We raise money, volunteer, and speak up for the Orange County Public Library, helping fund programs, equipment, outreach, and other needs beyond the public budget.
Right now
The Friends are an independent, volunteer-run nonprofit supporting the Orange County Public Library since 1981, from the Main Library in Hillsborough to the Southern Branch in Carrboro and communities across the county. Library staff identify priorities for library service; the Friends raise funds and organize volunteers, book sales, outreach, and advocacy to help meet them. More about the Friends →
Love the library? There are lots of ways to be a Friend. Join for $25 a year, give what you can, volunteer when it fits, shop a book sale, or simply help spread the word.
Fossil digs. Poetry on demand. Take-home books. Author talks. Prizes worth reading for.
The Friends help give library staff room to make programs bigger, more creative, and more memorable for kids, teens, and adults all year long.
Some library needs are practical. Others make a space more welcoming, useful, or fun.
The Friends have funded self-checkout stations, e-readers, a projector, outdoor reading experiences, neurodivergent-friendly furniture, and plenty of larger and smaller needs in between.
Great libraries start with great people.
We treat staff at both branches to appreciation events, help send them to conferences, and support the professional development that brings fresh ideas back to Orange County. The county funds library positions; the Friends get to add a little extra support and appreciation.
Sometimes supporting the library means speaking up.
The Friends help make it easier for neighbors to show their support, stay informed, and take part when the library needs a strong community voice. We also support projects beyond the library walls when they put books, reading, and learning into more hands across Orange County.
Memberships, gifts, book sales, volunteer work, and advocacy add up. Here’s what that looks like.
Memberships and donors: the Friends’ membership records, today. Projects and recorded support: the board-approved project list, at the amounts approved, 2010–2026. Grants to the library are stated separately, from the treasurer’s books, on Financials.
“The Friends’ support provides nourishment to turn our librarians’ bright ideas into flourishing resources for the community.
The value of service and volunteer help by the Friends contributes to the thriving growth of the Orange County Main Library.”
Summer Reading is one of the things we’re proud to support each year.
Summer Reading 2026
Dinosaurs, archaeology and paleontology, oh my! The May 30 kickoff drew more than 1,200 people to River Park for face painting, balloons, Poetry Fox’s typed-to-order poems and a fossil dig. This was the biggest summer to date!
Participation figures are from the library’s season report; the comparable state series is added when the annual report is filed.
See the full Summer Reading story →Shop gently used books at low prices. Friends members shop first at the Thursday evening member preview.
About Book SaleExplore everything your library has to offer.
More Than Books
Your card gives you free access to more than 170 resources, including classes, technology, research tools, and digital collections.
Explore cardholder resources →The Value of Your Library
Library service costs the average Orange County resident about $35.94 a year. Use the calculator to see what the books, programs, and online resources you use might cost elsewhere.
Calculate your library value →New at the Library
In August, the library added 1,181 titles to a catalog of more than 111,000 titles. Browse the latest books, eBooks, audiobooks, DVDs, and games by topic.
Browse new arrivals →Orange County Authors
Meet 379 authors with ties to Orange County. Explore their books and websites, and learn about the Friends events where they’ve appeared.
Meet local authors →Community Advocacy
In June 2026, facing a proposed $200,000 budget cut, the Friends asked the community to say what the library means to them. In under a week, 502 neighbors responded. The Friends gathered those responses and delivered them to county commissioners; the adopted budget preserved seven-day service at both branches.
The Friends of the Southern Branch were critical to the decades-long effort to secure better library service for Carrboro and southern Orange County and, ultimately, a permanent branch. They helped keep the issue visible, build public support, and sustain the push through years of planning and debate. When Southern Branch opened in 2025, they helped fund the books on its shelves. In 2026, they joined with us, bringing two histories of advocacy and support together in one countywide Friends organization.
The history of Orange County's libraries is a story of the community coming together to support them, from the first reading societies to one countywide system.
Figures from the Friends’ record of the June 2026 campaign; the same figures, broken out, are on Annual Impact and Library Funding.
Get occasional updates about book sales, library events, advocacy, volunteer opportunities, and ways to help.
