Fairfax County Public Library

The Fairfax County Public Library system operates public libraries located in various parts of the county.

The director of the Fairfax County Public Library is Edwin S. Clay, III, and governance for the library is provided by the Fairfax County Public Library Board of Trustees.

The $25 million public library bond issue approved by a referendum on November 6, 2012 included funding for the renovation of the Pohick Regional Library, the John Marshall Library, the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library, and the relocation of the Reston Regional Library.

2013 Controversies
In 2013, the library came under fire for two separate controversies.

The first was a proposal for reducing staffing costs at public libraries. The proposal called for the merger of the circulation and information desks, and for no longer requiring librarians to hold a masters degree in library science. The plan for the merged circulation and information desks was to be piloted in a "beta test" at the Reston Regional and Burke Centre libraries.

The second controversy surrounded the library system's removal and disposal of items from its collection. In late August, Providence Supervisor Linda Smyth was tipped off by a library union representative that perfectly good books were being disposed of. Smyth went to the FCPL Technical Operations Center in Chantilly on September 3, discovering "a commercial trash dumpster filled up to my waist with books." Smyth returned two days later and retrieved several books which she thought were in good condition, then presented them to Deputy County Executive David Molchany, who told Smyth he would stop library director Clay from throwing away any more books until the policies for doing so were reviewed.

The combined effect of these two controversies led to an enormous turnout at the Board of Trustees' meeting on September 11, with 200 people attending the meeting. At the meeting, the staffing plan was put on hold pending further review.

Locations

 * Burke Centre Library
 * Centreville Regional Library
 * Chantilly Regional Library
 * City of Fairfax Regional Library
 * Dolley Madison Library
 * George Mason Regional Library
 * Great Falls Library
 * Herndon Fortnightly Library
 * John Marshall Library
 * Kings Park Library
 * Kingstowne Library
 * Lorton Library
 * Martha Washington Library
 * Oakton Library
 * Patrick Henry Library
 * Pohick Regional Library
 * Reston Regional Library
 * Richard Byrd Library
 * Sherwood Regional Library
 * Thomas Jefferson Library
 * Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library
 * Woodrow Wilson Library