Dunno What the "Dallas Public Library Foundation" Is. Not Yet, Anyway. But We Will.

Alexa's at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library for today's Municipal Library Board confab, during which board chair Suzanne Charriere -- a Mayor Tom Leppert appointee -- will discuss the "formation of Dallas Public Library Foundation." Which is ... ? Dunno. Hard to say. Since early this morning I've tried to reach Charriere, but have had no luck. I also left several messages for Laurie Evans, the city's director of libraries; again, no response.

The only person who did call back was David Kusin, chairman of the Friends of the Dallas Public Library, who said that talk of a Dallas Public Library Foundation was "news to me" -- and not entirely welcome news either. "They know what my views are," he said, referring to the library board members, before warning against the creation of a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) foundation subject to the myriad guidelines set forth by the Internal Revenue Service.

Alexa will have the full details tomorrow, but long story short, Kusin says, the creation of a foundation risks mingling private and public funds -- and, next thing you know, the library's getting all political up in this joint, to put it rather wonkishly. "People in Dallas understand whatever their motivation or ideology, they don't want to mix public and private money," Kusin says. The library's already got enough issues to deal with -- like having its hours cut to make up for City Hall's budget crisis.

Oh, and speaking of the library: music mini-conference on May 30. So, yeah.