Area bookworms are turning their local libraries from stuffy nerd wastelands into local hot spots.
The libraries in Montgomery, Arlington and Fairfax counties are reporting record numbers of guests and record circulation.
Librarians are eager to embrace the hordes, brightening up the color of the places, offering free Wi-Fi and even relaxing their rules about monkish silence.
“Libraries and bookstores are all evolving, physically,” said Debbie King, branch coordinator for the Fairfax County Library. “We have meeting rooms and computers. We try to put our high-volume material — the things people want when they walk in the door — in a more prominent and nice display area. We try to do what we think the customers want.”
Some bibliophiles have complained about dumbing down local libraries. But people have voted with their feet. In fiscal 2009, suburbanites checked out books, DVDs and CDs nearly 29 million times.
Officials say they’re working hard to make libraries a happy social hunting ground between work and home.
“Libraries are becoming the ‘third place,’ maybe even more than the Starbucks because people don’t want to spend four bucks for a cup of coffee. You can bring your own coffee here now,” said Peter Golkin, spokesman for the Arlington County Library. “Some libraries are even having singles nights.”
It hasn’t hurt that the White House is currently occupied by the biggest bookworm since President Kennedy was in office. But Brooks said that if any place was primed to embrace geek chic, it was D.C. and its suburbs.
“This is a just a bookish culture, period,” she said. “These are book people.”
Some experts blame the lengthy recession for the rebirth of the libraries. According to Nielsen’s BookScan, a company that tracks the publishing industry, new book sales in the D.C. market fell by 6 percent between 2008 and 2009. But library visits and circulation have leaped.
The library renaissance hasn’t spared all of the area’s bookworms from economic realities, though. D.C. Public Library officials announced Thursday that the city’s budget crisis was forcing the system to cut back on the system’s bookmobile and that neighborhood branches would shut down on Sundays and Monday holidays in an effort of trim $40 million from the libraries’ budget.
New book sales fell by 6 percent in the D.C. region last year, but libraries in Montgomery, Arlington and Fairfax counties have set new records for circulation in fiscal 2009:
Montgomery; 11,836,563; 3.25 percent
Arlington; 3,217,298; 5.46 percent
Fairfax; 13,931,027; 7 percent
