The Fort Worth Central Library will be closing its doors this summer on the final day of June.
Dart Industries bought the building on December 13, 2022, for $18 million, according to the report made by the city. Following the June 30 closure of the library, Dart Industries plans to knock down the building and begin the development of a new building.
The building is currently home to both the City Cable division and the offices of the Fort Worth Public Library Foundation. Different parts of the library will be distributed to various locations once it closes its doors.
Artwork that belongs to the city will relocate to several locations, including the Future City Hall currently in development. The “Bumpersaurus” artwork will transfer to the brand-new Vivian J. Lincoln Library, which will open on July 8, per an informal report to city council members.
The unofficial report given to city council members states that some of the Central Library’s collection will transfer to other library system branches. The back-office library employees, book storage, and distribution tasks will shift to the new Service Center. Furniture will move to various sites, and any books or materials not delivered to other branches will be given to a nearby charity.
The library began to scale back activities before the summer closing date. The library’s hours were shortened on January 31. The facility is now open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.
The public conference rooms closed on April 1, and the library will stop hosting public events on May 6 except for occasional story times, according to the informal report. Additionally, the library will no longer organize student field trips and stop processing passport applications.
Property Management is exploring spaces downtown for a new library presence. The size of the new location will determine the programs and services offered. However, the new downtown library will not be in the Dart Industries development slated for the current site.
Theresa Davis, library communications director, said earlier this year that library leadership had discussed the needs for the next downtown location.
“Our leadership here in the libraries has had initial conversations with different stakeholder groups and residential groups about what they think needs might be for a future location,” said Davis, per KERA News. “And those will continue because we have not selected a site for our relocation yet.”