Orange County Commissioner Alice Gordon says the Orange County Board of Commissioners wants to keep the Carrboro and Cedar Grove branch libraries open.
The board held a budget work session last night. It did not vote and nothing is official, but Gordon said: "The outlook is good for keeping those libraries. I think most, if not all of us, want to do that."
The proposed county budget calls for closing the Carrboro and Cedar Grove libraries and transferring staff to the new main county library opening in Hillsborough this fall. The Carrboro Cybrary in the Century Center downtown, with its six computer stations and small reading area, would stay open.
Closing the Carrboro and Cedar Grove branches would save $45,373 in the county manager's proposed $177.6 million budget.
The county-run libraries are separate from the Chapel Hill Public Library, which is run by the town of Chapel Hill. The commissioners and the town boards of Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough are scheduled to talk about libraries this fall. Chapel Hill has been concerned about out-of-town residents using its library with no increase in the county's contribution and and has floated the idea of charging a fee. Some have said closing the Carrboro library would send even more non-Chapel Hill residents to that library, making a fee more likely.
Gordon said it only makes sense to keep the two county library branches open until that discussion takes place.
"I don't think we're at the point where we need to close libraries," she said. "I think the will is there to keep the libraries open."
