The Dallas City Council voted this week to expand non-resident library card access to all educational institutions in the city limits.
“It’s all about being able to freely access services and knowledge,” Dallas' Director of Libraries Jo Giudice said in a statement. “This change is in line with our other recent efforts to remove barriers to resources, like eliminating late fines and loaning Wi-Fi hotspots.”
Under the previous policy, library cards for non-residents were limited to students and teachers at public and charter primary and secondary schools in Dallas.
The move to change the policy came from Municipal Library Board member Lewis Giles, who saw the need for public library services among his students at the University of North Texas at Dallas.
“While all these schools have their own libraries, we all have different focuses to our collections and a wide variety of expertise,” said Giles, who is the assistant director of library services at UNT Dallas. “With this change, students at Dallas College, Paul Quinn, UNT Dallas and other institutions will have the same opportunities as other learners in the city to use Dallas Public Library.”
The Dallas Public Library serves nearly 8 million visitors every day at it's 30locations, according to the city.
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