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Carrboro Branch a vital resource

Posted on May 21, 2009 by Staff

By Graig Meyer

The county manager’s recommendation to close the Carrboro and Cedar Grove library branches is preposterous. The fact that the idea came from the library director is absolutely baffling.

The Carrboro Branch Library means a lot to my family. We use it at least two or three times a week. My young sons enjoy storytime and crafts on Saturday mornings. My daughter goes there for tutoring on Mondays. My wife’s reading selections come entirely from this branch. The branch has a circulation of about 5,000 materials a month.

One of our county commissioners asked me if we wouldn’t just use the new Hillsborough Library. Since we live in the White Cross area, it takes us less than 10 minutes to get to the Carrboro Branch. It would take 25 to get to Hillsborough and it’s about the same to get to the Chapel Hill Library.

Speaking of which, the Friends of the Chapel Hill Library should be the biggest allies of those hoping to keep the Carrboro Branch open. We all know the Chapel Hill Library supporters want a bigger space or another branch. If the Carrboro Library gets closed, it’s the Chapel Hill Library that will see the largest increase in patronage, not the new Hillsborough facility.
Branch libraries are usually developed to serve a specific geographic community. The Carrboro Branch was developed to serve that town and the southwest section of the county. My guess is that those of us in the lower rural region mostly orient ourselves toward Carrboro and Chapel Hill because N.C. 54 is our main thoroughfare. We’re not so inclined to drive 15 miles to Hillsborough when it’s easier and closer to head into Carrboro. Clearly, the patrons from Carrboro would head to the Chapel Hill Library rather than to Hillsborough.

Closing the Cedar Grove Branch may be an even sillier idea. In rural areas all over the country, the local library branch is one of the main resources and gathering places.

Government invests in libraries in these places to build civic community and to stimulate intellectual resources. Cedar Grove probably needs a branch even more than resource-rich Carrboro does.

So why would a library director recommend closing two branches? This is like a school district superintendent recommending closing a school. You only do that when it’s the last possible solution. 

In this case, the library director and county manager have put the commissioners in a classic double-bind. They’re saying, if you want us to fully staff our brand new flagship library, we’ve got to close branches. If you don’t close branches, the new library will suffer. The cynic in me wonders if they know that the commissioners would not be inclined to close branches. Are the library director and county manager playing a shrewd political game, where they hope to have their cake and eat it too? 

If they really think the branches are unnecessary, they need to make that case. If not, my assumption is that they’re just playing a game, provoking public outrage that will keep the branches open without drastic cuts to the Hillsborough Library budget. 

Someone’s got to take a cut this year, and, realistically, all of the library branches probably have to reduce services. But there are lots of solutions besides closing branches. Reduce hours. Reallocate staff resources. Delay new acquisitions. Library users can adjust our expectations for service at the branches, and at the end of the year we’ll still have a library in Carrboro and Cedar Grove. 

Graig Meyer lives in the White Cross area.

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