Today a big blessing happened when I was working on the desk in the Virginia Room.
She wanted to know if Thomas Jefferson Library was the same library that had once been located in a townhouse in Jefferson Village Apartments.
I told her I’d call her back, and ended up finding the information quickly in a book on the history of the first 50 years of Fairfax County Public Library.
Yes, Thomas Jefferson library started in the back of a barber shop and moved to an apartment in Jefferson Village Apartments in 1954. They used every part of the apartment. There was a picture of bookshelves in the bathtub! In 1962, they moved into a more traditional library building.
But the heart-warming part came when I called the lady back. She said that library in Jefferson Village Apartments was a “life-saver” and made a huge difference in her life. She started going on and on about what good work we do in libraries. (I think she’s going to be arranging to give money to Thomas Jefferson Library.) It was a nice little reminder that libraries change lives and sent me on the rest of my day smiling.