Arlington Public Library

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Thank You from Arlington Public Library

It’s been a winter we’ll never forget. And there are still three more weeks of the season, according to the calendar. Hawaii is looking awfully good right now.

Arlington Public Library would like to thank its customers for all the patience and understanding you’ve shown as we work toward getting our systems back to running at full speed.

Although most of our branches are regularly closed at least on Sundays, the Library has really become a 24/7 operation thanks to the technology that lets you place a hold at 2 a.m.

While we’ve dealt with two-day holiday closures from time to time, this month the Library was shutdown an unprecedented six and a half straight days. As staff and volunteers were stuck at home, those 2 a.m. holds continued to build. And of course all those DVDs checked out with each dire weather forecast now must get back on the shelf.

We’ve made a lot of progress in recent days and expect to be back at full strength very soon. In the meantime, we apologize for any inconvenience you may experience. Again, we appreciate your patience and understanding.

Thank you for supporting Arlington Public Library.

Proposed FY 2011 Budget

The Arlington Years

Thoughts From County Native and Arlington Public Library Director, Diane Kresh


Dear fellow users and supporters of the Arlington Public Library,

On Saturday, Feb. 20, the acting County Manager presented to the County Board the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2011.

As with the other County departments, the Library faces serious cuts as a result of the historic economic downturn that has affected virtually every state and local government in the nation. The Library budget details can be found here: http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/ManagementAndFinance/budget/file74864.pdf

The proposed budget would affect the Library across the board, system-wide in the following ways for FY 2011:

  • The Library’s proposed cuts affect workforce—which translates into public service hours—and materials
  • Seven permanent Library staff positions are to be eliminated and much of the funds for the non-permanent workforce—63 percent—is to be eliminated as a result of reduced public hours
  • The Library materials budget faces a serious reduction resulting in, for example, no more music compact disks system-wide; no more branch periodicals
  • Proposed cuts in children’s materials are not as severe as those for other types
  • No Library fees and fines would be raised
  • Each branch library except Glencarlyn and Cherrydale would lose one service day each week—Glencarlyn and Cherrydale branches lost those hours in FY 2010
  • Reductions in branch hours will be done geographically so sections of the County will have a library open each day of the week; closures will be consolidated into full days rather than half days to simplify the schedule for the public
  • Central Library would open at 10 a.m. rather than the current 9 a.m. Monday through Saturday and would close at 5 p.m. on Sunday rather than the current 9 p.m.

The proposed budget is now in the hands of the Board, with public hearings set for March 23 and 24.

As a department director, I will go before the Board at its April 10 session to review details and answer questions. Final adoption of the FY 2011 County budget is set for April 24.

Please use the comments section below to post your thoughts, questions and ideas. I always appreciate hearing from the people we’re here to serve.

Why do Columbia Pike Patrons Love Their Library?

Columbia Pike Branch Library patrons tell us why they love the library.

“I love the library because you always find new things.”

“It has cool people.”

“Reading books, magazines, and newspapers at the Columbia Pike Public Library has kept me young.”

“Because I learned to read new books and because I can play on the computers.”

“I like the library because of all the different adventures in the books.”

“Because there are nice librarians.”

Come in before the end of February and let us know why you love the library!

Great Turnout for Columbia Pike Valentine's Day Tea

Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate Columbia Pike Branch Library’s beautiful new forest mural in the storytime room. We had a great turnout. We all enjoyed wonderful treats, tea, and a fun poem read by Youth Services Librarian Desire Fairooz and mural artist Kathy Filger.

Thanks Kathy for your wonderful gift to the Columbia Pike Branch and the Arlington Public Library community! We will enjoy it for many years to come.
Check out these pictures of the mural and the Valentine’s Day tea.

The Arlington Years: Snowver It

The Arlington Years

Thoughts From County Native and Arlington Public Library Director, Diane Kresh

The last several days of wintery white-out are testament to the old adage that there can be too much of a good thing.

So when I wasn’t on County snow status conference calls, or checking on Library facilities in my all-wheel drive or concocting strange meals out of refrigerator odds and ends, how did I keep the stir crazies away? By loading up on free books and DVDs from my favorite local source, Arlington Public Library.

For books, I dug into (and finished) Jayber Crow, penned by Wendell Berry (this year’s Arlington READS author and an early booster of the environment and proponent of sustainability: “waste not want not”) and 1968: The Year that Rocked the World, Mark Kurlanksy’s riveting account of the year that woke me up to the world (Kurlansky is also author of several great social histories including Salt and Cod).

By contrast, my DVD viewing drifted toward the more eclectic with A Fish Called Wanda (insane fun), The Station Agent (everyone needs a friend), Short Cuts (the lives of 22 Raymond Carver short story characters woven together by the masterful Robert Altman), The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 (not the Travolta travesty; but the gritty-city original from 1974 with Robert Shaw and Walter Matthau) and Lawrence of Arabia, which I needed two full snow days to finish. Whew!!! All of these . . . and more . . . waiting for you at the Library.

So that’s what I did on my winter vacation. What did you do? Please share in the comments section below. And if you were out there taking some pics of plows, puppies in the snow, spinning tires, or just the plain old white stuff itself, please consider sharing your photos with us by sending them to libweb@arlingtonva.us.

Thank You to Aurora Hills Volunteers!


On Friday, neighborhood volunteers Gail Fleming and Susan Rose Kaplan – who were not scheduled to work that day – dropped in to help the Aurora Hills Branch Library staff through the pre-snow mad crush.

The day was crazy (terms like ‘Grand Central Station’ were overheard), and would have been much more so without them – Thank you, Gail and Susan!



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