OLLF Newsletter – Fall 2025
From the President:It is budget time for the city of Dallas and when money gets a bit tight, the library budget takes a hit. Under the budget proposed by the city manager, the Skillman Southwestern Branch will be closed, and 15 library staff will lose their jobs. There will be some reductions in service. For 2026-27, 4 branches to be named will be closed and library services will be further reduced. As always, library supporters must make their voices heard at budget townhall meetings and at city hall.
A copy of the August BookPage. It has information on all the newest books. OLLF provides funding for 50 copies a month for our branch.
OLLF has provided about $1,000 for fall and winter programming.
Our website currently has 5,290 author pages. It covers new and old authors with author biographies and books in order of publication. It is updated with new authors on a weekly basis. Many of the authors added this year are first time authors from around the globe.
Day of Giving September 18, 2025
Our organization will again be participating in the North Texas Day of Giving 2025. The date for this event is September 18, 2025. I have sent out a separate letter about this important fundraiser highlighting some of our funded projects in the past year. We use these funds to enhance our library services.
This past year, funds raised during the Day of Giving 2024, helped fund our sewing classes, craft programs, our BookPage subscription and our website. We meet regularly with the staff to meet the needs of our users and community.
The money we spend on gardening programs is from a grant that we received from American Woodmark. We are focusing on gardening books for indoor and patio gardening since gardening space is limited in Oak Lawn.
We added a mobile display unit to highlight our seed catalog, and we are sponsoring a program “Basic Guide to Hyacinths” on Oct. 11th from 11 a.m. to 12 noon. We will be buying additional garden books after the 1st of Oct. and schedule more gardening programs in the winter and spring.
Carlos – our first cat member
After Oct. 1st, we will buy books about pet care for children, and we are planning a pet related event in the spring. As our pet membership grows, we will expand our services for pet owners.
Book Recommendations for Fall 2025 (as it gets cooler outside, it is the perfect time to grab a book).
Fiction:
My Sister’s Grave by Robert Dugoni. A murder mystery set in the Pacific Northwest. Tracy is a police detective in Seattle who is haunted by the death of her sister Sarah. Her sister disappeared 20 years ago, and Tracy has been investigating the disappearance ever since. She is convinced that the man convicted of the murder was falsely accused and his conviction was a setup. Then Sarah’s body is discovered, and Tracy tries to get the conviction overthrown. A very tight paced thriller that will keep you glued to the page.
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths. The first in a series of 15 books about Ruth Galloway who is an archeologist at a university in the North of England. She lives near a salt marsh which is an isolated area near the coast. DCI Nelson asks Ruth to help identify some bones that have been uncovered in the salt marshes. This is a well written book that covers archeology, police practices and being a single woman.
A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames. An improbable novel about a PI named Happy Doll and his dog George. Happy is an ex-cop and now a PI who works part-time at a Massage Parlor (SPA) in LA. Life is ok until an old friend comes to him asking for Happy to donate his kidney and then we go down a wild rabbit hole of murder, killing and organ harvesting. It is a wild ride but lots of fun to read.
When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton. This a historical romance focused on the Perez family who fled Cuba after Fidel Castro took power. The family had large sugar plantations which they lost to the Communists. Beatriz Perez, the oldest daughter is a central character as she navigates the social scene in Palm Beach, her close family friend Ernesto who tries to get her involved in the efforts to liberate Cuba, has a love interest with a US Senator and deals with overtures by the CIA to help murder Fidel Castro. It is set from 1959 to 1964.
Non-Fiction:
Soldiers and Kings by Jason de Leon. An anthropologist study of human smugglers and smuggling in Central America and Mexico. This book covers a period of about 5 years as an anthropologist embeds himself among human smugglers in Central America and Mexico. He provides the back story of why people leave their country and hope to make it to America and start a new life. It is filled with sorrow, heart ache, violence and death. It is an interesting but difficult story to read.
Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum by Margalit Fox. The story of the first American organized crime boss. She was a German Jewish woman living in New York. She operated a dry goods store beginning in the 1850’s which was a front for her fencing and money laundering operations until she was arrested in 1884. It is an interesting look at how the police and criminals worked closely in New York City. She was believed to have dealt with approximately 10 million dollars of stolen property over the life of her business, the equivalent of $300 million in today’s money.
The Looming Tower: Al Queda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright. This is an in depth look at Osama Bin Laden and his journey from business man to terrorist master mind. He made many mistakes but managed to bounce back from each set back. The CIA knew about him before 9/11, but they refused to share their files with FBI until it was too late. Lawrence Wright got a Pulitzer Prize for this book.
The Irishman by Charles Brandt. The true story of Frank Sheeran who was heavily involved in the Mafia in Philadelphia and New York. This is a biography of his life from growing up in Philadelphia, fighting in WW2 and then later becoming a truck driver and member of the Teamsters. While a truck driver, he meets Jimmy Hoffa, who were close friends for many years. In 1975, Frank Sheeran murdered Jimmy Hoffa near Detroit and was also involved in transporting the rifles used to assassinate JFK in Dallas.
For suggested books, you can use this link: https://oaklawnlibraryfriends.com/book-recommendations/
To check out upcoming events at our branch, you can View our online calendar at dallaslibrary.org/events
Shop Kroger & Benefit the Library
You must re-enroll starting August 1st each year. If you have a Kroger Care card, link your card to number # 41560 and you will benefit the Oak Lawn Library Friends every time you shop at Kroger.
New mobile signage for the seed library and gardening programs.
Oak Lawn Library Friends Membership Form
| Name(s) | ||||
| Address | ||||
| City, Zip | Home Phone | |||
| Email Address | ||||
| Membership Status (please check one) | ||||
| Student/Senior $6 | You can pay with cash, check or PayPal. The PayPal option is on the Oak Lawn Library Friends website. | |||
| Sustaining $20 | ||||
| Pet Membership – $10 | ||||
| Household $25 | ||||
| Non-profit $50 | ||||
| Close Friend $75 | ||||
| Corporate $250 | ||||
| Other | ||||
| MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO: Oak Lawn Library Friends 4100 Cedar Springs Dallas, Texas 75219 | ||||
We have added a new pet membership. The cost is $10 a year and all funds raised from these memberships will be used to support pet programming and fund the purchase of books about pets. Our sewing classes have made some pet bandanas. When your pet joins, you get a free bandana for your pet.
You can join online for yourself or your pet. If you want, you can send a photo of your pet, and we will put them on our Instagram feed and on a dedicated page for pet members.
The link to our membership page is: https://oaklawnlibraryfriends.com/membership-page/
Finally, I encourage you to join OLLF as a member or consider serving on the OLLF board. The board meets several times a year with staff. We discuss what programs and books the staff and the community want and explore ways to raise money or provide volunteers to meet those needs.
Oak Lawn Library Friends 