Interpreting the present to ensure a future: an interview of financial success at the Fairfax County Public Library

In order to remain viable, the Fairfax County Public Library has re‐examined itself and changed its attitudes toward funding and fund‐raising. Stemming from serious cutbacks due to the poor economy of the early 1990s, the Library changed the way it did business. The programs instituted have permitted the Library to provide better service, increase the Library’s importance to the County, and enhance the budget through public and corporate donations. One of these programs is a Library Foundation. Fairfax County Public Library is one of the few public library systems in the country that has moved into this arena of fund‐raising. This case study involves the current library director and the past chairman of the Library Board, as they relate issues pertinent to these initiatives and indicate the direction in which the Library may head in the future.