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Fairfax County supervisors are facing growing pressure to increase spending on library materials, with advocates warning that limited print collections are leaving students without enough reliable research resources.
Langley High School junior Mia Nash urged the Board of Supervisors to act during an April 15 public hearing on the county’s fiscal year 2027 budget.
Nash described a serious shortage of nonfiction and reference materials, arguing that the gaps prevent libraries from offering students and other patrons an adequate place to conduct high-quality research.
Fairfax County Public Library received about $4.15 million for acquiring materials in fiscal year 2026, which runs from July 2025 through June 2026, according to library marketing and communications director Sara Prohaska. That funding was divided relatively evenly between physical materials and e-books and e-audiobooks.
The library system’s current initial budget increased materials funding to nearly $4.6 million. Part of that growth supported Kingstowne’s upgrade to a regional library, which added almost 19,000 books to its collection.
However, County Executive Bryan Hill’s advertised fiscal 2027 budget, released in February, sets aside $4.02 million for materials.
Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity wants to add another $1 million for acquisitions. His proposal is part of the supervisors’ add-on package scheduled for discussion during the April 28 budget markup session.
Herrity told fellow supervisors that Fairfax County spends about $2.55 per resident each year on library acquisitions. He compared that with $5.57 per person in Loudoun County and $6.78 in Montgomery County, Maryland.
He argued that Fairfax has fallen far behind neighboring jurisdictions in maintaining an updated public library collection. Better collections, he said, can strengthen workforce education, literacy, social mobility, economic growth and residents’ overall quality of life.
Supervisors will enter the April 28 meeting with approximately $23 million in unallocated funding that could support proposals such as the library-materials increase. The final fiscal 2027 budget vote is scheduled for May 5.
Public enthusiasm for the library system was visible on April 11, when about 3,000 people attended the opening of the new Franconia Governmental Center. The Kingstowne Regional Library occupies the building’s second floor.
Fairfax County operates Virginia’s largest library system, with eight regional branches, 14 community branches and one specialized branch.
Hill’s fiscal 2027 proposal provides $37.48 million for the system overall, compared with an initial fiscal 2026 allocation of $36.54 million. Additional funding later raised the current year’s library budget to $37.96 million.
The proposed fiscal 2027 budget also includes a $516,519 reduction. That plan would eliminate eight vacant positions considered unnecessary while some branches undergo renovations.
Library Director Eric Carzon suggested the reduction after county agencies were instructed to identify cuts equal to 5% of their existing budgets. The approach was intended to avoid more permanent reductions, although Carzon said the positions will eventually be needed again when every branch is open.
The system is also reducing its reliance on temporary pages who shelve books and other materials.
Library officials expect 3.2 million in-person visits during the coming fiscal year and anticipate that online resources will be accessed 27 million times. The system has approximately 610,000 registered cardholders.
Budget estimates place fiscal 2027 operating costs at $27.95 per county resident, $57.83 per cardholder and $10.81 per visit.
Nash told supervisors that those figures do not capture the full value of libraries. Their resources remain trustworthy and accessible only when the county continues investing in them, she said.
She also argued that expanding physical collections could help draw young people away from their phones and back toward reading.