Special Services

(updated 9/20/23)

THE LIBRARY

The Library is located on the first floor, next to the Mail Room, across the hall from the Art Center. All contents are donated, and about 20 volunteers maintain records and re-shelve returned material.

The library is open 24 hours a day. A volunteer is in the library daily but at no set time. If you need assistance or information, you may contact Anne White, ext. 7382. anneawhite@gmail.com.

The contents of the three rooms within the library include:

Fireplace Room

• Shelves of biographies
• Books by GHBC authors
• GHBC documents (Resident Council Minutes, Disclosure Statement, etc.)
• Magazine racks
• Special collections:  Green Team, Grounds and Beautification, Low Vision, Travel, Birds

Reading Room

• Reference material (dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, etc.)
• Non-fiction books
• Recent issues of the Washington Post, New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Do not remove from the Library.
• A rolling cart with paperbacks, contributed by residents, that may be taken, read, and returned. 

Inner Room

• Regular and large-print fiction and mysteries
• Talking books on CDs
• DVDs
• Computer with Internet access and a printer
• Full-page Magnifier
• Card catalog of library contents (organized on Dewey Decimal system)
• Fairfax County Library collection (see below)
• Office (open when volunteers are present)

Donating Books
The library is always glad to get book donations.  Please do NOT bring them down and leave them in the library office.  Instead, bring down a list of the books.  Anne White will get back to you to indicate the ones the library can use, based on the current collection and reader preferences.  If you have had books published, the library would be delighted to add copies to our GHBC Authors collection.  Again, please write Anne White first:  anneawhite@gmail.com

Borrowing Books
Although some reference publications are only for use within the library, all books or audio-visual materials that have checkout cards (either in a pocket of the book for GHBC material or sticking upright from the top for Fairfax County Library material) may be borrowed by residents.

Please write your name, apartment number and the date (day, month, and year) you check out the book on the card and drop it in the basket on the shelf in the Reading Room.

Fairfax County books must be returned in two weeks. Although there is no strict time limit on how long you may keep a GHBC library item, please be considerate of other residents and return material as soon as you have finished using it.

Returning Books
To return books please put them through the book return slot next to the door to the library office. Library volunteers will put cards back in and re-shelve them.  

Fairfax County Library
Every six months, Access Services of Fairfax County Library loans GHBC 75 books, most of them in large print.

If a resident wants to borrow an item that is not in the GHBC library, it may be available through Access Services.  Fill out a request form (attached) and turn it in to the library office. A library volunteer will request your title and notify you when it is received.  Fill out a separate request on each side of the form.  If you are only requesting one book, leave the second side blank.

GHBC FairfaxCounty Library Request Form

You may consult the Fairfax County Library web site at http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/ to view a catalog of resources available.