Chapter One: Our Local Library

Our town library is not the smallest library in North Carolina, that I have ever seen. Nor is it the biggest. The library in the town of Hillsborough, North Carolina is situated in between Orange County Department of Social services and the OPC (Orange, Person, Chatham) mental heath facilities. Not even a five minute drive from out home, our library is such a vital part of our personal community as well as a sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of the quickly growing Hillsborough area.
This library on Bald Head Island, NC is about the size of 2 telephone booths. They work on the honor system.

Known as the Orange County Public Library, OCPL is not the only library in Orange County. There are Orange County Public libraries in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill has many libraries devoted to the arts, medicine, and law. And, there are dozens of libraries in the Orange/Chapel Hill/Carrboro school systems.

The OCPL in Hillsborough has many modern facets like: computer labs, Polaris search engines for books in the Orange County family of libraries, and an ever growing Hispanic Literature section. It was recently renovated to include a large print section, more stacks for books, and more seating. The movie section is 99.999% VHS, but they add new DVD's every week.It's children's books are overflowing to such a point they fill up a large room plus the outer corridor of the library. New security check points had to added in order to prevent children from being lost.

OCPL's selection is small compared to the Chapel Hill Library. However, the staff at OCPL must have a guardian bibliophile as they have the most extensive, regularly renewing new book collection I have even seen in a public library. The librarians even take suggestions for new books to purchase, as recently, after I requested more graphic novels for their new selection of "Comics", new titles grew from 2 new books per month to 5 per month.

It was thanks to the OCPL staff that my wife and I realized that our goal to read 1 book for every 10 numbers in the Dewey Decimal System, was to broad a reach to grasp the enormity of the variety of subjects housed in our library. They are quite knowledgeable when it comes to research and the internet. Plus, the librarians there don't seem to mind my weekly phone calls to stay on top of the due dates for all the books we have checked out.

We also have books checked out from Chapel Hill's library. It's bigger, especially their biography section and you can reserve time on a computer monitor via an automatic reservation system. However, Jan and I have made it a priority as well as a rule to try to limit out selections for the "Journey Through the Dewey Decimal System" to the Hillsborough branch as much as possible. That way we can enjoy the wealth of knowledge housed in our local small town library.