Digital Access

The public library I chose to visit, Chantilly Regional Library, is a branch of the Fairfax County Public Library system. This library serves the public in a suburban area of Fairfax county, Virginia. The website is https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/branches/chantilly-regional. On the website I could easily find the hours, the location and the ‘contact us’ information. The only staff members listed on the branch site are the branch manager and the volunteer coordinator, although I found a listing for the youth services librarian within the main FCPL pages. Also easily accessible from the front page of the branch site is the meeting room sizes, reservations for each room, events at the library and the ‘to go’ book form. More general information about the Fairfax system as a whole is in a side menu. The website lists other languages that may be spoken at this branch and there is a description of how to phone the library. The catalog is also available through the website. The FCPL system offers 3-D printing and digitalization but not at this branch.

Space and Physical Access

The library is located across the street from a large high school. There is a large parking area which the high school uses during the school year as spillover Academy parking. According to the website, it has 251 available spaces. A bank of 9 accessible spaces line one side of the one story building, and there is a rounded pull off area directly in front that patrons use for book return or curbside service. There is a book return, a bright blue bike rack, several benches, and a temporary storywalk on a book about ocean life. The front doors open automatically and are wide. The building itself feels very accessible for those with physical disabilities. There is a large meeting room, a smaller meeting room, public restrooms, and a quiet room in addition to the open library area with books and tables for regular use. The open area has comfortable seating intermingled with tables and chairs. The children’s area has smaller tables and chairs and a window seating arrangement for read-alouds. There are online catalog computers and study cubicles, as well as several computers for general use.

People and Services

On the day I visited, a children’s program was occuring. I peeked into the large conference room and saw two staff members teaching a program with approximately 45 children and their parents for a total of close to 75 people. A third staff member was manning the door to the conference room. The wall bank of library information provided more details about what other programs are occurring in the near future. Most of them are children’s programming and English learning opportunities. This information is also on the website. 

There were two staff members behind the circulation desk, three at the information desk, and at least three more shelving. The vast majority of the patrons were either child/parent groups attending the program, or slightly older students utilizing the study cubicles, study tables, or the quiet room. Of the 11 staff members I observed, one presented as male and the rest presented as female. Three of the females wore hijab, and I observed one speaking a foreign language with a patron. I also observed the information desk staff retrieving a book from the back, and giving out reading program completion rewards.

Collections

There is a section for periodicals-mostly newspaper and magazines. I was amused that the Kiplinger’s Retirement Report was the only magazine not on the periodical shelf. There are several foreign language papers, including the World Journal and Korean Times. The youth and juvenile fiction sections are alphabetically arranged, and the non-fiction sections use the dewey decimal system. In the adult sections, the books are alphabetized, but certain genres (graphic novels, romance, mystery, science fiction) are separated and labeled. There is a large bank of books on tape in both the children’s section and the adult section, and the adult section has a robust large print section. There are two full shelves of foreign language books, which is indicative of the diversity of the area. 

Overall Impression

This is my regular library branch, so I wasn’t expecting to be surprised. However, I was! I didn’t expect there to be so many students using the library for schoolwork during the summer, I was surprised at the number of both staff and patrons on a weekday afternoon, and I was especially surprised to find new spaces I have never seen. I had no idea there was a quiet study room.

While I am glad that FCPL offers 3-D printing and that the Sherwood branch in Alexandria has a makerspace, I am disappointed that this branch doesn’t have much technology to offer patrons. Because Chantilly is a relatively progressive area and the library system seems to be behind on offering innovative services, I was curious about the library’s stated mission. Rubin and Rubin say that “Most public libraries today state their mission simply as striving to meet the educational, informational, recreational, and cultural needs of their communities” (2020, p.107). I discovered the FCPL mission matched Rubin and Rubin very closely. They state that “We build community and promote literacies through programming, community spaces, technologies, and collections of educational and recreational resources” (FCPL, n.d.). While they may be achieving the overall goal within the library system, I don’t feel they are hitting all aspects of their mission at the Chantilly branch.

References

Fairfax County Public Library. (n.d). What we do. https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/

Rubin, R. E., & Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.). ALA Neal-Schuman.