Oak Lawn Library is at risk, and Dallas residents need to act now.
This branch is more than a building. It is a voting place, public gathering space, queer literary resource, and civic anchor in Dallas’ historic LGBTQ+ neighborhood. Closing it would weaken voting access, reduce neighborhood services, and erase part of Dallas’ LGBTQ+ literary and civic history.
Take Action Now
Contact the Mayor and your Dallas City Council member. Tell them: Save the Books. Save the Oak Lawn Library.
Ask them to:
Protect Oak Lawn Library and ALL of the libraries in the FY2027 budget.
Restore the $2.6 million Dallas Public Library says is needed to maintain current service levels.
Reject any regional library model that closes neighborhood branches without fully accounting for actual use, voting access, LGBTQ+ history, public gathering space, and community need.
Require Dallas Public Library leadership to meet with Oak Lawn stakeholders in Oak Lawn and work toward real solutions.
Copy and Send This Message For Oak Lawn Residents
“Please save the books and save the Oak Lawn Library. Oak Lawn Library is not underutilized. It is a busy branch, a voting location, a public gathering space, and a historic LGBTQ+ literary and cultural resource. Closing it would harm Oak Lawn and erase an important part of Dallas’ civic and queer history. Please protect Oak Lawn Library in the FY2027 budget, restore the funding needed to maintain current library service levels, and require Dallas Public Library leadership to work with Oak Lawn stakeholders on real solutions.”
Personal stories matter. Tell city leaders if you vote at Oak Lawn Library, use the LGBTQ+ collection, attend events, use the meeting rooms, or rely on the branch as a public space.
The Data Does Not Support Closing Oak Lawn Library
Oak Lawn Library is not an underused branch. As previously reported in Oak Lawn Library Is Not Underutilized, The Data Shows the Opposite, available data points to a busy branch serving a dense, active neighborhood. If Oak Lawn was labeled underutilized, the data used to support that claim appears incomplete, misleading, or wrong. A busy branch should not be closed because a model failed to understand it.
Oak Lawn Library Is LGBTQ+ History
Oak Lawn Library sits at 4100 Cedar Springs Road, in the heart of Dallas’ historic LGBTQ+ district. The branch has long served as a public anchor for the neighborhood and houses LGBTQ+ literary resources connected to the community’s history.
At a time when LGBTQ+ books, queer history, drag, trans lives, and public education are under attack across the country, Dallas should be protecting this space, not placing it on a closure list. The community is still investing in the library and the corridor, including Oak Lawn Library’s new Pride steps and the planned community-funded mural. Those are not signs of a failing branch. They are signs of a community that still believes in its public space.
Why Community Trust Needs Repair
Dallas Public Library Director Manya Shorr has told Oak Lawn stakeholders that branch Friends groups are capped at giving their branch $3,000 per year “for equity reasons,” while also stating that Dallas Public Library needs a $2.6 million annual budget restoration to maintain current service levels.
That creates a serious contradiction. The community is being told there is a funding shortage, but also that branch-level fundraising cannot meaningfully help protect local service. Equity should not mean blocking a neighborhood from helping its own public institution. Equity should mean every neighborhood has the support it needs to thrive.
Shorr has also rejected creative community proposals, including expanded after-hours fundraising event concepts, citing vague policies, staffing shortages, vacancies, and spending restrictions despite orgs willing to pay for all costs associated with the event. In May, when asked about bringing a historic LGBTQIA2+ Dallas sculpture to the Oak Lawn Library she opined, “the Oak Lawn Branch Library is currently proposed to close in FY27 so any conversation will need to take that into consideration.” These are not the creative solutions city council tasked her with finding. Oak Lawn stakeholders are trying to bring solutions to the table. The answer is still no.
Her broader public framing also raises concern. While serving as Fort Worth’s library director, Shorr told the Fort Worth Report that “Homelessness and violence are community issues, not a library issue”. But libraries should not separate themselves from the communities they serve. Public libraries are where community issues show up. That is why they need investment, partnerships, staff support, and trust; not closure.
Community advocates have also noted that Shorr’s publicly visible LinkedIn presence did not appear to include a single Pride Month post, even while a historic LGBTQ+ neighborhood branch remains under threat. Oak Lawn does not need symbolic allyship alone. It needs material protection, honest data, and leadership willing to meet the neighborhood where it is.
Save the Books. Save the Oak Lawn Library.
Dallas should not close Oak Lawn Library. Contact the Mayor. Contact your City Council member. Share this page.
Save the Books. Save the Oak Lawn Library.
#SaveTheBooks #SaveOakLawnLibrary