Arlington Public Library | |
---|---|
Location | US |
Established | 1800s |
Branches | 9 |
Access and use | |
Population served | 214,373 |
Other information | |
Website | Arlington Public Library |
The Arlington Public Library is a public library system located in Arlington County, Virginia. The library system includes nine locations that serve 214,373 people.
It began as a library in the Glencarlyn community in the late 1800s. In 1923, the Burdett Library opened in after endowment by General Samuel S. Burdett, and the Cherrydale library opened with support from the Cherrydale League of Women's Voters as well as the Patrons League. In 1924, the Clarendon Library followed at Citizens Hall with support from the Educational Committee of the Women's Civic Club. In 1926, the Aurora Hills Library opened with support from the Jefferson District Women's Club. In 1930, the Columbia Pike Library opened with support from the Arlington Community Library Club.
In 1971, the library became the first in the Washington metropolitan area to have a video cassette system. In 1972, the Library of Congress made the library a "subregional library for the blind and physically handicapped." In 1981 a Kurzweil Reading Machine was added to the offered services. In 1993, an Arkenstone Open Book Reader was added. In 2000, eBooks were added.
The Library System has a service area population of 214,373 with 1 central library and 8 branch libraries. [1] The library system is within Region 5 of Virginia Library Association (VLA). [2]
Arlington Public Library began in the late 1800s with a book collection stored for the Glencarlyn community at Carlin Hall that was run by the Young People's Library Association. In 1914, General Samuel Swinfin Burdett bequeathed the money to begin a public library in Glencarlyn, not to exceed $3,000. Burdett Library opened in 1923. [3]
Also in 1923, the Cherrydale library was formed to operate in what was the Cherrydale School. The library was created by the Cherrydale League of Women's Voters and the Patrons League. Clarendon Library opened at Citizens Hall in 1924, it was started by the Educational Committee of the Women's Civic Club. Clarendon Library was closed in 1927 when Citizen's Hall was sold. It was reopened in 1928 at a new location. [3]
In 1926, The Aurora Hills Library was started by the Jefferson District Women's Club. In 1928, the Aurora Hills Garden Club took over the Aurora Hills Library. [3]
In 1930, the Arlington Community Library Club restored a garage near Patrick Henry Elementary to create the Columbia Pike Library. [3]
On June 26, 1944, Henry L. Holmes library becomes the official "colored" branch of the library system. [3] It closed in 1950. [4]
Fairlington Branch Library opens in January 1948. It later becomes the Shirlington branch. [3]
In 1947, funding was approved by the county for create a branch in Westover. The library opened in January 1949. [3]
The creation of Central Library was approved by the county in 1958, building began in 1960, and the library opened in 1961. Additions to the building began in 1966 and continued until 1968. [3]
Arlington District Library Association began in 1928 as an alliance of 20 local organizations. In 1936, the Department of Libraries was established through the Arlington County Board. The Department of Libraries was set to be run by a County Librarian. Prior to this, the libraries received little financial support from the local government and were run solely by volunteers, mostly women. [5] [6] [7] At the time, the library system had five libraries: Arlington Community, Aurora Hills, Cherrydale, Clarendon, and Glencarlyn. The Arlington County Library Association was also established in 1936. [4] It was disbanded in 1943. The Virginia State Library began giving funds to Arlington Public Library in 1943. [3]
By 1937, the first County Librarian was selected, Eleanor Leonard. [4] She served as County Librarian until October 1939. Helen L. Phillips became the next County Librarian in 1939 and serves until her marriage in 1940. Frances Henke took on the position for a few months before going into the Army Library Service. In 1941, Mildred G. Blattner became the County Librarian. She remained in the position until 1957, when she retired after 16 years. [3]
In November 1954, Jane B. Nida became the Assistant Director of Libraries. Nida moved into the Director of Libraries position in 1957 after Blattner retired. Nida remained in the position until she retired in 1980. Leila Saunders became the Library Director in 1980 after Nida retired. Charles M. Brown became the Library Director in 1986 after Saunders retired. He remained in the position until 1994 when he resigned. Barbara Donnellan became Acting Director until 1995 when Ann M. Friedman became the Library Director. Friedman retired in 2006. [3]
Diane Kresh became the Library director in 2006 and continues to be the Library Director of Arlington Public Library. [8]
The "talking books" program began in 1968. [3] In 1971, Arlington Public Library is the first library in the Washington D.C. area to have a video cassette system, located at Central Library. [4] Library of Congress made Arlington Public Library a Subregional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in 1972. [3] [9] In 1981, a Kurzweil Reading Machine for the blind became a part of the Central Library. In 1993, the library obtained a grant from the Virginia Department of the Blind to put an Arkenstone Open Book Reader in Central Library.
On July 1, 1980, Arlington Public Library became part of the Metropolitan Council of Government's library borrowing program that allows patrons from Washington D.C. area libraries to have reciprocal borrowing privileges with partnering institutions in the area. [3] [4]
In 1985, the library system begins using a computerized cataloging system and a computer-assisted information retrieval system. The library catalog system becomes available at all locations and the Arlington public high schools in 1988.
In 2000, eBooks become available through the library's website followed by eAudiobooks in 2004. [3]
Arlington Reads community reading program began in 2006. The program was given a 2011 Outstanding Achievement in Local Government Innovation Award from the Alliance for Innovation. The program was rewarded as an Outstanding Adult Program by Virginia Public Library Directors Association in 2011.
The Friends of the Arlington Public Library (FOALs) was founded in 1962 to support the library system. This group held their first book sale in April 1976. [3]
Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the national capital.
Shirlington is an unincorporated urban area, officially called an "urban village", in the southern part of Arlington County, Virginia, United States, adjacent to the Fairlington area. The word "Shirlington" is a combination of "Shirley" and "Arlington".
Pentagon City is an unincorporated neighborhood located in the southeast portion of Arlington County, Virginia. It is located near The Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery.
The Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway, often shortened to Shirley Highway, consists of a 17.3-mile (27.8 km) portion of Interstates 95 and 395 in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. Shirley Highway was the first limited-access freeway in Virginia. Begun in 1941, the road was completed from U.S. Route 1 in Colchester, Virginia, just north of Woodbridge, to the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River between Virginia and Washington, D.C. in 1952.
Yorktown High School is a public high school located in Arlington County, Virginia. There are around 240 teachers and 2100 students as of 2019. In 2022-23 school year, there were 2,577 students. Yorktown's attendance area makes up the northern third of Arlington County.
Four Mile Run is a 9.4-mile-long (15.1 km) stream in Northern Virginia that starts near Interstate 66, at Gordon Avenue in Fairfax County and proceeds southeast through Falls Church to Arlington County in the U.S. state of Virginia. Most of the stretch is parkland and is paralleled by two paved non-motorized transport and recreational trails, the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad Trail and the Four Mile Run Trail.
The Northern Virginia trolleys were the network of electric streetcars that moved people around the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., from 1892 to 1941. They consisted of six lines operated by up to three companies connecting Rosslyn, Great Falls, Bluemont, Mount Vernon, Fairfax, Camp Humphries, and Nauck across the Potomac River to Washington, D.C.
Arlington Public Schools is a public school division in Arlington County, Virginia. In 2019, student enrollment was 28,020 students, with students coming from more than 146 countries. In 2015, there were 2,166 teachers. There are 24 elementary schools, 6 middle schools, 4 high schools, 1 secondary institution and 4 other educational programs within the school district.
Cherrydale is a neighborhood in northern Arlington, Virginia. It is centered on the intersection known as the Five Points consisting of Quincy Street, Military Road, and Old Dominion Road being bisected by Lee Highway. Located in the community is Dorothy Hamm Middle School. One of the oldest nonresidential structures in the community is the Cherrydale Volunteer Fire House, built in 1919 to serve as the home of the Cherrydale Volunteer Fire Department. The department supplements the career staff who operate from the Arlington County Fire Department's Station 3, now located west of the Five Points intersection.
Lyon Village is a neighborhood and urban village in Arlington County, Virginia, along Langston Boulevard. It adjoins Arlington County's government center, and is approximately one mile west of Rosslyn and less than a mile north of Clarendon, of which it is sometimes considered a sub-neighborhood, as is Cherrydale, the mostly residential district immediately west of Lyon Village.
Arlington Transit (ART) is a bus transit system that operates in Arlington County, Virginia, and is managed by the county government. The bus system provides service within Arlington County, and connects to Metrobus, nearby Metrorail stations, Virginia Railway Express, and other local bus systems. Most ART routes serve to connect county neighborhoods to local Metrorail stations, as well as the Shirlington Bus Station. It includes part of the Pike Ride service along Columbia Pike, which is shared with WMATA. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 2,258,200, or about 8,800 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2024.
Margaret Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell was an American public television executive. Trained as a teacher, she also served as a college administrator and led the first elected school board for the Arlington Public Schools as it attempted to navigate Massive Resistance, then helped found WETA-TV, the first public television station in Washington, D.C.
Signature Theatre is a Tony Award-winning regional theater company based in Arlington, Virginia.
Alexandria Library is the public library in Alexandria, Virginia in the United States.
The Village at Shirlington opened as Shirlington Shopping Center in 1944, and was the first large shopping center to open in the Washington, D.C. suburbs and one of the earliest in the United States. It is located along Campbell Avenue at the intersection of Shirley Highway and Quaker Lane / Shirlington Road in Arlington, Virginia. The center has been known since the mid-1980s as The Village at Shirlington.
Charles Rogers Fenwick was a patent attorney and Virginia Democratic politician aligned with the Byrd Organization who served part-time in the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate representing Arlington County.
Nauck is a neighborhood in the southern part of Arlington County, Virginia, known locally as Green Valley. It is bordered by Four Mile Run and Shirlington to the south, Douglas Park to the west, I-395 to the east, and Columbia Heights and the Army-Navy Country Club to the north. The southeastern corner of the neighborhood borders the City of Alexandria.
Central Rappahannock Regional Library (CRRL) is a public library system that serves the city of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Westmoreland counties in Virginia. The library system is within Region 5 of Virginia Library Association (VLA).
James Maynard Magruder was an American real estate and insurance executive, as well as an attorney who served as a Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates representing Arlington County from 1944 to 1956.
The "Arlington Cinema 'N' Drafthouse", located at 2903 Columbia Pike, is the only remaining theater in Arlington County, Virginia from the cinema boom period of the 1930s and 1940s that still operates as a movie theater, and is currently one of four movie theaters operating in Arlington County. It is one of Arlington County's 23 Historic properties identified in the highest category of "Essential"—those with the greatest historical, architectural or visual prominence in the community. It is also the only theater in the country to balance top national release films and top national touring comics.