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Patrick Henry Library has opened a temporary branch in Vienna’s Cedar Park Shopping Center while work moves forward on a much larger replacement library and parking garage.
The roughly 2,800-square-foot location at 262 Cedar Lane, Unit C, is designed for quick visits. It is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Visitors can browse a small collection, pick up holds, return books, use public Wi-Fi and access Chromebooks onsite. The branch will also offer limited programming, including storytimes.
Customers seeking more books, programs or events can visit nearby full-service branches such as Oakton Library, City of Fairfax Regional Library and Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library. Library materials may be picked up or returned at any Fairfax County Public Library branch.
The temporary location held a ribbon-cutting and open house on Wednesday, July 23. The celebration included cupcakes and ice cream from Cedar Park tenant Toby’s Handmade Ice Cream.
A new library and 209-space garage
The future Vienna-Carter Library will replace the former Patrick Henry Library at 101 Maple Avenue East. Approved through a 2020 bond referendum, the joint Fairfax County and Town of Vienna project will combine an approximately 19,000-square-foot, one-story library with a four-level parking structure.
The garage will contain 209 spaces, including 125 for library visitors and staff and 84 additional spaces for the public.
Plans call for modern library facilities designed to meet current and future needs, an outdoor reading and gathering area, and a flexible community space that can remain open beyond regular library hours.
The project is targeting at least LEED Gold certification, a 50% reduction in energy use compared with current ASHRAE standards and a net-zero energy design. It will use all-electric systems and equipment, photovoltaic panels, and geothermal heating and cooling.
Construction was scheduled to begin in late summer 2025, with occupancy planned for 2027.
Why the Vienna-Carter name was chosen
The Fairfax County Public Library Board voted in February 2024 to name the rebuilt facility Vienna-Carter Library, recognizing the Carter family’s contributions to the library, Vienna and Fairfax County.
In 1958, Carter and his wife, Lillian, co-founded the Vienna Friends of the Library in their living room. Their community campaign helped open Patrick Henry Library in 1962 as an integrated facility where everyone was welcome.
Community bids farewell to the former branch
The Patrick Henry Library building at 101 Maple Avenue East, which opened in September 1971, provided its final day of service on May 9, 2025.
A community open house on March 29, 2025, honored the longtime branch with remarks from local leaders, historical activities, crafts, performances and commemorative giveaways. Visitors were also invited to record memories with library staff and Vienna Historic Inc.
One attendee described moving to Vienna before having children and watching the family grow through the library’s picture books, early readers, juvenile collection and teen books. Another called the branch “the living room for the community for so many years.”