Check Out The Books Your Neighbors In NoVA Read In 2019

NORTHERN VIRGINIA — Over the past 10 or 15 years, there has been much talk about the relevancy of traditional libraries as technology makes great advances. Arguments have been made that the roles traditionally performed by libraries — lending books and serving as community gathering places — are now performed better by places like Amazon bookstore cafes and Starbucks.

Reality has demonstrated, though, that libraries are holding their own in staying relevant and are in many ways operating on the cutting edge. In case you haven't noticed, libraries are evolving and adapting to the digital age in countless ways, including modernizing their card catalog systems, expanding their e-book collections and providing access to 3-D printing technology.

According to the digital distribution platform Rakuten OverDrive, libraries nationwide served more than 274 million digital books to card holders in 2018, a 22-percent increase over the previous year.

For fiscal year 2019, Arlington County's library circulation numbers went up steadily — by 80,000 for eAudiobooks and by 50,000 for eBooks compared to the previous year.

"Digital books match the lifestyles of our Arlington readers.They love the convenience and expedience of 24/7 accessible digital content," Peter Petruski, Division Chief for Materials and Technology Management for the Arlington Public Library, said in the library system's impact report for 2019.

According to Arlington Public Library data, 15 percent of all active library users favor digital content compared to 9.5 percent of other national library systems with similar size budgets and populations. "Arlington is a mobile, tech-savvy community, and our users are avid readers who embrace digital content,"Petruski said.

While staying ahead of the curve on technology, libraries are still playing their traditional role of lending books — in huge numbers. In fiscal year 2019, the Fairfax County County Library system circulated almost 11 million items. More than 9 million of these items were traditional printed books and magazines, while about 1.9 million were e-books, eAudiobooks and eMagazines. Fairfax County has the largest library system in Virginia and the 17th largest library system, by circulation, in the country, according to the American Library Association.

Among the millions of books checked out in Northern Virginia in 2019, what were the most popular titles? In Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun counties, many of the same titles made the top 5 lists of most circulated books in each jurisdiction. And women writers led the way.

Tara Westover’s Educated: A Memoir was the most circulated book in Arlington County, the highest circulated nonfiction book in Fairfax County, and the second-most circulated nonfiction book in Loudoun County. Westover's book tells the story of her life in a survivalist Mormon family in Idaho where she was home-schooled and didn't step foot in a classroom until she reached the age of 17 in the early 2000s.

Another memoir, Michelle Obama's Becoming, was one of the top three books checked out in Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun counties. The third most checked out book among the three counties in 2019 has similarities to Westover’s memoir, although it's a novel. The book, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, chronicles the life of a young girl forced to survive on her own in the marshes of eastern North Carolina. This is the first novel by Owens, a nature writer who lives in Idaho where Westover grew up.

If you’re looking for a book to read and want to know what your neighbors have been checking out from the local library, here are 2019's top circulating books in Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun counties:

Arlington County

Top Circulating Nonfiction Books
1. Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
2. Becoming by Michelle Obama
3. The Library Book by Susan Orlean
4. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
5. The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis

Top Circulating Fiction Books
1. Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
2. Nine Perfect Strangers: A Novel by Liane Moriarty
3. Little Fires Everywhere: A Novel by Celeste Ng
4. There There: A Novel by Tommy Orange
5. Normal People: A Novel by Sally Rooney

* Arlington County's top circulating books for 2019 track borrowing data for physical materials at all library locations in the county between January and November 2019.

Fairfax County

Top Circulating Nonfiction Books
1. Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
2. Becoming by Michelle Obama
3. The Library Book by Susan Orlean
4. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance
5. Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward

Top Circulating Fiction Books
1. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
2. Reckoning by John Grisham
3. Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny
4. Long Road to Mercy by David Baldacci
5. Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly

* Fairfax County'stop circulating books for 2019 track borrowing data for fiscal year 2019 (from July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019).

Loudoun County

Top Circulating Nonfiction Books
1. Becoming by Michelle Obama
2. Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
3. Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward
4. The Library Book by Susan Orlean
5. Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis

Top Circulating Fiction Books
1. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
2. Nine Perfect Strangers: A Novel by Liane Moriarty
3. Reckoning by John Grisham
4. Little Fires Everywhere: A Novel by Celeste Ng
5. Long Road to Mercy by David Baldacci

* Loudoun County's top circulating books for 2019 track borrowing data between January and early December 2019.