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703-324-3100 TTY 711
12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 324
Fairfax, VA 22035
Eric Carzon
Director

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Library News


Congratulations; Staff Excellence Awards

Annual Staff Excellence Awards Presented to FCPL Staff Members
March 11, 2022
The Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) Board of Trustees on Wednesday evening honored several staff members with its annual Staff Excellence Awards. Library users nominated their favorite staff members this February, and a board committee selected winners from nearly 150 nominations recognizing staff members from 12 branches and FCPL’s administrative services. Board members introduced each winner and shared an excerpt from their nomination during Wednesday’s virtual meeting. 2022 FCPL Staff Excellence Award Winners Vicki Corcoran, information assistant at Richard Byrd Library Renee Edwards, programming and educational services director at FCPL Administrative Services Kelly Gilbert, youth services assistant at Chantilly Regional Library Jane Girondo, early literacy assistant at FCPL Administrative Services Robert Harsher, reader’s advisor at Access Services Jill Johnson, branch manager at Burke Centre Library Christine Jones, branch manager at Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library Rebecca LaPlante, assistant branch manager at Pohick Regional Library Christine Lomax, page manager at Woodrow Wilson Library Elaine McRey, librarian at City of Fairfax Regional Library Kim Nguyen, library aide at Burke Centre Library Shazia Shehryar, page manager at Oakton Library Rebecca Takacs, youth services assistant at Reston Regional Library Anita Toth, youth services assistant at Burke Centre Library Erica Tran, library aide at John Marshall Library Maree Watkins, librarian at City of Fairfax Reginal Library Nora Wickert, information assistant at Dolley Madison Library
Wishing you many happy returns
FCPL Board of Trustees Approves Move to Fine-Free Library Service Model
December 9, 2021
At its Dec. 8 virtual meeting, the Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) Board of Trustees approved a new policy that ends the practice of charging overdue fines on most library materials. "The FCPL Board of Trustees has approved eliminating fines on most library materials and joins surrounding jurisdictions in removing this significant barrier to equitable access to information and library services," said FCPL Board of Trustees Chair Fran Millhouser. Library staff members are working to ensure the system is set to forgive fines already incurred and stop imposing most fines beginning around Jan. 1, 2022. Overdue fines remain in effect for some special collections and interlibrary loan materials. “Equity is driving our shift to a fine-free model of library services; we don’t want accrual of overdue fines to deter anyone who wants to use the library,” said FCPL Director Jessica Hudson. FCPL analysis showed that overdue fines disproportionately affected young people and those in low-income areas. Pre-pandemic, “blocked” cards (accounts not allowed to check out materials due to having more than $15 in fines) were about 17% of the total cardholder population. “Blocked” youth cards (accounts for users under the age of 18) were 23% of the youth cardholder population. “Blocked” card numbers are higher in areas served by Reston Regional Library (Hunter Mill District), City of Fairfax Regional Library, George Mason Regional Library (Mason District), Kingstowne Library (Mt. Vernon/Lee District) and Sherwood Regional Library (Mt. Vernon District). There appears to be a link between low-income communities and higher numbers of blocked library accounts. Library systems around the nation, including in all neighboring counties, have gone fine-free and experienced surges in returned materials. These systems have also found that their cardholders continue to return materials on time, even without the threat of fines, Hudson said. FCPL’s special collections that will continue to incur overdue fines include but are not limited to: interlibrary loan materials, Chromebooks and mobile hotspots.
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