Library

First recognized in March 1987, Women’s History Month honors the many women who have played an important role over the course of American history. To celebrate, Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) is hosting presentations, workshops, storytimes, crafts and more throughout the month, highlighting women from all walks of life for their contributions to the United States and the world as we know it.  

Check out a small sample of what we have planned at a library near you: 

*Please note that dates/times of the following events are subject to change. Check the event listing for the latest information.   

• Musical Storytime & Women's History Celebration: Women Composers – Kings Park Library – Saturday, March 9  
  Violinists Claire Allen and Hannah Price present a program of works for two violins by composers Judith Weir, Florence Price and Grazyna Bacewicz. The program will also feature a reading of the book Who Is Florence Price?, written by the students of the Kaufman Music Center’s Special Music School. 

• The Power of Words: Female Voices Matter – City of Fairfax Regional Library – Sunday, March 10  
  The City of Fairfax Commission on Women will host female authors from the City of Fairfax for a lively conversation and book readings for all ages. 

• Women Powering Democracy – City of Fairfax Regional Library – Tuesday, March 12 (Registration required) 
  Several unique records from the Fairfax Circuit Court Historic Records Center (HRC) archives will be available for viewing such as early voter registration rolls and information about the women of Fairfax County, including registrar Edith Pullman and African American activist Mary Ellen Henderson. A short discussion of the records will be led by Dr. Jennifer Ritterhouse. 

• AmaZine: Women's History Month Zine Workshop – Dolley Madison Library – Friday, March 15 (Registration required) 
  Learn about the history of zines and women's suffrage movements in this workshop presentation - and create your own zine! 

• "Hallowed Ground” Storytelling with Sheila Arnold – Sherwood Regional Library – Monday, March 18 (Registration required) 
  Join master storyteller Shelia Arnold as she leads a program that uses stories – humorous, historical and inspirational – to encourage the audience to take a moment and consecrate the places that are sacred. 

• "Locks Opened: Caught!" Storytelling with Sheila Arnold – Reston Regional Library – Tuesday, March 19 (Registration required) 
  Hear some of the stories of those who were caught riding the Underground Railroad in this presentation includes ballads, props, song, and dance. 

• Meet Young Author and Learn About Women's History – Lorton Library – Saturday, March 23 (Registration required) 
  Join 10-year-old Naevia as she reads from her newly published book Naevia's Magic Glasses. In the story, we will use magic glasses to take us back in time to learn from famous Black women. 

• From Seneca Falls to the Ballot Box | Stories of History, Food & Culture – Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library – Tuesday, March 26 (Registration required) 
  Laura Kumin, author of All Stirred Up: Suffrage Cookbooks, Food, and the Battle for Women’s Right to Vote, will discuss how women won the right to vote and what role food played in that movement. 

• Notable Women of Herndon’s Past – Herndon Fortnightly Library – Tuesday, March 26 (Registration preferred) 
  Local author, Barbara Glakas, Historian of the Herndon Historical Society, will discuss some important female historical figures from Herndon’s past. 

• Women's History Transcribe-a-thon – Centreville Regional Library – Thursday, March 28 
  Become a part of American women's history! Help transcribe Library of Congress handwritten personal letters so that future generations can access these pages from history. 

For a complete list of Women’s History-related events, visit bit.ly/FCPL_WomensHistoryMonth. 

You can also celebrate by selecting a new read from our specially curated Women’s History Month booklist found here or streaming one of the many related programs that can be found on Kanopy. 

ANNANDALE, Va. - In their February 14, 2024, meeting held at George Mason Regional Library, the Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) Board of Trustees voted unanimously to name the planned, rebuilt library facility, which will be located on the site of the current Patrick Henry Library, the Vienna-Carter Library.

The Carter family as a whole has contributed significantly to the history of the library, the Town of Vienna and Fairfax County. William McKinley Carter (1897-1977), a charter member of the Fairfax County NAACP, was instrumental in procuring a County library branch to serve everyone in the Town of Vienna where, at the time, the existing town library had a whites-only policy.

In 1958, Carter and his wife Lillian co-founded the Vienna Friends of the Library in their living room and led a successful community effort to open an FCPL facility, the Patrick Henry Library, in 1962 as an integrated library facility where “Everyone [is] Welcome.”

Members of the Carter family and friends were in attendance and submitted a statement to the board in support of the name change.

“The Carter Family is grateful that we are being commemorated and honored for the hard work that went into the integration of the Patrick Henry Library due to the dedication of the Friends of the Library.  The establishment of the Friends group helped solidify that all Vienna citizens were entitled to read and check out books no matter the race, religion or color of the recipients,” said Dee Dee Carter after the board voted to approve the name change for the rebuilt facility.

Board of Trustees Chairman Brian Engler states, “The Library Board is grateful that we are part of communities where people speak up and share their histories, stories that allow us to grow and learn from the past. Naming the new facility the Vienna-Carter Library allows us to show our commitment to equitable access for everyone, from the past and hopefully long into the future.”

Opened in 1971 and reaching the end of its usable life cycle, Patrick Henry Library was bond funded in 2020 for a new facility on the existing site, located in the Town of Vienna at the corner of Maple Avenue and Center Street. Subsequently, Fairfax County entered into an agreement with the Town of Vienna to develop the site of the current library for both a new library and a shared parking structure for County and Town usage. The new facility is likely to open, based on the current timeline, in fall 2026. The current building and the planned temporary library open during construction will retain the current name.

Published in early 2023, Desegregation in Northern Virginia Libraries was written by Fairfax County Public Library Virginia Room staff members Chris Barbuschak and Suzanne LaPierre. A chapter of their book contains more information on the history of libraries in Fairfax County and Vienna, as well as information on the Carter family’s contributions to its history. The authors regularly present information from their book with the next planned event presented by the Burke Historical Society on Feb. 25 at Pohick Regional Library from 3-4:30 p.m.

For more information on the future Vienna-Carter Library, please contact Marketing and Communications Director Sara Prohaska at sara.prohaska@fairfaxcounty.gov.

RESTON, Va. – Fairfax County Supervisor Walter L. Alcorn, Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) leadership and dozens of library supporters joined together on Sunday, February 4 as the FCPL Board of Trustees accepted a $100,000 gift from the Friends of Reston Regional Library (FRRL) to support the children’s collection.

The group primarily raises funds through their highly popular used book sales, with a single item ranging from $0.50 to $2.00. During this day’s donation presentation, the annual Mystery Book sale greeted library visitors as they walked through the front door further highlighting their tireless efforts. Annually, the Friends of Reston Regional Library receive, sort, process and sell an average of 40 tons of donated books and materials with proceeds benefitting FCPL’s programs, events and collection. This is not the first time they have donated a six-digit sum to benefit the community’s readers. In 2022, FRRL donated $200,000 to FCPL’s digital collection, reducing wait times for popular titles and increasing eAudiobook availability. Overall, FRRL has donated well over $400,000 in major gifts to the Fairfax County Public Library in the last ten years.

"FCPL is incredibly grateful for the consistent financial support and community advocacy provided by the Friends of the Reston Regional Library. This most recent donation is earmarked for children's books. Their daily effort to turn gently used donations into additional budget dollars means that our library system can get more new books into the hands of the children in our county. They're amazing and we are so appreciative," said FCPL Director Jessica Hudson.

Why children’s books for this particular donation? An FRRL spokesperson said, “Kids need libraries more than ever now, not less. This gift will help the library system add more much-needed books for kids and young adults. There will be fiction and non-fiction, picture books, series books like The Princess in Black and Dogman, chapter books, novels.... The Collection Services team is amazing – we know they will get the very most out of every dime.”

View more photos from the event here.

For Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL), February 1 will always be a day worth celebrating. After all, it was on that day, 85 years ago, that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted to first fund what would eventually become the largest library system in Virginia, serving more than 1.2 million people and circulating over 11.2 million books last year alone. It’s hard to imagine that the then Board of Supervisors could envision the success of their new library system when they budgeted a whopping $250 to support the library in 1939, but here we are, stronger than ever! Our budget is even bigger, thanks in no small part to all of you who have supported us over the last 85 years. 

From our humble beginnings as a singular truck-turned-bookmobile (the latest stegosaurus was a little out of our price range), FCPL’s mission has largely remained the same: to bring the joy of reading to the people of this county in their own communities. Gone were the days of walking miles upon miles uphill (both ways) in the snow or pouring rain dodging runaway horse and buggies just get your hands on a book to read. Imagine how astonished the people of Fairfax County in 1939 would be to learn that not only can books be borrowed from the roaming library parked down the block, but these days they can also be accessed from little electronic boxes we keep in our pockets. That would sound about as far-fetched as people traveling to the moon! 

All jokes aside, we are incredibly proud of how far we have come in providing access to books, programming and other resources in the last 85 years. We have a lot planned by way of celebrating this milestone so we hope you join us, not only as we look back, but also as we look forward to what we can achieve in the many years to come.  

In the meantime, get yourself in the 1939 mindset by checking out one of these books that is also celebrating its 85th birthday this year! 

• And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie 

• The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck 

• Madeline – Ludwig Bemelmans 

• The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe, #1) – Raymond Chandler 

• Anne of Ingleside (Anne of Green Gables, #6) – L.M. Montgomery 

• By the Shores of Silver Lake (Little House, #5) – Laura Ingalls Wilder 

• Finnegans Wake – James Joyce 

• Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats – T.S. Eliot 

View these and other books in our online catalog here.

This February (and beyond) join Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) as we explore the diverse history and highlight the many contributions of African Americans through a multitude of programs and resources available for free to our library cardholders and all community members. With author talks, history presentations, book discussions, movie showings and more, check out just a taste of what is on the schedule at your local library in celebration of Black History Month. 

*Please note that dates/times of the following events are subject to change. Check the event listing for the latest information.  

• Jazz Evening at the Lorton Library – Lorton Library – Monday, Feb. 5 (Registration required) 
  Enjoy an evening of Jazz Music and Jazz History at Lorton Library. South County High School's Jazz Band will perform a selection of songs followed by a talk by Brian Slawski from the Burke Historical Society. Brian will discuss local jazz history, including the fascinating story of the Lorton (prison) Jazz Festival. 
   

• Unequal Access – Virtual Event – Monday, Feb. 5 (Registration required) 
  Fairfax County Public Library librarians Chris Barbuschak and Suzanne LaPierre will discuss their book The Desegregation in Northern Virginia Libraries. 
   

• African American Soldiers from the Civil War (USCT) to Reconstruction (the "Buffalo Soldiers") – Burke Centre Library – Saturday, Feb. 10 
  Park Ranger Bryan Cheeseboro of the National Park Service will present about Black Civil War soldiers in the final days of the war and how many of them stayed in the army to serve as professional soldiers in the regular cavalry and infantry units, which became known to history as the "Buffalo Soldiers." 
   

• Award-Winning Jazz Vocalist Alison Crockett Presents "The Language of Jazz" – Centreville Regional Library – Sunday, February 18 
  Alison Crockett is an award-winning and prolific jazz, soul, and electronica vocalist who has performed and recorded in a wide range of genres including neo-soul, jazz, R&B, and gospel. Join Alison as she takes the audience through a sonic journey of the language of jazz music from its spiritual beginnings to the present. 
   

• Music For Social Well-Being – City of Fairfax Regional Library – Wednesday, Feb. 21 (Registration required) 
  Join performer Calvin Earl for an evening of songs and storytelling designed to bring people together and uplift us all to embrace our shared humanity. Listen and enjoy as Calvin plays the music that defines America, from spirituals to rock ‘n’ roll and beyond. 
   

• A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School – The Alden at McLean Community Center – Sunday, Feb. 25 (Registration required) 
  Join Carlotta Walls LaNier, a key protagonist in the Civil Rights Movement, as she revisits her journey as part of the “Little Rock Nine” and reflects on history of civil rights, race and diversity while inspiring hope for the future. A book sale and signing will follow this event. 
   

• Separate but NOT Equal: The 1939 Alexandria Public Library Sit-in & The 1959 Desegregation of Arlington County’s Schools – Sherwood Regional Library – Thursday, Feb. 29 
  Join the Mount Vernon chapter of AAUW (American Association of University Women) and guest speakers, Brenda Mitchell-Powers and Wilma Jones as they discuss the 1939 Alexandria Public Library Sit-in and the 1959 desegregation of Arlington County’s Schools. 
   

For a complete list of Black History-related events, visit bit.ly/FCPL_BHMevents. 

You can also celebrate and honor by selecting a new read from our specially curated Black History Month booklists for adults and kids, checking out or by streaming a film or documentary from Kanopy’s Black History collection.  

Through a generous partnership with PKP Tender Hearts Foundation, six Nepali World Languages Bags and a few titles in English reflecting Nepalese culture have been added to the Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) collection. These bags are starting their journey at Chantilly Regional Library due to its proximity to Brookfield Elementary School, which per Fairfax County demographics, has the highest concentration of elementary students where Nepali is spoken at home.

"The Fairfax County Public Library holds a special place in my heart for its dedication to accessibility and equity. To be able to contribute to that same mission with our newly added Nepalese culture books brings a sense of pride and gratitude for our community I didn't know was possible," says Prabha Bhattarai, Founder and President of Tender Hearts Foundations. "I am a firm believer that books are just one door to promoting our country and culture, and I am thrilled that we are continuing to preserve and celebrate Nepal by providing exactly that."

The target audience for these items is children and early readers. Each bag contains several books that adults can read to and with children. In addition to Nepali, FCPL offers additional World Languages Bags in Chinese, Arabic, Urdu and Tamil. The library’s collection contains many children and adult books in Spanish, Korean and Vietnamese as well.

All World Languages Bags can be sent to any library branch location by searching and placing a hold through FCPL’s catalog.

Here’s how to place a hold on a World Languages Bag in the library’s catalog:

1. Type in “picture book bag” on the search bar next to “Keyword search” at the top of the page. Then click the search icon.
2. The picture books will populate the page. Choose the language you are interested in under “subjects” on the left side of the screen.
3. Select “PLACE HOLD” to the right of the picture book bag you want.
4. Follow the directions to enter your user information, password and the library branch where you’d like to pick up the book bag.

If you need additional assistance, please ask at a library information desk where staff will be happy to connect you with the World Languages Bags in your preferred language.

On Wednesday, Nov. 29, Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) reached a major milestone, 3 million digital loans for 2023. This is the first time the library system has exceeded the threshold since introducing OverDrive, FCPL’s online digital catalog provider, in 2006. Sabriel, the award-winning young adult fantasy novel by New York Times’ bestselling author Garth Nix, was the book that helped FCPL surpass the milestone. 

With this achievement, FCPL joins an elite group of library systems around the world. In 2022, only 37 libraries who utilize OverDrive hit the 3 million total digital checkout mark in a single year. To add a little more perspective, OverDrive’s website reports that they serve “more than 88,000 libraries and schools in 109 countries with the industry’s largest digital catalog of ebooks, audiobooks, video and other content.” So, this is no small feat! 

FCPL utilizes Overdrive and its mobile application Libby to provide 24/7 access to their digital collection, which includes eBooks, eAudiobooks and eMagazines. Readers can now access titles whenever and wherever they want using any major device, making digital materials more popular than ever.   

While reader interest in digital materials has been increasing steadily over the years, FCPL has seen exponential growth since 2019, with circulation more than doubling in the three-and-a-half-year period. To meet this demand, FCPL collections staff has been hard at work expanding the digital collection to include more titles, as well as additional licenses for popular titles, with the goal of reducing long wait times. This work has been supported in recent years by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, who recently approved a $300,000 increase to the library’s collection budget, as well as the Friends of Reston Regional Library, who donated $200,000 to the library in June of 2022 to support the development of both the digital and physical collections.  

FCPL’s digital collection is available for free to anyone who has a Fairfax County Public Library card. More information about the collection and how to access it can be found here.  

Library cardholders in Fairfax County can now borrow a variety of testing devices from their neighborhood branches. As of Nov. 27, nine types of meters and readers are available for check out at Fairfax County Public Library’s (FCPL) 23 locations as part of its Library of Things, adding to the growing collection of non-traditional items visitors can borrow for use in their own homes. The introduction of these devices aligns with the library’s 2024-2027 Strategic Plan, which places emphasis on, among many other things, expanding the community’s access to innovative technology and resources.  

The initial batch of meters and readers available to check out include: 

• Air Quality Monitors 

• Battery Testers 

• Carbon Monoxide Meters 

• Kilowatt Usage Meters 

• Laser Thermometers 

• Moisture Meters 

• On-Board Diagnostic Code Readers 

• Radon Gas Monitors 

• Soil Meters 

Each device is available to check out for three weeks at a time and, if not immediately available, can be put on hold online or by visiting the information desk at any FCPL branch. More information about each of these devices can be found here. 

After all, why buy it when you can borrow it! 

Along with the meters and readers, the Library of Things is home to many other borrowable items that go beyond the bounds of traditional library materials, such as artwork, binoculars, board games, book discussion kits, Connect Chromebook Kits, Conserve Energy Kits, Hands-On History kits, Launchpad tablets, nature backpacks and thermal cameras.  

To learn more about the materials available through the Library of Things, visit our Library of Things LibGuide.

More than 160 Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) employees joined their peers from around the state this week as part of the 2023 Virginia Library Association’s (VLA) Annual Conference. Held at the Westfields Marriot in Chantilly, the conference provided attendees the opportunity to participate in educational presentations, make connections and celebrate the achievements of the past year.  

The conference began on Sunday, Oct. 22 with the annual awards banquet where two of FCPL’s own staff members were among the honorees. Gary Goodson and Atnaf Ameha won the Public Library Innovator Award, which “recognizes public librarians or public library project teams who have made an outstanding contribution to advance the mission of a public library in Virginia through an innovative project, program or service during the nomination period.” Goodson and Ameha received the award for their development of various Microsoft Power applications used by library staff. 

Sunday also featured the conference’s poster exhibition, where an FCPL staff member was among the exhibitors. Dianne Coan, FCPL’s Division Director of Technical Operations, presented “Set Overdrive on Cruise Control: More Circulation, Same Holds."

The remaining two days of the conference were dedicated to informational presentations and panel discussions on industry-related topics. Of the 70 different programs offered to attendees, FCPL staff led, co-led or participated in eight presentations and discussions. These included:

• “Be Brave: Create Safe Spaces and Build Inclusivity” co-led by Elizabeth Bass, Burke Centre Library Branch Manager 

• “Library Security: Best Practices to Keep Staff and Customers Safe” led by Kevin Osborne, FCPL Deputy Director, and Mike Siriwardena, Reston Regional Library Branch Manager 

• “Collection Maintenance Reports Made Easy” led by James Cullen of FCPL Technical Operations and Gary Goodson of the FCPL IT Team 

• “NARCAN in the Library: How to Get Overdose Reversal Training and Medicine into your Library” led by Kevin Osborne 

• “Both Sides Now: Changing from Academic to Public Libraries” co-led by Mike Siriwardena and Hall Baldwin, Dolley Madison Library Branch Manager 

• “Neurodiversity 101: An Insider’s Perspective” led by Kerri Zuiker, Youth Services Information Assistant at Centreville Regional Library, and Kelly Gilbert, Adult Services Librarian at Chantilly Regional Library 

• “Building and Sustaining a Makerspace: Come Together & Create” led by Emily Swain, Assistant Branch Manager at Kings Park Library, and Sahadev Poudel, Library Information Assistant at Herndon Fortnightly Library 

• “Desegregation of Libraries in Virginia” led by Suzanna S. LaPierre, Virginiana Specialist Librarian at the Virginia Room 

Check out our gallery of photos from the conference here.  

Members of Fairfax County Public Library’s staff joined county officials and community partners Saturday, July 29 to mark the reopening of the Community Services Room located at Tysons Corner Center. The multi-use space is run in partnership between the library, Fairfax County Neighborhood and Community Services (NCS), Fairfax County Department of Family Services, Providence District Supervisor Dalia A. Palchik and Edu-Futuro, a local nonprofit organization assisting underserved youth and families. Each partner will utilize the space to offer visitors expanded access to several government- and community-based services they might not have been able to before, all in one location.  

“We’ve been moving to more co-located services, so that if you’re a resident, you don’t have to schlep yourself back and forth to find what you need from county services” explained FCPL Director Jessica Hudson. “And this place is an amazing example of that.” 

Beginning in September 2023, FCPL’s School-Age and Teen Services Outreach team will utilize the room to provide programming opportunities on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. Programs held in the space will cater specifically to teens ages 12-18 and include STEM learning opportunities, arts and crafts, gaming, and more, completely free of charge. The space will also feature a pop-up library to provide access to a curated collection of popular library materials for teens and to accept library returns. 

“We’ll be doing amazing onsite programs to draw those youth back into what the county has to offer them,” said Hudson. “Hopefully, we can instill in them a love, not only for county services and the county they live in, but they community members they live in it with.” 

The Fairfax County Community Services Room is located on the 2nd floor of Tysons Corner Center (1961 Chain Bridge Road, McLean, VA) outside of Nordstrom. To learn more about the space and upcoming library programing sessions, visit bit.ly/FCPL_TeenOutreach.