Pat Riedinger is looking forward to the day when the ribbon is cut and the front door is flung wide on the brand new Burke Centre Library. But unless the county's financial situation improves, she might walk into a peculiar brand new library: one with no books.
The county's public library system will have to buy fewer books and materials next year as it was hit with a $1.7 million cut as part of this year's budget. That's the equivalent of losing the entire collection of one branch, said Patrick Dexter, chairman of the Fairfax County Library Foundation Board. This means that libraries won't be able to replace the old copies of "To Kill A Mockingbird" that are falling apart after being thumbed through by generations of students. It means that magazine subscriptions will have to be discontinued and libraries will limit the number of new bestsellers it can acquire.
Many citizens could feel the squeeze from a library system that last year circulated 12 million books and records, roughly 12 for every resident.
At the same time, voters will weigh in next year on a referendum to build two new branches in Oakton and Burke, branches which could sit like an empty shells until the county can fill them.
Library officials are quick to note that an empty library is a worst-case scenario. But it is a scenario that has happened before. When the Chantilly library opened its doors in 1995, it had been waiting for some time for the county to afford the books to stock it.
"It seems that these are two diametrically opposed events," said Edwin "Sam" Clay, director of the public library. "The hope is that the gap will be narrowed in time. Can I guarantee it? Of course not. One hopes."
Riedinger, a member of the Friends of the Burke Centre Library, said: "It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to have something like that in your inventory and not use it. What our friends group is going to do is push very hard to promote the bond referendum and make sure that it gets passed so the funds will be there."
IF THE BOND referendum passes, the two branches won't be completed until at least 2007, which could give the county time to replenish its collection if the financial tide turns. But Dexter warned that it takes time to prepare for a new branch.
"Usually, you plan three to five years to build a library so you buy so many books each year," he said. "You have to really start planning ahead to open a new branch. We need to have increases in the book budget to meet the needs of the new libraries when they open."
But next year's financial picture may be no better than this year's. And that worries Dori Despain, who works in the library's Centreville branch.
"If it's this tight again next year, I don't see any way out of it," she said. "We're going to have to close libraries."
Dexter said the Library Foundation would try to "fill the gap" left by the county but that it was impossible to make up the full $1.7 million. The foundation's mission, he said, is not to replace the county but to provide additional programs, such as lecture series or library outreach programs. The foundation also funnels endowments and donations to the libraries. Through donations and endowments, the foundation was able to provide the libraries with books on tape and Korean-language books.
"We are raising money to buy books," said Dexter. "Last year, we raised $1.1 million and we're trying to raise $3 million over three years."
Clay said he would not rely on the foundation to bankroll the libraries.
"It is the county's responsibility to finance the library system," he said. "The foundation provides an opportunity for those who would like to help the library system."
So Clay can only hope that the cash-strapped county is a little less so when the time comes to open the Oakton and Burke branches.
"Everyone's thinking in the best possible world."