Orange County Public Library holds more than 110,000 items across two branches: books and eBooks, but also audiobooks, DVDs, board games, video games, and a Wi-Fi hotspot you can take home. A card costs nothing and also unlocks everything the library subscribes to, from language courses and genealogy records to streaming film and car repair manuals. There is more behind that card than most people ever try, and these pages help you find it, for yourself and for anyone you know who could use it. Checking things out does more than save you money: every visit, checkout and program signup goes into the statistics the county weighs when it sets the library's budget. Using the library is one of the cheapest and easiest ways there is to support it.
Find a Resource
Databases, language courses, streaming film, genealogy records, car repair manuals. Everything the library subscribes to, in one browsable list.
Browse resources →What It Saves You
Add up a year of borrowing at what the same things cost to buy. Most households come out well ahead of what the library costs them in tax.
Work out your total →New Arrivals
What has just landed on the shelves, by format (books, eBooks, DVDs, audiobooks, video games), filtered by the topics the catalog itself says are there.
See what is new →Local Authors
A directory of hundreds of writers who have called Orange County home, with their books in the catalog, their websites, and the Friends events that brought them to the library.
Meet the writers →Orange County in Books
The county's story in print: a searchable bibliography of thousands of works gathered from six library catalogs, with the OCPL shelf up front and interlibrary loan for the rest.
Explore the bibliography →Published in Orange County
Books from the county's own presses, from Algonquin Books and UNC Press to Hillsborough's Eno Publishers, and what each has brought into print.
Browse local publishers →The Collection in Numbers
Every format counted, who the collection is for, fiction against nonfiction, the commonest subjects, and the authors the library holds most of.
See the numbers →Programs in Numbers
Every program on the library calendar since 2022: where and when they happen, who they are for, the standing traditions, and the full searchable record.
See the patterns →OCPL at a Glance
Visits, checkouts, cardholders, programs and opening hours, as reported to the State Library each year.
View the figures →How It Has Changed
Ten years of state library statistics: what has grown, what has shrunk, and how Orange County compares with the rest of North Carolina.
Explore the trends →Why we back it
The two branches do more than the word “library” might suggest. The Main Library in Hillsborough and the Southern Branch in Carrboro are where storytime happens; where anyone can use a computer, take a class, join a book club, or borrow a Wi-Fi hotspot when reliable internet at home is out of reach. During dangerous weather, they can also serve as cooling or warming centers. Orange County residents borrow more per person than the state average, and most library services are free to use.
The county funds the buildings, staff, and collection, and invests more per resident than many counties in North Carolina. But North Carolina’s public libraries receive less funding than those in most other states, and Orange County still trails the national per-capita average. The Friends help fill the gaps that public funding does not always reach: summer reading and its prizes, visiting performers, staff training, furniture, and equipment. Since 2010, that has meant 65 documented grants totaling $252,360, raised locally through book sales, memberships, and donations.
Money is only part of the story. When a proposed 2026 budget amendment called for an additional $200,000 reduction, the Friends asked residents to share what the library meant to them. More than 500 people responded in under a week, and the Board of County Commissioners kept both branches open seven days a week. Membership gives the Friends the resources and the community backing to act when the library needs support.
