Interpreting the present
to ensure a future: an
interview of financial
success at the Fairfax
County Public Library
Kent C. Boese and
Page Brannon
Introduction
Libraries have undergone tremendous change
in the past few decades. One of the toughest
challenges facing libraries today is funding.
Libraries must select from a wider array of
information resources than ever before, but
often have limited budgets with which to
purchase materials. The combination of finite
funding, the growing quantity of information
available, and the growing diversity in our
society has tested their ability to keep current,
while maintaining effective service. As a result,
libraries have had to re-invent themselves to
serve user needs and to become innovative in
their approaches to funding. Among the newer
approaches is the Library Foundation, a
separate non-profit library entity that actively
seeks outside funding from individuals,
organizations and corporations.
Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) is one
system that has been successful in using
innovation and creativity to ensure that the
library system is viewed as an integral part of its
community, and thus as being, worthy of
funding. FCPL has also been among the leaders
in setting up library foundations. For a number
of years, FCPL has had dynamic and innovative
individuals as its leaders. Two of these are Edwin
S. (Sam) Clay III, the director of the Fairfax
County Public Library system, and Mark Sickles,
a member of the Library Board, who has just
completed a two-year tenure as its chairman.
An interview with Clay and Sickles (in 2000)
on the topic of funding FCPL highlighted some
of the challenges they have faced and
approaches they have taken to overcome the
obstacles involved in funding their system. Both
are thoroughly committed to the cause of
increased funding for FCPL and to the
constituency served by the library system.
KCB/PB: How much control does the
Fairfax County Public Library Board have
over the Library's finances?
Board member: The Library Board controls the
amount requested, but not how much the
Board of Supervisors provides. In a complex
budget there isn't much flexibility; 70-90
percent of it is personnel costs; we have a $30
million budget this year. We get other funding
from the County for maintenance of the
buildings and technology. Parts of our budget
show up in different departments' accounts.
The authors
Kent C. Boese is Arts Cataloger at the Smithsonian
Institution Libraries in Washington, DC, USA, and a Member
of the Editorial Advisory Board of
The Bottom Line:
Managing Library Finances
.
Page Brannon is Distance Education/Outreach Librarian,
George Mason University Libraries, Fairfax, Virginia, USA.
Keywords
Financing, Entrepreneurialism,
Fund-raising, Corporate venturing, Public libraries
Abstract
In order to remain viable, the Fairfax County Public Library
has re-examined itself and changed its attitudes toward
funding and fund-raising. Stemming from serious cutbacks
due to the poor economy of the early 1990s, the Library
changed the way it did business. The programs instituted
have permitted the Library to provide better service, increase
the Library's importance to the County, and enhance the
budget through public and corporate donations. One of
these programs is a Library Foundation. Fairfax County
Public Library is one of the few public library systems in the
country that has moved into this arena of fund-raising. This
case study involves the current library director and the past
chairman of the Library Board, as they relate issues pertinent
to these initiatives and indicate the direction in which the
Library may head in the future.
Electronic access
The research register for this journal is available at
http://www.mcbup.com/research_registers
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
http://www.emerald-library.com/ft
219
The Bottom Line:Managing Library Finances
Volume 14
.
Number 4
.
2001
.
pp. 219±225
# MCB University Press
.
ISSN 0888-045X