The Dallas Public Library is one of the major attractions of Dallas. The main library building is located on the Young Street of Downtown Dallas. It was set up way back in 1905. It was an initiative of the Dallas Women's Club, led by Mrs. Irene Gerlinger, a social activist.

From a single room since its birth, in 1912, a full-fledged library building was constructed with the help of local funds and a huge grant from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. It became an important institution over the years with the help of funds and financial supports from several quarters including teachers of public school teachers, the local business community and the media houses in the state. Today, it has 25 branches all over the city and its neighborhood areas as well.

At present, the library system has an extensive collection of over 2.5 million volumes. This includes books, periodicals, CDs, cassettes, magazines and other records as well as a children's section. The library system was computerized in mid-1990s, so that members can access all its databases on the internet. There are over 540,000 registered members who not only access the library documents but are allowed to participate in various library events and programs. It has also introduced 'Library on wheels' which is a mobile knowledge-sharing initiative for the local community in Dallas.

The main library building is open from 10 am to 7 pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. On Fridays and Saturdays, it is open till 5 pm. The library is closed on Sunday and Monday. The hours may vary slightly at the branches, the detailed of which are provided on the official library website.

The Dallas Public Library is a municipal library system with 28 branches throughout the City of Dallas, Texas. Its mission is "to inform, entertain, enrich, and to foster the self-learning process by facilitating access to its collections, services, and facilities to all members of the community."

History of Dallas Public Library

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Public_Library

Readers are allowed to reserve books from anywhere in the Library System and arrange to have it picked up at their local branch. Free WIFI is available at every Dallas Public Library location. Parents can expect DASH - Dallas After School Homework Help, regular storytime for children, various classes and much more.

J. Erik Jonsson Central Library in the Government District of downtown is the main branch of the Dallas Public Library System. It was named after J. Erik Jonsson, a Texas Instruments honcho and mayor of Dallas.

Inspired by the design of the Dallas City Hall, the library comes with a modernist architecture style. It has eight stories above ground and two below which are full to treasures for visitors to explore.

Address: 515 Young Street, Dallas, TX 75201. It's at the corner of Young and Ervay streets, across the street from City Hall.

Hours: It's open 10am to 5pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The Thursday hours are from 12am to 8pm. And on Sunday, it's only open 4 hours, from 1pm to 5pm. The library is closed on Monday.

You can contact with the library through 14-670-1400 (switchboard), 214-670-1700 (reference), 214-670-1716(TDD/TTY) or email them at askalibrarian@dallaslibrary.org.

Library Tours

http://dallaslibrary2.org/services/tours.php

Directions and parking info can be found from:

http://www.dallaslibrary2.org/directions-central.php

Bookmarks Branch Library has a very special location in Dallas and even in the United States. It's the first children's library of the Nation situated in a shopping center - NorthPark Center.

Address: 8687 North Central Expressway, 75225 and the onsite library is at Suite 1514.

With a history approaching the half-century mark, NorthPark Center now is the biggest mall in Texas due to a 200 million dollar expansion. This is a shopping, fashion and entertainment destination with spectacular retailers, museum quality art, high-class theater complex and walkways landscaped to perfection.

Bookmarks at NorthPark Center is a 1,993-square-foot library with a collection of 5,000 items for children 12 years old and younger.

Hours: It's closed on Tuesday. On Sunday, it's open from 12am to 5pm. The operation hours for other days of a week are from 10am to 5pm. Contact them through 214-671-1381 or northpark@dallaslibrary.org.

NorthPark Center is accessible to and from downtown Dallas, the Dallas Convention Center, North Dallas, Richardson and Plano by the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Light Rail System. It's on the route of 702.

DART 702 Schedules

http://www.dart.org/schedules/busschedules.asp?zeon=route702

You can take advantage of the complimentary NorthPark Center/DART Shuttle for coming to and from the nearby Park Lane Station and the west entrance to NorthPark Center near Nordstrom Court. The shuttle operates every 20 minutes from Monday to Saturday, 9am - 10pm, and 11am - 7pm on Sunday.

Arcadia Park Branch Library and Hampton-Illinois Branch Library are all closed on Sunday. The operation hours from Tuesday to Friday are 7:45am to 5pm. The hours for Monday delay to 8:00pm. On Saturday, they're open from 10am to 5pm.

Arcadia Park Branch Library

Address: 1302 North Justin Rd., 75211

Contact: 214-670-6446; arcadiapark@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Route: 376 (requires 3/4 mile walk to the library)

Hampton-Illinois Branch Library

Address: 2951 South Hampton Road, 75224 (map)

Contact: 214-670-7646; hamptonillinois@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Route: 445(requires 1/4 mile walk to library), 453

On Train Line: Red (The library is 3/4 mile from Westmoreland Station)

In the Dallas Public Library System, most branch libraries are closed on Monday and Sunday. And some libraries have the same operation hours. We have divided them into several groups for you to get a better understanding.

1) Tuesday & Thursday: 12am - 8pm; Wednesday, Friday & Saturday: 10am - 6pm

Forest Green

Address: 9015 Forest Lane, 75243

Contact: 214-670-1335; ForestGreen@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Routes: 468, 488

Grauwyler Park

Address: 2146 Gilford Street, 75235

Contact: 214-671-1447; GrauwylerPark@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Routes: 525(requiring a 1/2 mile walk), 544

On Train Line: Green (3/4 mile from Burbank Station)

Kleberg Rylie

Address: 1301 Edd Road, 75253

Contact: 214-670-8471; KlebergRylie@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Route: 842 Flex

Lakewood

Address: 6121 Worth Street, 75214

Contact: 214-670-1376; lakewood@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Routes: 19, 76

North Oak Cliff

Address: 302 West Tenth Street, 75208

Contact: 214-670-7555; northoakcliff@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Routes: 1, 11, 21, 444, 522, 542 (require 1/8 to 1/3 mile walk)

Park Forest

Address: 3421 Forest Lane, 75234

Contact: 214-670-6333; parkforest@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Routes: 486, 532

Paul Laurence Dunbar Lancaster-Kiest

Address: 2008 East Kiest Blvd, 75216

Contact: 214-670-1952; lancasterkiest@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Routes: 541, 538(1/4 mile from route 538)

Polk-Wisdom

Address: 7151 Library Lane, 75232

Contact: 214-670-1947; polkwisdom@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Routes: 161

Prairie Creek

Address: 9609 Lake June Rd., 75217

Contact: 214-671-0410; prairiecreek@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Routes: 592, 593, 597

Skyline

Address: 6006 Everglade Road, 75227

Contact: 214-670-0938; Skyline@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Route: 111

Timberglen

Address: 18505 Midway Road, 75287

Contact: 214-671-1365; timberglen@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Route: 534 (1/4 mile east of the Lina and Timberglen Stop)

2) Tuesday & Wednesday 12am - 8pm; Thursday, Friday & Saturday 10am - 6pm

Bachman Lake

Address: 9480 Webb Chapel Rd., 75220

Contact: 214-670-6376; bachmanlake@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Routes: 51, 428(requires 1/8 mile walk to the library)

Fretz Park

Address: 6990 Belt Line Road, 75254

Contact: 214-670-6421; FretzPark@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Route: 400

Highland Hills

Address: 3624 Simpson Stuart Road, 75241

Contact: 214-670-0987; HighlandHills@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Routes: 155, 553, 554

Martin Luther King

Address: 2922 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 75215

Contact: 214-670-0344; martinlutherkingjr@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Routes: 11, 12, 26, 44, 409

(The library is 1/4 mile from the J. B. Jackson, Jr., Transit Center.)

On Train Line: Green

(The library is 1/4 mile from the Martin Luther King, Jr., Station.)

Skillman Southwestern

Address: 5707 Skillman Street, 75206

Contact: 214-670-6078; skillmansouthwestern@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Route: 502

3) Tuesday, Friday & Saturday 10am - 6pm; Wednesday & Thursday 12am - 8pm

Audelia Road

Address: 10045 Audelia Road, 75238

214-670-1350; audeliaroad@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Route: 374

Dallas West

Address: 2332 Singleton Boulevard, 75212

214-670-6445; DallasWest@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Routes: 52W, 59, 453(1/4 mile walk to the library)

Lochwood

Address: 11221 Lochwood Boulevard, 75218

Contact: 214-670-8403; lochwood@dallascityhall.com

On Bus Routes: 60, 467

Mountain Creek

Address: 6102 Mountain Creek Parkway, 75249

Contact: 214-670-6704; mountaincreek@dallaslibrary.org

Oak Lawn

Address: 4100 Cedar Springs Road, 75219

Contact: 214-670-1359; oaklawn@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Route: 39

(The library is 1/4 mile from routes 31, 51, and 409.)

Pleasant Grove

Address: 7310 Lake June Road, 75217

Contact: 214-670-0965; pleasantgrove@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Route: 592

(The library is 1/4 mile from routes 475 and 592.)

Preston Royal

Address: 5626 Royal Lane, 75229

Contact: 214-670-7128; prestonroyal@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Route: 36 (1/4 mile from the library)

Renner Frankford

Address: 6400 Frankford Road, 75252

Contact: 214-670-6100; rennerfrankford@dallaslibrary.org

On Bus Route: 184

For holiday hours of these branch locations, you can check the following page:

Holiday and Mandatory City Leave Schedule for 2010-2011

http://dallaslibrary2.org/holidayHours.php

And more transportation info can be found from:

Directions from Central Library to Branches

http://dallaslibrary2.org/directions-branches.php

How to get to Central and Branch Libraries Using Public Transportation

http://dallaslibrary2.org/directions-publicTransit.php

Do you feel a thrill when you're around books? Does the proximity of millions of books covering a wide variety of topics and bringing knowledge and learning to others excite you? Do you like the thought of helping people, big and small, to locate books they're looking for? Do you like putting them back in order where they belong when someone's done reading them so someone else can benefit from it later?

http://dallaslibrary.org/services/jobs.php

If your answer happens to be a 'yes' to all or most of these questions then you're either already a librarian or you're looking to become one. If your Dallas travelling happens to be on this account then you might be lucky enough to find a job at the Dallas Public Library. If not, there are many schools nearby that require qualified librarians.

http://dallaslibrary.org/

If you're not a librarian and don't plan on becoming one but just like the idea of working close to books, then too you could find yourself a job at the Dallas Public Library. According to the Dallas Public Library, all job postings can be found at this site - http://www.dallascityhall.org. The lists on this website will let you know about all the jobs up for grabs in Dallas, including vacancies that come up at the Dallas Public Library.

http://dallaslibrary.org/home.htm

If it's other jobs in Dallas you're looking for, there are many websites you can check out. Librarians at the Dallas Public Library have browsed the web and come up with an extensive list of websites that you can make use of for your job search. Click on this link to access the list of websites.

http://dallaslibrary.org/career.htm

When you do find a job in this bustling city, you can sign up for a Dallas Public Library card which doesn't cost a penny for Dallas residents. It gives you access to a vast and continually increasing catalog of books and DVDs that you can learn and benefit from.

If you are fanatic about books or to be more precise, if you are a literary person, your Dallas travel can be educationally fulfilling.

The various Dallas public library branches around the city give you an access to an array of books which you can issue or read in the library itself.

There are around 25 branches; besides the main branch which is an 8 storey building named J Eric Jonssan Central library in the Government district of Downtown.

Browse through the link to get details about the operating hours http://dallaslibrary.org/hours.php.

Various Dallas Public Library branches

Some of the other Dallas Public Library branches are Arcadia park branch library in West Dallas, Dallas West branch library in West Dallas, Oak Lawn branch library in Oak Lawn, Skyline Branch library in East Dallas, North Oak Cliff branch library in Oak cliff, Mountain Creek branch library in Mountain Creek, Highland hills branch library in South Dallas and Timberglen branch library in Far North Dallas.

Get to know further details at the following link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Public_Library and learn about the rest of the branches as well.