MEMPHIS, July 27, 2026 - Shelby County government owns exactly one library. It is the East Shelby Branch on East Shelby Drive, and the City of Memphis operates it under an annual agreement with the county.
That agreement came before the Shelby County Board of Commissioners on Monday at $639,742 for the fiscal year that began July 1. Commissioner Mick Wright asked how much of it goes to books and materials.
The answer, after a pause to check, was $2,367.
"That seems like an extremely low number," Wright said. "If we're talking about $639,000 and the actual books and materials that could be accessed by the citizenry is $2,000. I don't know what percentage that is."
He answered his own question a moment later. It has to be not even 1 percent.
The library director's explanation
Dr. Eric Harris, five months into his job as director of Memphis Public Libraries, told commissioners the figure reflects a decision made before he arrived to hold the overall contract amount down, and that the branch is not limited by it.
East Shelby sits inside the Memphis Public Library system's shared circulation, he said, which puts roughly two million books within reach of any patron at any branch. A delivery and distribution department visits every library twice a day, every day. A patron who wants a title that is not on the shelf can have it shipped to the branch the next day, and can return a book to any branch in the system.
He said he would like the number to be higher, because it would make the system's selection more robust. But that is where the contract is.
In fiscal year 2026, he told the commission, East Shelby drew about 40,000 visitors and circulated about 22,000 books.
Commissioner Charlie A. Caswell Jr. said he had raised the same question about the city's book spending years earlier, before joining the commission, and had received the same explanation. He put the city's system-wide figure for books at roughly $1.2 million and said he had once argued the money would be better spent on technology, and had been told the point is circulation.
Commissioner Henri E. Brooks took the opposite position on the record. She said she wanted to separate herself from any comments moving the county away from books and toward technology, that books remain important for children who are learning to read, and that if the director returns asking for more books he has her vote.
The $75,000
After the questions ended and the chair called for a vote, Harris asked to add one more thing.
The City of Memphis implemented a salary floor last year that raised bottom salaries across the city, including at libraries. The personnel expense in this contract does not reflect it. The gap at East Shelby is about $75,000.
He asked the body to consider adding it to future contracts. He said he expected no vote on it Monday.
He also told commissioners what would not happen if the county never adds the money. The branch will not close. Hours will not be reduced. That is true, he said, no matter what the verdict is.
The contract was not amended.
The renewals
The county's deputy chief administrative officer told commissioners the agreement carries three annual renewal options and asked the body to allow them. The commission's own permanent rule 6C3 limits new contracts to two annual renewal options absent extenuating circumstances.
The extenuating circumstance offered was the transition to a new county administration and a substantially new commission, and the arduous administrative work of redoing contracts during that changeover. Chairwoman Shante K. Avant accepted it on the record.
Roughly forty minutes earlier, on a different contract, the same argument had gone the other way. Commissioner Erika Sugarmon had moved to cut a homeless services contract from three renewal options to two, citing the same rule. That motion failed 2 to 8.
Oversight
Commissioner Wright said the supporting documentation describes regular reporting, quarterly or three times a year, and that he has never seen any of it.
If the county is going to partner with its funds, he said, the body should have direct oversight of what is happening and some insight into what programming is offered. He asked the administration to see that those reports reach the board.
Commissioner Sugarmon, whose district contains the branch, urged colleagues to support the item and described what it is in her district. There is no community center. There is no YMCA. The library's small rooms are where homeowner associations meet, because they are the only free place in the district to meet at all.
The item passed 10 to 1. One commissioner recused, stating that she works for the City of Memphis administration.
What happens next
The agreement runs July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027, at $639,742, with three annual renewal options. Commissioner Sugarmon said she will meet with the director after the August 6 election to work on programming for the branch. The administration was asked on the record to route the contract's reporting to the commission.
