s including the Paul Lawrence Dunbar Library, which was the first to serve the

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

population of Dallas. This began under the director of Cleora Clanton. DallasPublicLibrary02

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the library was fully established as a War Information Center. By 1950, the library resources and facilities were stretched to the limit, so supporters formed an auxiliary organization called the ''Friends of the Dallas Public Library'' to lobby for better library services. By the 1950s, the Carnegie Library was badly deteriorating and overcrowded, and a new modern library was built on the same site. During construction, the Library was housed temporarily on the mezzanine of

Union Station A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...

. The new building, now known as

Old Dallas Central Library The former Dallas Public Library, now known as Old Dallas Central Library, is a multi-level civic structure located at 1954 Commerce Street in downtown Dallas, downtown Dallas, Texas (United States, USA). It is located on the edge of the Farmers ...

, had room for over 400,000 volumes and opened in 1954.

Growth: 1960 to 2000

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Dallas Public Library added 17 branches to the system. In 1962, Lillian M. Bradshaw was named Library Director, the first woman to head a department in the City of Dallas, marking a milestone in the

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

and

women's liberation The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminism, feminist intellectualism. It emerged in the late 1960s and continued till the 1980s, primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which resu ...

movements of that era. Biblioteca_Dallas_Interior

Days after she was put into office, she faced a

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

push from a Dallas council-member, but the community and media rallied to her defense. The City Council, in response, overwhelmingly approved her appointment and passed a resolution not to censor books purchased by the library. By the 1970s, the Central Library had again become overloaded and was unequipped to handle emerging technology. (This was partly a result of the federal Library Services and Construction Act, which had enabled the addition of an unexpected number of volumes to the collection in a relatively short period of time.) In 1972, the City selected a site at Young and Ervay across from the

Dallas City Hall Dallas City Hall is the seat of municipal government of the city of Dallas, Texas, United States. It is located at 1500 Marilla Street in the Government District, Dallas, Government District of downtown Dallas. The current building, the city's ...

for a new central library facility. In 1982, the technologically sophisticated structure opened its doors. It was one of the first libraries in the nation to include an

Online Public Access Catalog The online public access catalog (OPAC), now frequently synonymous with ''library catalog'', is an online database of materials held by a library or group of libraries. Online catalogs have largely replaced the analog card catalogs previously ...

(OPAC) and state-of-the-art audiovisual capabilities. It was renamed the

J. Erik Jonsson Central Library The J. Erik Jonsson Central Library is the main library of the Dallas Public Library system. It is located at 1515 Young Street in the Government District, Dallas, Texas, Government District of downtown Dallas, downtown Dallas, Texas, Dallas, Te ...

in 1986 in honor of the former mayor who played a large role in the library system's development. By the 2000s, the system had 27 branch locations with over 2.5 million volumes, including books, magazines, videos, and cassettes. The system currently attracts 2.8 million visitors per year and has 540,000 cardholders who check out more than 3.8 million books and other materials per year. The Library also operates a "Library on Wheels" Mobile Learning Center to service Dallas communities.

Branches

Skillman southwestern library dallas texas 2009-08-22

The Dallas Public Library system consists of 28 branches throughout the city, the

, in the Government District of

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

Dallas, and the Bookmarks Children's Library located in NorthPark Center. *Arcadia Park Branch Library in West Dallas (2005)Dallas Public Library Birthdays
/ref> *Audelia Road Branch Library in Lake Highlands (1971) *Bachman Lake Branch Library (1961) *Bookmarks in NorthPark Center (2008) *Dallas West Branch Library in West Dallas (1975) *Fretz Park Branch Library in

North Dallas North Dallas is an area of numerous communities and neighborhoods in Dallas, Texas (United States). The phrase "North Dallas" is also sometimes used to include any suburb or exurb north of Dallas proper within the metropolitan area. The majority ...

(1976) *Forest Green Branch Library in Lake Highlands (1976) *Grauwyler Park Branch Library in

(2007) *Hampton-Illinois Branch Library in

(1964) *Highland Hills Branch Library in the Highland Hills neighborhood of South Dallas (1980) *

Downtown Dallas Downtown Dallas is the central business district (CBD) of Dallas, Texas, United States, located in the geographic center of the city. It is the second-largest business district in the state of Texas. The area termed "Downtown" has traditionally ...

(1982) *Kleberg-Rylie Branch Library in Kleberg in far Southeast Dallas (1995) *Lakewood Branch Library in Junius Heights, near Lakewood (1938) *Lochwood Branch Library (formerly Casa View Branch) in Lochwood neighborhood of East Dallas, White Rock area (1964) *Martin Luther King Jr. Library and Learning Center near

Fair Park Fair Park is a recreational and educational complex in Dallas, Dallas, Texas, United States, located immediately east of Downtown Dallas, downtown. The area is registered as a Dallas Landmark and National Historic Landmark; many of the building ...

(1974) *Mountain Creek Branch Library in Mountain Creek, Dallas, Texas (1994) *North Oak Cliff Branch Library in

(1987) *Oak Lawn Branch Library in Oak Lawn (1929) *Park Forest Branch Library in

(1971) *Paul Laurence Dunbar Lancaster-Kiest Branch Library in South Dallas (1964) *Pleasant Grove Branch Library in Pleasant Grove (1961) *Polk-Wisdom Branch Library in Southwest Dallas (1970) *Prairie Creek Branch Library (2010) *Preston Royal Branch Library in

(1964) **Preston Royal first opened in 1964. Its roof has arches above, and according to Andrew Scoggin of ''

'' this makes the library appear distinct compared to others in the library system. there is no funding for a new library building intended to replace the current library. *Renner Frankford Branch Library in Renner in Far North Dallas (1987) *Skillman Southwestern Branch Library in East Dallas (1996) ** This branch, at 5707 Skillman Street at Southwestern Boulevard, is south of and serves Vickery Midtown. The library opened in July 1996 and received dedication on August 18, 1996.Coleman, Rufus.
Library fills need of area, Long-awaited opening fills needs of northeast Dallas neighborhood
" ''

''. August 15, 1996. Retrieved on May 27, 2009. A 1978 bond authorized by Dallas voters lead to the construction of the Skillman Southwestern library. Ramiro Salazar, then the director of the Dallas library system said in 1996 that the opening of Skillman Southwestern satisfied "the needs of a community that didn't have an accessible library for a long time." *Skyline Branch Library in East Dallas (1977) *Timberglen Branch Library in Far North Dallas (2007) *Vickery Park Branch Library in Northeast Dallas (2021) *White Rock Hills Branch Library in Far East Dallas (2012) **This branch, at 9150 Ferguson Rd, received a 2012 APA/GCPD Accessibility Award from the State of Texas.Dallas Public Library. Retrieved on 21 January 2013.
/ref>

References

External links

Dallas Public Library
{{Authority control Libraries in Dallas Federal depository libraries Carnegie libraries in Texas Public libraries in Texas Libraries participating in TexShare