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WELCOME

Welcome to the virtual branch of the Alexandria Library!


We offer you access to the world of electronic information. Not only can you access our records of
holdings and availability, but we offer access to full text articles from thousands of magazines, journals
and newspapers through our online databases. You can search genealogy records with Ancestry Library
Edition, borrow eBooks and eAudiobooks on Libby and download digital music with Freegal. Free public
access to the Internet is available at all branches as well as free Wi-Fi access for laptops and mobile
devices.


Although we have done much to improve our digital services, we have not forgotten our physical
offerings. In 2015 the Alexandria Library assumed management of the Alexandria Law Library. This
addition to the library network has benefited local litigators and the general public. Access to quality
legal information increases the ability of people to seek and obtain fair, accessible, and equitable
assistance in reaching an outcome under the law.


In 2009, and again in 2014 and 2019, the library highlighted the anniversary of America’s first ever
library sit-in for civil rights. On August 21, 1939, Alexandria Library staff and patrons watched as a young
African American entered and asked to register for a library card. When he was refused, he picked up a
book, took a seat, and began to read. Minutes later, another well-groomed and polite young adult
repeated these actions. This continued until the young people occupied five tables. Each one sat in
silence and read a book. Flustered library staff called the police. While none of these men received a
library card at the time, the event has been a catapult for library programming and services to highlight
the contributions and needs of the multicultural community that we serve.


During the recent challenges presented during the global pandemic, the Alexandria Library has risen to
the challenge by providing excellent customer service with curbside service, virtual reference services
and online programming. We soon realized that many customers were unable to access the internet.
The Burke Branch Library piloted a program that would allow those without internet access an
opportunity to use an Outdoor Computer Café hosted in the library’s parking lot.


We remain committed to having books and the types of programming that people have come into
libraries to use for years and will continue to offer both in-person and virtual opportunities for our
community to learn, explore, create and connect.

Rose Dawson Executive Director

Rose T. Dawson, Executive Director


 

MISSION 


The Alexandria Library builds community by providing opportunities to learn, explore, create and connect.



 

FIVE YEAR PLAN


5 Year PlanUnder the updated 2022-2026 plan (pdf), Alexandria Library embarked on a new course toward a vibrant future. Prior to drafting that plan, the Library completed an extensive data collection and needs assessment process involving community leaders, residents, library users and staff.

Based on this input we identified seven priority areas that guided our work:

  • Support for Learners of All Ages
  • Library Collections
  • Technology Management and Access
  • Library as a Community Hub
  • Organizational Health and Development
  • Community Relations, Marketing and Branding
  • Fundraising and Advocacy

This direction bolstered our role as leaders in early literacy and lifelong learning, emphasized our collection of high quality materials, and empowered our staff to navigate an ever-changing digital world. We are anxious to re-engage our diverse community to continue to position the Library as a key contributor to the City of Alexandria.

Read more about the 5-Year Plan here.

 

 

ANNUAL REPORT

A snapshot of the community's usage at Alexandria Library during the fiscal 2020 year.

 

FY 2020 Annual Report

  


 

LIBRARY BOARD


Chair: Trudi Bellardo Hahn, City Council citizen appointee

Vice Chair: Robert Ray IV, Alexandria Library Company appointee

Treasurer: Albert Moseley II, City Council citizen appointee

Secretary: Patricia Dane Rogers, Alexandria Library Company appointee

Oscar P. Fitzgerald, Alexandria Library Company appointee

Dianne Fox, City Council citizen appointee

Canek Aguirre, Alexandria City Council Member

Email the Library Board at libraryboard@alexlibraryva.org


 

FY24 LIBRARY BOARD MEETINGS


4:00 p.m. 

LIBRARY BOARD AGENDAS & MINUTES
Library Board Biographies

Trudi Bellardo Hahn, Chair, is retired from a 40-year career of teaching, research, and service in the field of library and information science and technology. She was on the faculties of Drexel University, University of Maryland, Catholic University of America, and University of Kentucky. She also served as the Executive Director of the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. She has had experience working in or with academic libraries, public libraries, and special/corporate/government libraries. She has written or edited six books, numerous book chapters, journal articles, and given many invited talks and conference proceedings and served on several journal editorial boards. She was awarded the Drexel Service to Profession Award and the University of Kentucky Outstanding Alumna Award, College of Communications and Information Studies. She was the 2003 President of the American Society for Information Science & Technology. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of Dyke Marsh, and of Porto Vecchio Condominium, and is a member of the Smithsonian Women’s Committee.

 

Robert Ray IV, Vice Chair, is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Architectural History. Robert is a lifelong Alexandrian. He is the owner of Cavalier Antiques in Old Town where he sells and restores 18th century American furniture and accessories. Robert is a long term board member of both the Alexandria Association and the Old Town Civic Association. Robert brought his daughter to Alexandria’s libraries from the time she could appreciate picture books. She has a Master’s degree in mathematics and is currently working on her PhD.

 
Albert Moseley II

Albert Moseley II, Treasurer, has a BS from Clemson University where he currently serves on the Alumni Board. After graduation he served as an officer in the US Air Force before retiring and attending law school at the University of Baltimore. After law school Albert held several roles in the Department of Justice, before moving into compliance roles with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Housing and Urban Development. He also owns a small business where he advises business owners on compliance matters in order to receive federal and private funding. During the Fall Albert can be seen patrolling the sidelines as a high school and college football official. Some of Albert's best memories involve bringing his, now teenage, daughter to Saturday morning book readings in the Beatley Branch and then going to have muffins and hot chocolate, and serving as her girl scout troop's cookie dad. 

 

Patricia Dane Rogers, Secretary, a journalist with a literature degree from Columbia University, covered architecture, design and decorative arts for The Washington Post and The Washington Star for 30 years. Winner of a Washington Post-George C. Marshall Fellowship to Duke University’s School of Public Policy, she conducted in-depth research on Thomas Day, an African American cabinetmaker from antebellum North Carolina. Continuing her investigative work in retirement, she revealed Day’s previously unknown abolitionist ties in an article for the scholarly journal, American Furniture 2013, “The Missing Chapter in the Life of Thomas Day.” More recently, she uncovered the 18th century roots of Clover/College Park, a 1950’s Alexandria neighborhood. She is also a board member of the Apprend Foundation, a NC-based 501-c-3 that runs workshops for teachers of African American history nationwide.

 

Dr. Oscar Fitzgerald earned his B.A from Vanderbilt University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in History from Georgetown University. He is retired from the Naval Historical Center, where he served first as head of the Contemporary History program and then as the director of the Navy Museum. His publications include Four Centuries of American Furniture and his latest book, New Masters of the Wooden Box. Fitzgerald serves as Vice Chairman of the Alexandria Library Board, Vice Chairman of Alexandria’s Board of Architectural Review, and as a consultant to Dumbarton House, the Custis-Lee Mansion, the Frederick Douglass House, and the Clara Barton National Historic Site. He teaches at Marymount University and in the Smithsonian Institution-Corcoran Master’s Program in the History of the Decorative Arts. Dr. Fitzgerald is currently serving as Chairman of the Board of Architectural Review for the Old and Historic District.

 
Dianne Fox

Dianne Fox is a graduate of Howard University. For more than twenty-five years, she has worked primarily in strategic planning, consulting and compliance roles – often reimagining services for clients in response to market shifts and institutional changes. She currently serves as an Executive Director for Sodexo. A native of Alexandria, Dianne attended ACPS through graduation at Alexandria High School. Utilizing the library system was a huge part of that experience. Dianne serves as the Council Chair for the historic Beulah Baptist Church and also leads their technology and innovation efforts. 

 
Councilman Canek Aguirre

Councilman Canek Aguirre was first elected on November 6, 2018, and is serving his second three-year term on City Council from 2022 to 2025. He is the first Latino elected to City Council. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Canek is the son of Mexican immigrants who instilled in him the importance of hard work, education, and giving back to the community. He is committed to increasing housing opportunities throughout the city, investing in our public schools and infrastructure, eliminating health inequities to improve health outcomes, and ensuring the voices and concerns of all residents are at the table during the decision-making process.

 

 

LIBRARY POLICIES

Click on the category to be taken to the library policies.


 

1939 SIT IN


 

One of the nation’s earliest known civil rights sit-in involved leadership from native Alexandrian, attorney Samuel W. Tucker, and five young African American men who demonstrated an act of civil disobedience at the Barrett Branch after being denied library cards.

 


 

HISTORY OF ALEXANDRIA LIBRARY

Last updated: Februrary 2024