Northeast Dallas residents want to stop Skillman Southwestern Library’s closure amid cuts

The quarterly book sale at Skillman Southwestern Library began quietly amid questions of whether it was the last of its kind.
Patrons, some no older than a year, streamed Saturday into the library to shop books from the library’s inventory to raise funds for programs and cultural activities at their local branch, often not covered by the city’s budget.
Books upon books – first edition copies, writers from Dallas, travelogs – were available at half price.
And now, that chapter may come to a close.
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City officials proposed a $5 billion budget as a burgeoning demand to fund a $4 billion pension shortfall persists. Every department was asked to make reductions. The northeast library branch was among the proposed cuts.
Library board members and patrons who live in nearby apartments are pushing city officials to reverse their decision. They stood outside with flyers for a petition against the move. So far, over 2,000 community members have signed on.
Ann Stillman, one of the volunteers at the book sale, said she had seen everyone from young mothers with strollers and families from the neighborhood step in through the doors for various services.
“It isn’t just the books, it’s the space,” she said.
Maggie Watson, who frequents the library once a week, heard about the closure from another patron. She started the petition with an aim to reach more than 500 community members.
Watson takes bus No. 17, which stops on both sides of Skillman, right in front of the library.
“I can be there in less than five minutes,” Watson said. She could walk there in 15 minutes on balmy days.
She mapped what she would have to do to get to the Vickery Meadow branch, which fell across the Northwest highway. It’s in an area where her current bus route doesn’t go, so she would have to make at least one connection.
“I know a lot of residents aren’t going to do that. They’re just going to stop using the library,” Watson feared.
Interim City Manager Kim Tolbert said officials pored over every branch in the system and assessed that the larger and newer Vickery Meadow branch could fill the gap as it was only a mile away. The city is considering placing book vending machines in the area for nearby library cardholders.
Mary Jo Giudice, Dallas Public Library director, said bond dollars worth $262,000 for the library for bathroom upgrades, compliant with the American Disabilities Act, will be distributed among other branches.
Patrons have been asked to look for other library branches for book pick-up. They have been told the library branch is expected to close its doors next month.
Built in 1996, Skillman Southwestern is one of the city’s smaller branches. Before budget discussions, city officials envisioned expanding it to 30,000 square feet, twice its current size, to meet the growing density in the area, according to the Dallas Public Library strategic and facilities plan.
The strategic plan also recommended the library relocate to another site further south for better community access.
City leaders said cuts in the library system, which also includes eliminating 24 positions, will generate $1.9 million.
Council member Paula Blackmon, who represents the area, said figuring out what to cut or unspool for the library to survive was the biggest challenge. Budgetary issues have put the city between a “rock and a hard place.”
The city is making an additional $202 million payment to the pension fund, increasing utility fees for better sanitation services and tackling homelessness, she said.
“This is the beginning of a lot of city services that are going to change. People are unhappy. I know it. I am unhappy too, but I have to look at the whole city,” she said.
In the meantime, Blackmon said she was also considering putting a budget amendment in to save the library. “I don’t know if I can get enough support, but I’m going to try,” she said.
She is also in touch with nearby apartment complexes like the Village and public spaces like the theater to figure out where the city can replicate library services.
“Let’s figure out how we can create that in another place, close to the proximity of where (patrons) are,” Blackmon said.
News of a potential closure troubled nearby residents Caitlin Dolt and Ashley Grossman.
“I chose to live where I live because I look out my living room windows and I see books in a local library. That’s my polling place, and there’s a crochet club that I love,” Dolt, 23, said.
Libraries offer language classes and computers to low-income students and families.
“It’s an equalizer,” Grossman said. “I’ve always been able to make friends from around my area who I never would have met before through the library.”
Grossman, 24, said the Dallas Public Library raised her. As a child, she strategized what books to pick with her brother and maximize the number they could check out.
The two saw Watson’s petition and began making flyers.
“Hey, if there’s two things that ex-sorority girls are going to do, we’re going to make a Canva (a graphic design website),” Dolt joked.
They began reaching out to council members, city officials and state representatives. They printed hundreds of flyers to put in mailboxes and even a Whataburger.
They also signed up to speak during the Aug. 21 City Council briefing, where they wore big red pins in support of the library system.
Grossman said she is not sure of what comes next. Council members have until Aug. 30 to propose amendments to the budget. But she has a plan.
“I’m just going to continue spreading the word, getting signatures for the petition and people to show up to their district meetings, and hopefully, fingers crossed, it does make a difference, and we do get to keep it,” Grossman said.