Alexandria Library, Virginia

Alexandria Library is the public library in Alexandria, Virginia in the United States.

In 1794, Alexandria Library opened as a private lending library, calling itself Alexandria Library Company. In 1937, Dr. Robert South Barrett donated funds for a public library in memory of his mother, Dr. Kate Waller Barrett. The Society of Friends granted a 99-year lease for use of its old Quaker Burial Ground as its site. The Library Company signed an agreement with the Alexandria City Council turning over its collections to City of Alexandria. The City agreed to include operating expenses for the public library in its budget.

Today there are four library branches, including two special divisions, Local History / Special Collections and a Talking Books division for the blind and visually handicap. The branches are the Charles E. Beatley, Jr. Central Library, the Kate Waller Barrett Branch Library, the Ellen Coolidge Burke Branch Library, and the James M. Duncan Branch Library. The library system checks out more than a million titles in a year including books, CDs, DVDs, magazines, eAudioBooks, and other items. The current Director of the library is Rose T. Dawson.

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, downloadable material and databases. The library sponsors various programs such as summer reading, One Book/One City, literary discussion groups, and author book signings, children story times and other events for the diverse population. The Alexandria Library also started offering passport services[1] at the Barrett Branch[2] and Beatley Central Library from Monday, October 3, 2016.

The library has more than 150 employees which includes more than 40 staff with Master’s degrees in library science.[3]

Non-Resident Privileges

Non-Residents of the city who work, own property or attend school in the city may obtain a library card without charge. Non-Residents that live in an area that will offer reciprocal library card privileges to Alexandria residents may also obtain a free library card. Thus residents of the District of Columbia, the Maryland Counties of Montgomery, and Prince George's, the Virginia cities of Fairfax and Falls Church, and Virginia counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, Frederick, Loudoun, and Prince William are all eligible.

Nearby Public Library Systems

References

  1. ↑ https://alexlibraryva.org/client/en_US/home/?rm=APPLY+FOR+A+PA0|||1|||0|||true&dt=list#.WCrkdpDI-1F
  2. ↑ https://passportinfo.com/locations/alexandria-library-barrett-branch/
  3. ↑ https://alexlibraryva.org/client/en_US/home/?rm=LOCATIONS+AND+1%7C%7C%7C1%7C%7C%7C0%7C%7C%7Ctrue&dt=list

External links

Coordinates: 38°48′27.4″N 77°2′49.9″W / 38.807611°N 77.047194°W / 38.807611; -77.047194

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.