Opened in the fall of 1923, Glencarlyn Library celebrated its 101st birthday with a rededication and all-ages celebration on September 21, 2024.
Arlington County Board Chair Libby Garvey, Arlington Public Library Deputy Director Anne Gable, Glencarlyn Civic Association President Brandon Hemel and Glencarlyn Library Centennial Celebration Chair Julie Lee all celebrated the library's storied century as a hub for nearby communities.
Patrons shared heartfelt stories—sometimes spanning generations—of what this library, community and milestone mean to them.
Willa
"I've never seen so many books before in my life!"
Glencarlyn's first page
"I think that the love of the library is so important to an individual, and particularly to young people and to children, that I would hope that all of them could have that close experience that I did."
Julie Lee
"Glencarlyn Library is so very important to me because it has been a part of my family for generations."
Colleen Lunsford and Órla Lunsford
"Thank you to the librarians who keep those books on the shelves and give us suggestions about what to read."
"Thank you, library, for all the books you let me borrow!"
Adriana & Maxine Backus
"Everywhere you look in the community, you realize that Glencarlyn is what it is because, at some point, somebody cared a lot."
Barbara McMichael
"Back then, in the middle of the library, they had these big boxes that stuck out, and they were full of cards. And they held something that we learned was called the Dewey Decimal System."
Lynn Green Robinson
"We moved into this neighborhood in 1958, and this library was a little white house. It was my favorite place on the face of the earth."
Marie Wilson
"As a child, our family came to the library once a week at least. And sometimes, if we were really bored, we asked to come more than once a week because we would have read all the books that we took home the weekend before."
J Vic Funderburk
Infamous FBI agent-turned-Russian asset Robert Hanssen "would come in and pick up a post and sit at one of the tables, holding the newspaper in such a way that it appeared that he was reading it... It became increasingly obvious that he was not reading it!"
Susan Walsh
"Our experience of this library really shaped who we became. We love books, and we want to share that."