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-It preserves the heritage and history of the region <br /> -It documents the origins of the County and its people from Colonial times <br /> -Family and history researchers and organizations at the national level depend upon <br /> the sources of this facility for their work <br /> Because of these factors we maintain this reference collection is a growing entity and <br /> must: <br /> -Remain intact, not broken up in any way <br /> -Be accessible to the public for ready reference <br /> -Be allowed to grow as new materials and donations become available <br /> -Remain in the Hyconeechee Library System Catalog <br /> To ensure this outcome we hold that it either: <br /> -Be housed in the new library building, intact and accessible to the public or <br /> -Be located in a Heritage Center in an appropriate location, intact and accessible to the <br /> public <br /> Our original intention was to champion that the Orange County Library NC Room <br /> Collection would remain intact and accessible to the public. We seem to have failed in our <br /> attempt. It appears that the NC Room Collection will close with the opening of the new library <br /> this fall. The Orange County Commissioners accepted a report from the Archival Task Force <br /> in May 2008, but failed to plan any further. The further plan should have included the <br /> specifications of a Heritage Center to house the NC Room Collection and other collections and <br /> the funding for the new entity. Now it appears that the Orange County Board of <br /> Commissioners has run out of time and has put the Library Director, Lucinda Munger, in an <br /> untenable position. It seems that Ms. Munger must move the library contents to the new <br /> library. In an attempt to gain needed space in the new library, Ms. Munger has stated that she <br /> is planning to disassemble the collection. She would move as many volumes as possible to <br /> the regular reference collection, sending books that are old to the State Archives or the Wilson <br /> Library in Chapel Hill, sending NC books that pertain to other counties to those counties, <br /> removing books that she feels are not necessary to the collection and hope that an appropriate <br /> location can be found for the remainder of the collection in the future. It is our position that this <br /> will be a tragedy for the collection for it will gut the present collection of many irreplaceable <br /> items. This is not acceptable; we should not let this happen. <br /> D-OGS over the years has given several thousands of dollars to the Orange County <br /> Library and, with the guidance of volunteer Nat Clark, has used these funds in purchasing <br /> books and materials for the NC Room Collection. Nat and others also donated numerous <br /> books of their own. If the Collection is to be broken up, Ms. Munger needs to maintain an <br /> active inventory, including items removed from the Collection. When the Heritage Center is <br /> operational, the Collection will need to be restored, and the library and County will need to <br /> make the Collection whole again. D-OGS promises to continue to help when and where we <br /> can." <br /> Ben Lloyd is a property owner in the Efland area. He said that in his 30+ years of <br /> public involvement, he has never seen so many people upset in his entire life. He said that we <br /> are in a financial catastrophe. Regarding the revaluation, excluding Chapel Hill, in his opinion, <br /> there is not a piece of property in rural Orange County that is worth as much than was stated in <br /> the 2005 revaluation. Tonight is the third meeting of upset people demanding that this <br /> revaluation be rescinded. He said that Geof Gledhill advised the Board that it could not <br /> rescind the revaluation after January 1st. In his opinion, this is wrong. He has learned that <br />