A law librarian from Oak Cliff shepherded the effort to make residents of other municipalities who are students and educators at colleges in Dallas eligible for public library cards.
Lewis Giles, assistant director of library science at the University of North Texas at Dallas College of Law, is the Dallas Public Library Board appointee for City Council District 1. And he recently won a national award, the Robert L. Oakley Advocacy Award, from the American Association of Law Libraries, for his effort.
Lewis Giles
Giles began working on the project after hearing from a student who needed to access a book that was available at the Dallas Public Library but not at the library in her suburban town.
Teachers and students at Dallas ISD and public charter schools in Dallas already had access to the library. But Giles’ work led to City Council expanding that to students and educators at Dallas colleges as well as teachers and those enrolled at private schools in Dallas.
Giles started working on the project in 2019, and it received City Council approval in October.
“It’s all about being able to freely access services and knowledge,” Director of Libraries Jo Giudice said at the time. “This change is in line with our other recent efforts to remove barriers to resources, like eliminating late fines and loaning Wi-Fi hotspots.”
The change eliminated the $250 non-resident library fee for UNT Dallas, which affects 56% of undergraduate and 67% of law-school enrollees there, as well as Paul Quinn College, Dallas College and the University of Texas at Dallas. Giles started working on the project in 2019, and it received City Council approval in October.
