The Dallas Public Library is now offering members “Creative Spaces” to offer guests their hand at new skills or hobbies.

Now, inside previously vacant rooms in the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library, three new spaces have been staged. Each room is equipped and each room is meant to cater to a different creative passion and to help teach life skills.

“We plan to utilize equipment to help people be more prepared for job seeking, like with tailoring clothes for job interviews and recording mock job interviews,” said librarian Kristen Calvert. “This is another way we are offering limitless potentials.”

The Story Center offers top of the line digital, written, and oral options for documenting one’s story. The space features recording, video/photography, and editing equipment. It’s located on the 3rd floor of the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library and is available for private bookings.

 

The Fiber Arts Workroom is a space that offers items to help people learn how to sew, quilt, embroider, and create usable and sustainable fashion. Equipment available in the space includes sewing machines, vintage and contemporary, fabric samples, notions, and an ample working surface.

Lastly, the Heritage Lab is a space that, a lot like libraries, is dedicated to preserving the past. Library members will be able to preserve digital copies of irreplaceable home movies, photos, documents, slides, and audio cassettes.

It’s located on the 8th floor of the building and offers a wide variety of equipment to convert your treasured pieces. Some of the equipment includes a CopiBook OS Scanner, VHS to DVD converter, moviemaker for 8mm and super 8 film, film to digital converter, and more.

All three Creative Spaces are available during regular library hours. Dallas residents can reserve a two-hour block of time in each space by email or in-person after watching a short training video.

The people in the surrounding community seem to be on board with the creative spaces. “It’s free, and it’s a place where you can expand your horizons and hopefully keep kids out of trouble as well,” said Dallas resident Christian Dawes. “I would want my kids spending as much time as they can in there.”

The specific budget for the Creatives Spaces is unknown, but the City of Dallas had a budget of $1,728,962 for library supplies alone for FY 2020-21.