The Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) is a public library system headquartered in Suite 324 in the Fairfax County Government Center at 12000 Government Center Parkway in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Hennen's American Public Library Ratings (HAPLR) has ranked the system among the top 10 libraries in the United States (for its size of 500,000+ residents) five times in the past 10 years.
According to the library's timeline, the first Fairfax County Library opened in 1939. As of September 2010, there are 23 library branches, eight of which are regional branches, 14 are smaller community branches, and one which assists people with disabilities. The library also oversees the county's Archives and Records Management Branch. The library's service area spans both the county and Fairfax City, serving nearly half a million registered users. The library system is the largest in Virginia in terms of population served (over one million people between Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax).
In the library's 2010 fiscal year (through June 2010), nearly 14 million items were borrowed from its collection of nearly three million books, CDs, DVDs, magazines, and other items. Nearly 5.7 million visits were made to the branches, and website visits reached almost 5 million.
The library offers a wide variety of services both in the branches and via the Web site. The library has computers for access to the Internet, the catalog, ebooks, downloadable audiobooks, and databases. The library sponsors various programs: national and local author readings and book signings, local musical concerts, and events for the diverse population.
As of August 2010, the library staff includes the equivalent of over 430 full-time employees, 125 of which hold Master's degrees in library science. Volunteers donated over 153,200 hours in 2010. The Director of the library is Edwin S. Clay III, who has served in his current position for more than twenty-five years.
Read more about Fairfax County Public Library: Branches
Famous quotes containing the words county, public and/or library:
“It would astonish if not amuse, the older citizens of your County who twelve years ago knew me a stranger, friendless, uneducated, penniless boy, working on a flat boat—at ten dollars per month to learn that I have been put down here as the candidate of pride, wealth, and aristocratic family distinction.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“The story is told of a man who, seeing one of the thoroughbred stables for the first time, suddenly removed his hat and said in awed tones, “My Lord! The cathedral of the horse.””
—For the State of Kentucky, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Every library should try to be complete on something, if it were only the history of pinheads.”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)