Fairfax County Libraries To Reopen For Indoor Express Services

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Fairfax County Public Library branches will reopen for indoor Express Services on March 22.

As part of the library system’s return to Express Services, the public will be able to visit FCPL branches for up to 30 minutes on Monday and Tuesday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Wednesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Due to the big jump in COVID-19 cases in the county over the holidays, FCPL switched back in early January to offering curbside pickup and virtual services only.

The county's library system had been offering 30-minute express visits with limited services since mid-July 2020. Libraries had shut down in mid-March 2020 and introduced curbside pickup in June.

Curbside pickup of materials on hold will remain available to the public Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. While library branches will reopen for 30-minute visits, library programming will remain virtual and meeting rooms will remain closed.

For the indoor Express Services, capacity limits will be in place: up to 30 members of the public at a time may be in the smaller community branches and up to 60 may be in the regional branches.

Library users will be allowed to browse the shelves, use a computer and pick up holds. Social distancing features will include Plexiglas shields at customer service desks, social distancing floor stickers, every other public computer disabled, and some furniture removed from the public floor or moved to support six feet of distance between users.

FCPL's Ask Your Library via the library system's website and text messaging will continue to be available 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The library system also has put together a list of the top 10 ways to access FCPL resources from home.