[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 60 (Wednesday, April 25, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E648]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF FLORENCE JODZIES TO PROMOTE COMMUNITY 
                       LIBRARIES ACROSS VIRGINIA

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. GERALD E. CONNOLLY

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 25, 2012

  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the 
ongoing work of the Vale Club and the Oakton Womens' Club to promote 
education and engagement on civic, cultural and social welfare issues 
in our community. I also join them in celebrating the contributions of 
Florence Jodzies, a leading voice in the effort to provide public 
library services across the Commonwealth of Virginia during the early 
20th century, with the dedication of a highway marker in her honor near 
the Vale community. It is fitting to reflect on that legacy today, 
April 24, 2012, on the 212th anniversary of the founding of the Library 
of Congress and as we near the end of National School Library Month.
  Mrs. Jodzies moved in 1934 to the Vale community of Fairfax County, 
where she promptly joined the local Home Demonstration Club, which was 
then an outreach program under the cooperative extension. Through her 
involvement with the club, she soon launched an impassioned campaign to 
stimulate interest in reading, to provide reading material and to help 
communities establish libraries. In a 1938 article in ``The Southern 
Planter,'' Mrs. Jodzies wrote that reading of high class literature was 
necessary to humanity's progress and happiness. ``Free libraries are 
essential instruments of education, information, research, culture and 
recreation--all necessary factors in any democracy which expects to 
remain a democracy,'' she wrote.
  The fact that more than half of Virginia's residents at the time had 
no access to a library was a motivating factor. Within two years, every 
county in the Commonwealth with a Demonstration Club boasted an active 
library program. In addition, it was thanks to her efforts that 
Virginia's governor provided funding for construction of the first 
state library building with the assistance of a federal grant. In 
recognition of her efforts, Mrs. Jodzies was appointed by two 
successive governors to represent the Commonwealth at the Annual 
Conference of the American Library Association in 1937 and 1938. In 
addition to her work to promote community libraries, Mrs. Jodzies was 
active with the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, the Business and 
Professional Women's Club, Community Chest, and the County Advisory 
Council. She and her husband relocated to Winter Haven, Florida, before 
she died in 1969 at the age of 82.
  She was an early pioneer for the Fairfax County Public Library 
system, which now boasts eight regional branches and 14 community 
libraries. It is one of the largest and busiest library systems in the 
nation with more than half a million library card holders, more than 13 
million items loaned out each year, and more than 4.5 million visits to 
its online resources. The Fairfax system also hosts more than 8,000 
events annually, attracting 150,000 attendees, and countless volunteers 
donated more than 155,000 hours of work to their community branches 
last year.
  Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Jodzies once wrote that she and other Demonstration 
Club members would ``march on . . . until every man, woman and child in 
Virginia has public access to books.'' Thanks to her tireless efforts, 
we have realized that vision, and thanks to the ongoing work of the 
Vale Club and the Oakton Women's Club, future generations will continue 
to benefit from the legacy of Mrs. Jodzies and other community leaders 
who followed in her footsteps. I ask my colleagues to join me in 
saluting the tremendous service of these outstanding community 
volunteers and organizations.

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