Library News

District Dynamos -- You Are the Library

The District Dynamos is a network of community driven oversight groups currently focusing on DC's public library system.

MLk Library
King Memorial Library
Photo by Rob Goodspeed

The neglect of the DC's library system over decades has led to a serious erosion of the physical plant and library services offered to the residents of Washington, DC.

In recent years, the DC Public Library (DCPL) system has been uplifted by the DC City Council and Mayor with an increase in funding for capital projects at the central King Memorial Library and the surrounding neighborhood branch libraries. The new funding has been directed at fixing immediate repairs at the central library and conducting more comprehensive library transformations among several branch libraries.

Currently, the Chief Librarian and Board of Library Trustees (BoLT) are directly overseeing capital library projects with subsequent oversight by city leadership who have given them the funding, DC's City Council and Mayor.

Given how important library projects are to the vitality of any neighborhood, there has been disappointment among community leaders and residents where library projects are occurring -- there are expectations of more thorough consultation with the public about how the new infusion of much needed library funding is spent.

Frederick Douglass

DC residents have to be more vocal to see a bigger oversight role materialize... and the District Dynamos seek to involve District residents in the transformation of our library system in a more meaningful and proactive way.

Like Frederick Douglass explained one-hundred and fifty years ago,

"Power concedes nothing
without a demand."


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