Cherrydale Branch Library

Mon:	10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Tue:	Noon - 8:00 pm
Wed:	10:00 am - 8:00 pm
Thu:	10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Fri:	10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Sat:	10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Sun:	Closed

Holiday Closings

Cherrydale Library Phone:	(703) 228-6330
Library Information:	(703) 228-5990

Location:

Click on map.

Free Wi-Fi throughout our coffee-friendly library.

This page was last updated on March 3, 2026.

This site is maintained by Citizens for Cherrydale Library, a North Arlington non-partisan grassroots group seeking since 1998 to promote
and preserve our most important neighborhood institution. Contact us at suza1@comcast.net with any questions or comments. Click
here for the list of CCL's officers.

To search the catalog and for further information on the county library system's procedures, policies, and programs, go to the official Arlington County Department of Libraries web site.

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Emergency Alert! Sign Our Petition To Save Cherrydale Library!* Contact the County Board To Make Your Voice Heard! Attend the upcoming Virtual Open Door Monday on March 16, 4-6 pm! On February 21, 2026, the Arlington County manager, in his proposed budget for FY2027, called for closing Cherrydale Library. The county board tried to close Cherrydale Library in 1977, 1992, and 1998. In 2009 they tried to cut the library's operation from six days per week to three. In each case, our library was saved by a wave of citizen assertiveness. When we fight, we win. We urge all who value Cherrydale Library to write, phone, or email the county board to protest against the county manager's proposal. The board members' address and phone number are below. If you like, here are some of the arguments you can convey. Feel free to add your own. The cost savings from closing Cherrydale Library are absurdly insignificant. Based on figures in the county manager's FY 2027 proposed budget, operating Cherrydale Library six days a week costs less than three-hundredths of one percent of the county budget. Cherrydale Library in the past 12 months has consumed less than 3 percent of the entire Libraries Department's budget, while handling 4.6 percent of the library system's circulation. Our library is cost-effective. The small size of Cherrydale Library is part of what makes it preferable to the parents of young children over Central Library. Central Library and Cherrydale Library are not interchangeable. Cherrydale Library is one of the few county amenities north of Langston Boulevard. It serves the entire area east of Glebe Road from Langston Boulevard to Chain Bridge, the largest area of any county branch library. Our library is a long-established hub for our community. The Cherrydale neighborhood's 125th anniversary in 2018 took place at Cherrydale Library. No other local county facility would have sufficed. Our library's residential setting and accessibility on foot for many residents make it a resource for citizens of all ages, especially children and senior citizens. Cherrydale Library is an after-school resource for students at Dorothy Hamm Middle School, located just around the corner from the library. Our library offers free entertainment for kids and adults. It offers exhibit space for local artists and photographers. Cherrydale has had a neighborhood library since 1922. The library survived the Great Depression and the recessions of 1974, 1981, 1991, and 2008. The current building has served our neighborhood well for almost 65 years. The older our library gets, the dearer it becomes to those who use it. Young mothers, taking their kids for the first time to Cherrydale Library, have related to us their fond memories of their own mother having taken them for the first time to Cherrydale Library. These kinds of community memories have no cash value, but are priceless to those who hold them. Community surveys underlying the Cherrydale Neighborhood Conservation Plan showed overwhelming support for keeping Cherrydale Library. Plan Langston Boulevard in 2020 listed Cherrydale Library among Langston Boulevard's historic and cultural resources, describing it as a "jewel of Mid-Century Modern architecture" and "a Cherrydale community gathering space throughout its history." Some real estate web sites maintain that the proximity of a home to a local library raises the value of that home by some five percent. If this be true, the size of the county's tax base would actually decline if Cherrydale Library were to close. Civilized people do not close libraries. While some might argue that every dollar saved adds up, so does every chisel blow at the edifice of civilization. We suggest, for starters, that supporters of our library contact each County Board member: Matt De Ferranti, Chair Maureen Coffey, Vice-Chair Susan Cunningham Takis Karantonis J. D. Spain They have the same mailing address: 2100 Clarendon Boulevard Arlington, VA 22201 You can also email the entire board at: Countyboard@arlingtonva.us If you wish to phone, the county's all-purpose number is (703) 228-3000. Also, please sign our on-line petition to the County Board,* and be sure to sign up for the March 16 Virtual Open Door Monday In future postings, this web site will provide information on the public budget hearing scheduled for Tuesday, March 24, and will show how you can help, either by speaking or by just showing up. __________________________ *When signing the petition, you can ignore the pop-up pages asking for money. All such donations go to iPetitions.com, not to Citizens for Cherrydale Library or to anyone else defending Cherrydale Library.

Programs at Cherrydale Library

(Registration Is Required for Many of These Offerings)

Click here to see the complete list of upcoming library programs.

Storytimes and Other Events for Babies, Preschoolers, and Kids in Elementary School For children ages 0-5: Click here to register and to get more information. For kids in elementary school: The list of programs is here.

Programs for Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers Middle Schoolers: Click here. High Schoolers: Click here.

Programs for Adults Click here.

Computers Public computers are available at Cherrydale Library. Click on the link for more information.

American Girl Doll Lending Program In honor of Women's History Month, Cherrydale Library and the rest of the county's library system launched a program celebrating American Girl Dolls. Cherrydale Girls can use their library cards to borrow an actual American Girl Doll and the books associated with that doll and, through these, learn a bit about American history. Place a hold on the doll, just as you would place a hold on a book, and pick it up at Cherrydale Library when it becomes available. To see what dolls are available and to check one out, go here, click on "Search", type in "American Girl Dolls," and scroll down almost to the bottom of the page.

Other Things To Note

"Plan Langston Boulevard" Praises Cherrydale Library Read what "Plan Langston Boulevard" had to say about Cherrydale Library in its August 2020 report to the Arlington County Department of Community Planning, Housing & Development. The link is to an excerpt from the inventory of historic and cultural resources along the Langston Boulevard corridor, prepared as part of "Plan Langston Boulevard" by a consultancy hired by the county government. Main takeaways: The document lists Cherrydale Library among Langston Boulevard's historic and cultural resources. The report's opening two sentences set the tone for its two-page history of the library: "This jewel of Mid-Century Modern architecture features native stone and wood on its exterior. The library has served as a Cherrydale community gathering space throughout its history."

Cherrydale Library Commemorated on Langston Boulevard Murals These historic murals, located on the median strip of Langston Boulevard at Monroe Street, were created by local artist Jarrett Ferrier, whose design was selected by neighborhood voters after a lengthy competition organized by Maureen Ross, president of the Cherrydale Citizens Association. The panels depict the past and celebrate the present of the Cherrydale and Maywood neighborhoods. Click here to read the article about the unveiling ceremony that appeared in the Arlington Connection newspaper, February 27, 2013. To view more photos of the murals, click here. To see additional information about Cherrydale Branch Library that supplements what's on the art panel sign, click here. To learn more about Harvey Lampshire, the gentleman depicted on the Cherrydale Branch Library panel, click here.

Book on History of Cherrydale Library Available for Check-out Go to the web site of Blurb.com for a free preview.

Cherrydale Library on a winter day.

Library Size and Cost to Taxpayers--astonishingly cheap and amazingly "green"!

History--deeply rooted in North Arlington's neighborhoods.

Click here to read what James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress, has to say about books, reading, and American civilization.

The Washington Post's Architecture Critic on Libraries "Libraries are rare common ground on the fractious map of democracy, a place where traditional ideas of bootstrap self-improvement meet liberal ideas of open access and equal opportunity. Few encounters with local government . . . feel so good as an afternoon in a well-run library. Without lecturing or hectoring or cheap rhetoric, they build consensus and commitment to self-governance." --Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, January 23, 2011

Were you looking for the county government's official web site for Cherrydale Library? Click here.