The Board of Supervisors may not have the authority to require the county libraries to charge the public $2 to rent DVDs, but that didn't stop some members from pushing the issue.
Lori Waters (R-Broad Run) said the board could cut the library budget by $15,000 but it has no jurisdiction over exactly how the cuts are to be made. She asked her colleagues to vote for the cut anyway. "I oppose turning our libraries into the equivalent of a Blockbuster," she said. "I don't think it's the job of the Loudoun government to provide DVDs for free. I'd like to see us concentrate more on books, more on reading, than having our children sitting in front of the TV."
Stephen Snow (R-Dulles) opposed the cut. "A memo might be more appropriate than taking a chainsaw or ax, whatever the metaphor might be."
John Czaplewski, chairman of the Library Board of Trustees, said the library is not in competition with Blockbuster or any bookstores. "We don't charge access to best sellers and we don't want to charge for DVDs.
"The other point is that taxpayers already have paid once for these materials and they shouldn't have to pay again."
Library trustee Scott Stewart of Ashburn said people turn to the library in harder economic times when they can't afford other entertainment. "I think the library services should remain free as they always have been," he said.
James Flynn, 14, of Leesburg, was at the Eastern Loudoun Regional Library in Cascades this week. "I don't think you should have to pay, because you don't have to pay for books."
Waters said she opposes the library lending entertainment DVDs but supports educational ones.
Snow said the library offers more than education. "It's art. Some may be information. Some fun," he said.
In the end, the board voted 4-4 on the motion to cut the budget, and the proposal failed.