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16 <br />1 components related to the charge given to them. Included were library service standards for <br />2 Orange County, and capital and operational budget requests. <br />3 <br />4 2. The task force made another presentation to the commissioners at a meeting in May 2008. <br />5 Among other things the presentation included the Executive Summary outlining the LSTF <br />6 recommendations. Also stated were three principles that were the basis of their <br />7 recommendations for library service in Orange County: (a) a regional approach, (b) <br />8 collaborative county-wide planning, (c) a 3-5 year plan to address immediate needs. <br />9 <br />10 According to the minutes of the May 20, 2008 commissioners meeting, the Manager was asked <br />11 during the discussion "about the next steps since the Board is accepting this report and not <br />12 .adopting it. Laura Blackmon said that for a report like this, it is important for the Board of <br />13 County Commissioners to discuss it at a work session along with the financial implications. <br />14 This issue will come back to the Board in the fall." <br />15 <br />16 The minutes show that the commissioners unanimously adopted a motion "to accept the Library <br />17 Services Standards and Facilities Needs Matrix developed by the 2007 Library Services Task <br />18 Force; and direct County and Library management to begin discussions for greater <br />19 collaboration with the Town of Chapel Hill." <br />20 <br />21 D. Next Steps <br />22 <br />23 1. Facilities <br />24 <br />25 In the County CIP there is about $3 million budgeted over ten years for library services in <br />26 Orange County. The commissioners will need to decide for what purpose that money will be <br />27 used, and the priority order in which the facilities recommended by the task force might be <br />28 established. The 2007 LSTF report recommends both the construction of the Southwest <br />29 Orange Library and the establishment of the Heritage Center as next steps. A related decision <br />30 is whether the County should sell the county-owned building at 129 East King Street in <br />31 Hillsborough (4000 square feet, conditioned space, and 2000 square feet, warehouse) or use it <br />32 for the Heritage Center which is proposed to house historical and genealogical documents. <br />33 <br />34 Soon the commissioners will also be reviewing the plans for the new Main Library in <br />35 Hillsborough. The first plans for the new library did not include space for moving the North <br />36 Carolina Room (local history collection) from the current library to the new library. After <br />37 questions about excluding the collection were raised, the possibility of housing around half of <br />38 the.North Carolina Room in the new library is now being considered by the staff and the <br />39 commissioners. It is my understanding that on May 5 the commissioners will be reviewing the <br />40 floor plans for the new library and receiving information on the Orange County Library NC <br />41 Room/ Heritage Center. <br />42 <br />43 2. Operations <br />44 <br />45 Also flowing from the LSTF reports is an operational question concerning how the regional <br />46 approach to providing library facilities, recommended by the LSTF, is to be discussed with the <br />47 Town of Chapel Hill and others. In the future there is the potential to explore the interoperability <br />48 among all Orange County libraries and to study the costs and benefits of implementing a <br />49 county-wide, jointly operated technical support system. <br />50 <br />