2024 marked the 85th anniversary year for Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL). On February 1st, 1939, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted for a $250 allocation to fund a public library for the first time. It’s hard to imagine that small amount of money, which eventually became a traveling bookmobile, could sustain a free public library. Fast forward to today and it is the largest and busiest public library system not only in Virginia but also the entire southern United States, with an average circulation of over 12 million items.

FCPL also celebrated another major milestone this year, 25 million all-time digital checkouts and 3.8 million in calendar year 2024. That’s a lot of eBooks, eAudiobooks and eMagazines!
 

TOP DIGITAL ITEMS FOR 2024

The top digital items that helped surpass the 25 million mark were:
 

Top 5 Adult eBooks:
1.    “The Second Mrs. Astor: A Heartbreaking Historical Novel of the Titanic” by Shana Abe
2.    “The Marlow Murder Club: A Novel” by Robert Thorogood
3.    “The Women: A Novel” by Kristen Hannah
4.    “It Starts With Us” by Coleen Hoover
5.    “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed” by Lori Gottlieb

Top 5 Adult eAudiobooks:
1.    “101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think” by Brianna Wiest
2.    “Pretty Girls” by Karin Slaughter
3.    “The Heavens May Fall” by Allen Eskens
4.    “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros
5.    “The Paris Apartment: A Novel” by Lucy Foley

Top 5 Childrens and Young Adult eBooks:
1.    “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas
2.    “Check & Mate” by Ali Hazelwood
3.    “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” by Suzanne Collins
4.    “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak
5.    “Throne of Glass” by Sarah J. Maas

Top 5 Childrens and Young Adult eAudiobooks:
1.    “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas
2.    “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins
3.    “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” by J.K. Rowling
4.    “If He Had Been with Me” by Laura Nowlin
5.    “A Wrinkle In Time” by Madeleine L’Engle

Top 5 eMagazines: 
1.    The New Yorker
2.    New Scientist
3.    Us Weekly
4.    The Week Magazine
5.    National Geographic Magazine

TOP PRINT MATERIAL CHECKOUTS FOR 2024

Of course, sometimes there’s no comparison with holding and reading a physical book.
Top 5 Print Adult:
1.    “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus
2.    “Tom Lake” by Ann Patchett
3.    “Exchange, After the Firm” by John Grisham
4.    “The Women” by Kristin Hannah
5.    “Happy Place” by Emily Henry

Top 5 Print Childrens/Young Adult:
1.    “Thank You Book” by Mo Willems
2.    “Dog Man: Mothering Heights” by Dav Pilkey
3.    “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Greg Heffley’s Journal” by Jeff Kinney
4.    “Dog Man: Unleashed” by Dav Pilkey
5.    “Dog Man: Fetch” by Dav Pilkey

 LIBRARY OF THINGS
The library also offers much more to check out! The Library of Things is a collection of items for loan that expands the boundaries of traditionally defined library materials. The items include:
•    Artwork
•    Binoculars
•    Board Games
•    Book Discussion Kits
•    Conserve Kits (Energy Conservation)
•    Hands-On History Kits
•    Meters
•    Nature Backpacks
•    Thermal Cameras

In 2024, FCPL added two new offerings to the Library of Things collection: Light Pollution Monitoring Kits and Family History Kits. 
Light Pollution Monitoring Kits, also known as Dark Skies kits, are part of the citizen science initiative, allowing people from all corners of the planet to contribute data that can be used in the analysis of a scientific problem. Provided through a partnership with Fairfax County Park Authority, this kit allows borrowers to measure and report levels of light pollution. Light pollution not only affects our view of the stars, but can also waste energy and money, cause sleep disorders in people, and disrupt sleeping and breeding habits of animals.
Family History Kits help families record their memories and stories by prompting meaningful conversations. All the tools to get started are inside this kit such as an instruction guide, digital voice recorder, and a set of interview prompt cards with questions in English, Spanish and Korean.  
 

TECHNOLOGY AND MAKING @ FCPL 

FCPL provides free access to the internet at each of their 22 branches — whether on a County-provided computer or your own mobile device or laptop. Connect Kits (Chromebooks) are also available for check out that include free Wi-Fi hotspot devices for on-the-go connectivity. 

FCPL offers three Do-It-Yourself or “Maker” Labs at Herndon Fortnightly Library, Pohick Regional Library and Sherwood Regional Library. These are places where visitors can learn, tinker, create, craft, make, and do-it-yourself. Each of the three labs have a variety of tools for whatever makers can dream up. Most branches also free 3D printing.

All year long, Fairfax County Public Library hosts a wide variety of programs, events and fun for all ages. Stop by your local library branch in 2025 to see what’s new!