Fully fund the Chapel Hill Public Library
Cara Brick
May 12, 2026
To the Orange County Board of Commissioners,
I am writing to you today as a longtime Orange County resident, a twenty-year patron of the Chapel Hill Public Library, and now a proud member of its staff. I urge you in the strongest possible terms to preserve the county’s funding for CHPL. Cutting that funding would have profound consequences for thousands of residents across our community.
When my husband and I relocated to the Triangle area, our very first stop in any prospective town was the public library. We believed then, and still believe today, that a library tells you everything you need to know about a community’s values. When we walked into Chapel Hill Public Library, we knew we had found our home. We were not wrong. Our three children grew up attending storytimes at CHPL, and later spent countless hours studying in its beautiful reading room and on its terrace as they made their way through the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools. The library was not merely a building we visited. It was a cornerstone of our family’s life in this community.
There is something critically important I want you to understand: many of CHPL’s most devoted patrons are Orange County residents, not Town of Chapel Hill residents. When we chose our home, we did not realize it fell just outside the town limits, even though it carries a Chapel Hill address. We are your constituents. If county funding is withdrawn and borrowing privileges are restricted, families like mine, county residents who depend on CHPL as their home library, would be directly and meaningfully harmed. This is not a hypothetical concern. It is the daily reality for a significant portion of CHPL’s community.
I now have the privilege of serving this community from the other side of the desk as a part-time library professional at CHPL. What I witness every single day is humbling: seniors who rely on us for digital literacy support, children discovering the joy of reading for the first time, job seekers using our resources to rebuild their lives, and students of all ages finding quiet space to learn and grow. The lives we touch are incalculable. I have deep respect for Orange County Libraries and the new Southern Branch Library. These institutions serve our county well, and we are proud to be colleagues. But the data tells a clear story: these libraries are not substitutes for one another. They serve different populations, different geographies, and different needs.
What the Data and Your Own Task Force Tell Us
The question of Orange County’s funding for CHPL is not new. It has been studied and debated over many years, most recently through the Library Funding Task Force, a deliberate, interjurisdictional process designed to evaluate exactly this question. That body examined the issue thoroughly and offered several considered recommendations. Notably, eliminating county funding was not among them.
One of the Task Force’s specific recommendations was to monitor whether the new Southern Branch Library would reduce demand at CHPL before making any funding decisions. That data is now in, and it does not support defunding. CHPL’s usage has remained remarkably stable:
Library Visits
March 2025: 33,348 visits
March 2026: 33,545 visits (essentially unchanged, and slightly up)
Circulation (Materials Checked Out)
Year prior to Southern Branch opening: 1,276,091 items
Year since Southern Branch opening: 1,209,403 items (a modest change of less than 5.2%, well within normal annual variance)
Program Attendance
March 2025: 1,585 attendees
March 2026: 1,622 attendees (up 2.3% year over year)
The Southern Branch is serving its community, and CHPL is still serving its own. The two libraries are not competing; they complement each other. The premise that the Southern Branch has diminished CHPL’s necessity is not borne out by the evidence your own task force asked you to collect.
I recognize that budget decisions are never easy and that you face real constraints. But I implore you to weigh what is at stake here: tens of thousands of visits each month, over a million items circulated each year, programs that serve children, seniors, job seekers, immigrants, and families of every background.
Chapel Hill Public Library is not a luxury. It is civic infrastructure that supports education, equity, economic mobility, and community belonging.
Please honor the work of your own Task Force. Please honor the data. And please honor the thousands of Orange County residents, your constituents, who call Chapel Hill Public Library their own. I respectfully urge you to maintain the county’s funding for CHPL in full.
Respectfully,
Cara Brick
110 Bay View Drive
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Wil Glenn
Dear Cara,
Thank you for sharing your perspectives regarding the county budget and the proposed phased reduction of funding for the Chapel Hill Public Library.
The Orange County Board of Commissioners (BOCC) will receive and consider your feedback as part of the ongoing budget process. Public input is an important part of these discussions, and your engagement is appreciated.
For more information, view the link below that includes key facts about the recommended library funding transition:
The budget schedule includes Public Hearings on May 12 and May 28, as well as Budget Work Sessions on May 14, May 21, May 26, and June 4. These meetings, along with the BOCC’s regular business meetings, provide opportunities for residents to learn more about the county’s budget priorities and decision-making process.
In addition, Budget Information Sessions will be held on May 14, May 20 (virtual: https://orangecountync.gov/BudgetSession), and May 21. These sessions allow residents to ask questions of budget staff, learn more about the recommended budget, and share their perspectives.
Thank you again for taking the time to participate in the process.
Wil Glenn
Community Relations Director
Orange County Government
Office Phone: 919.245.2302
Mobile Phone: 919.430.4900
Email: wgl...@orangecountync.gov
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From: Cara Brick <cara...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2026 5:49 PM
To: ALL_BOCC_MANAGER_CLERK <OCB...@orangecountync.gov>
Subject: Fully fund the Chapel Hill Public Library
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