2013-012 EDC-Arts - Friends of the Carrboro Branch Library Fall 2012 Arts Grant Agreement $679

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FRIENDS OF THE CARRBORO BRANCH LIBRARY: LIBRARY ARTS PROGRAM CONTINUED EXPANSION OF THE LIBRARY"S INTEGRATED CULTURAL ARTS PROGRAM in 2013 A. ORGANIZATIONAL DESCRIPTION The Friends of the Carrboro Branch Library, a voluntary non-profit organization that enjoys the support of over 200 people from Carrboro, South Orange and Chapel Hill, has been an active community group for more than twenty five`years. The Friends were instrumental in bringing the need for a branch library in Carrboro and southern Orange to the attention of the Board of Orange County Commissioners and in guiding its establishment. Currently, the Friends are actively involved in the development and expansion of the County's Library system and particularly with the building of the southern branch of the Orange County Library. It is anticipated that it will be at least four years before that project is completed. The Carrboro Branch Library opened in the Mc Dougle Schools Media Center, Carrboro on May 1 1995 under the auspices of the Chapel Hill- Carrboro School System and Orange County. The Media Center now serves both the McDougle Elementary and Middle Schools and the Carrboro Branch Library. Until June 1996, when the Orange County Public Library took over the running of the branch library, the Friends filled a part-time position with volunteers, five days a week. (It must be added here that even though we are located in a school setting we have a distinct identity as the Carrboro Branch Library during operating hours). The Friends current tasks include planning and hosting community arts and cultural activities, community outreach activities at Town events such as Carrboro Day and the Fourth of July, and the running of the annual book sale (in November). These activities are in addition to our commitment to ongoing library support services and serving on County and regional boards such as the 2000, 2004 and 2007 Orange County Library Task Force. (The Friends of the Carrboro Branch Library's role in the development of an overall library plan for Orange County was acknowledged at a 2007 Board of Orange County Commissioners meeting.) More recently, in July 2008, the Friends were instrumental in getting "cut hours" reinstated in all of Orange County's Libraries while in October 2008 a Friends' representative was involved in the selection process for a new Orange County Library Director.