LAKE DALLAS — The current Lake Cities Library is too small to meet the needs of its patrons, a library board member told the Lake Dallas City Council on Thursday night.

William Knox, a Lake Dallas representative of the library board, said more people have turned to the library for Internet access to search for jobs during the economic downturn. But, he said, the facility’s size requires meetings to be held in the open and leaves minimal space for a children’s area.

DRC/David Minton

The Lake Cities Library, which serves residents of Lake Dallas, Shady Shores, Hickory Creek and Corinth, is nearing maximum capacity at its current space in Lake Dallas. “People have no clue how cramped it gets,” said William Knox, who represents Lake Dallas on the library board.

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“People have no clue how cramped it gets,” Knox said.

It is the board’s position that the library’s current facility in Lake Dallas is too small, Knox said. He said his goal as a board representative is to keep the facility within city limits and expand it to where it “can be of best use” to patrons.

The library offers about 5,000 square feet of space, Knox said, and is getting about 20 new users daily. He said he would like to see the size double, adding resource space for users, a children’s area and meeting rooms.

He sought the council’s input Thursday on the best way to move forward with solving the library’s space problem.

The discussion comes on the heels of a decision by the Hickory Creek Town Council last month to appoint a task force to determine if the town could open its own library and possibly lease space at Cornelius Town Center.

Knox said Hickory Creek’s decision has in some ways awakened people to the library’s limitations, and he hopes the decision will bring more people to the table to discuss solutions.

The Lake Cities Library serves the member cities of Lake Dallas, Corinth, Hickory Creek and Shady Shores. The library has 7,900 cardholders, and more than 3,000 are Lake Dallas residents, Knox said.

Lake Dallas contributes $80,000 to library, according to library officials, and the facility’s budget this year is $294,000.

The patrons with the greatest need for the library live within city limits, Knox said.

“If something can’t be done, then we can look at other options, but my first interest is to keep it in Lake Dallas,” he said.

The consensus of most council members is that they, too, want to do what they can to keep library services in the city limits.

“It’s in our town, and it’s in our best interest,” council member Karl Hammond said, adding that both short- and long-term solutions should be developed.

Mayor Pro Tem Carol Ann Connors, who filled in for Mayor Tony Marino on Thursday, requested that City Manager Earl Berner look into cost estimates for library expansion within the next month.

Council members plan to revisit the issue during a December meeting.

Knox said he would assume that expanding the current facility would be more cost-effective than building a new facility or renting space. He said he anticipated he would soon have helpful information about the project to share with the other communities.

“I guess we’ll see what Lake Dallas finds out this coming month,” Knox said.

BRITNEY TABOR can be reached at 940-566-6876. Her e-mail address is btabor@dentonrc.com.