Friendly librarians sit behind the desks in the front and can answer questions like how to get a library card and how to access the internet.
The only thing that seems to be left out of this typical scene is the library's access to the news.
After securing an internet card or a library card, a visitor can access the library's desktop computers. In the homepage, under the database section, there's a prompt to access PressReader, the periodical database where readers can visit and check hundreds of different newspapers and magazines.
Curiously, next to the link, it says, “Temporarily unavailable.”
Digital access to news, including for The Dallas Morning News, is gone for all Dallas Public Library locations, and it has been since at least early May.
“You could come in and look at a print copy. If you don’t want to come into the library but you still want to read it, we don’t have a resource at this time,” says Melissa Dease, community relations administrator for the Dallas Public Library.
There is a small stack of print newspapers behind the desk at the Vickery Park branch, but they are first-come-first-serve, as there's a lack of variety in the types of publications — which are normally available through PressReader.
According to Dease, the contract is in the procurement process and is being renewed.
“We have procedures that we have to go through, and the review processes and quotes we have to get and that sort of thing,” Dease says. “It just takes time.”
There are several services that let you look at a newspaper at the library. ProQuest, for example, allows access to archival newspapers, and you can peruse The New York Times with a 30-day delay, or The Wall Street Journal with a four-day delay. The archives for The Dallas Morning News go back only to 2016.
It’s not any better on your own computer, either. Normally, with a library card, you are able to log into PressReader through the library’s website. But again, next to the link, it says, “Currently unavailable.”
The past fiscal year's contract with PressReader cost $32,460.48. Although the library has budgeted for a new PressReader contract, Dease says that it has not yet received a quote for the renewal from PressReader. Dease also says the delay in renewing the contract is not related to any budgetary concerns and is a normal renewal process.
Until that contract with PressReader is renewed, there is no way to read the digital version of a current daily newspaper at the public library.
No News Isn't Always Good News
“Dallas Public Library are currently re-evaluating whether they will take up a subscription to PressReader, but until that time, our content, which consists of thousands of titles from over one hundred countries, including The Dallas Morning News, will not be available to patrons at this library,” says James Fairbotham, senior global sales manager for PressReader in an email to the Observer.This comes at a problematic time for the library, as its budget has been slashed and there's a proposal to close the Skillman branch. The DPL is also ending its hotspot program as a library initiative; it will be moved to the city’s technology department, according to Friends of the Dallas Public Library.
The Dallas Morning News, the city’s only daily paper, has digital subscriptions that start out fairly inexpensively with the help of sales and specials, but when those run out it reverts back to full price (around $30 a month). The library’s subscription is a no-cost way for any Dallas resident to be able to read the local newspaper.
The librarians, of course, are extremely knowledgeable and helpful. When we asked if there was a way to read the current edition of the newspaper, they helped us search through several databases and branches, with no luck.
As it stands today, there is no way to read today’s paper digitally at the library.
When the Observer called the “Ask a librarian” helpline and asked if it was possible to read today’s DMN paper online, we were referred to the Houston Public Library, which is available to all Texans and has a current PressReader subscription.
