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.
How the Friends help
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 →
Summer Reading & Programs
Equipment, Technology & Spaces
Library Staff Appreciation
Advocacy & Community
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.
Supporters are member households and community donors, each counted once. Grants to the library are a separate figure, 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 →Coming up
A library card costs nothing and unlocks everything the library subscribes to, from language courses and genealogy records to streaming film and car repair manuals. Using the library is one of the easiest ways there is to support it.
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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.
In 2026 the Friends of the Southern Branch joined with us, bringing two histories of advocacy together in one countywide organization supporting both branches. Follow the Friends’ history →
Figures from the Friends’ record of the June 2026 campaign; the same figures, broken out, are on Annual Impact and Library Funding.
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