Company Profile
Orange County Public Library
Company Overview
With locations in historic Hillsborough, serene Cedar Grove and quirky Carrboro, the Orange County Public Library is a small system with an epic reach. We give free library cards to residents of 6 counties, employees of 3 local governments, 2 school systems, 1 community college and the nation’s first public university. We’re fiercely friendly and forward-thinking. And nothing makes us happier than helping someone find the book or information they want, seeing a child soak up storytime, watching a teenager develop leadership skills through participating in our Teen Advisory Board, or teaching an older adult how to use their new cell phone.
The system has 3.5 locations. The Main Library is in historic Hillsborough, the county seat. We offer a full complement of library services at this location and our administrative offices are located there.
Carrboro is home to both the Carrboro Branch Library and the Cybrary. These two locations are in facilities owned by other entities, the Chapel Hill Carrboro City School system and the Town of Carrboro, respectively.
Our "half" branch is a library kiosk just north of Hillsborough, in the Cedar Grove area of rural Orange County.
We have 40 full and part time staff members and are open 7 days/week. In 2015 we embarked on integrating the community led philosophy into our library work. In three years, we have gone from a sometimes thought of to sought after community partner. All of our work is influenced by the commitment our county commissioners have made towards promoting social justice.
Company History
Orange County Public Library Timeline
1910 The Library Association forms and the group starts Hillsborough’s first library. The library is located in the Session House of the Presbyterian Church, on the corner of Tyron and Churton Streets.
1933-35 The Confederate Memorial Library is built at site of Session House, which had burned down, with WPA funds and money from the Daughters of the Confederacy. It is run by a group of volunteers, circulates donated books and serves the white community in and around Hillsborough.
1937 Hillsborough High School for Negroes is built. The school’s library serves as the public library for the African-American community.
1941 A professional librarian is hired with state aid to serve Caswell, Person and Orange counties.
1948 Caswell, Person and Orange counties form the Hyconeechee Regional System, with headquarters in Person County. They buy and operate a regional bookmobile and hire a director of the library system.
1950-77 The Carrboro Civic Club runs a library with the help of the Hyconeechee Regional System. The club wants the Town of Carrboro to take it over and move it to Carr Mill Mall.
1956 Hyconeechee Regional System headquarters moves to Caswell County.
1957 Orange County Library Board of Trustees asks the Hillsborough Town Board to set aside land for a larger library.
1958 Chapel Hill, in the southern part of the county, starts its own municipal library.
1961 Hyconeechee Regional System purchases a second bookmobile.
1960s Libraries across North Carolina become integrated.
1964-66 Orange County Library Board of Trustees considers withdrawing from the Hyconeechee Regional System but abandons the idea.
1965 Orange County Library Board of Trustees asks the board of county commissioners to annually appropriate money to build a new library.
1965 Chapel Hill builds a new library on Franklin Street, just blocks from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
1972 Rebecca B. Wall offers to the county commissioners Burnside, an historic home in Hillsborough, as a site for the library in Orange County. The commissioners decline the offer.
1976 Orange County Library Board of Trustees requests of the commissioners a new library in Hillsborough.
1977 A proposal is floated to remodel the 55 year-old Grady Brown School on Tryon Street into a library.
1977 Orange County Library staff conducts a feasibility study and devises a 5-year plan for library personnel, services, and facilities to include a new locations in Hillsborough and Carrboro.
1977 The Carrboro Civic Club library closes.
1983 The Orange County Public Library moves to renovated space on second floor of the Whitted Building (originally Grady Brown School).
1995 A public library opens in McDougle School in Carrboro, operated by Orange County Public Library
1999-2012 The Town of Carrboro, Orange County Government, and many concerned citizens participate in numerous task forces to determine the strategic vision for library services throughout Orange County and how to collaborate with the municipal library in Chapel Hill.
2004 Cedar Grove library opens at the old Cedar Grove Elementary School, 10 miles north of Hillsborough.
2004 The Town of Carrboro provides free space and computers to open the Cybrary in The Century Center on S. Greensboro Street, operated by Orange County Public Library.
2011 Due to lack of use the Cedar Grove Library closes. Staff and materials came to the Main Library.
2010 New Orange County Public Library opens at 137 W. Margaret Lane.
2012 Hyconneechee Regional Library system dissolves, creating independent library systems in each county.
2016 The Library Station kiosk is placed at the Cedar Grove Community Center, giving residents in that part of the county 24/7 access to library books and movies.
2018 The Town of Carrboro selects property in Carrboro and concept plans for a facility that will house the new Orange County Southern Branch Library.
Benefits
Orange County provides a competitive benefits package that includes:
Participation in the North Carolina State Retirement System;
Orange County contributes 7.75% of your base salary per pay period and 8.5% for LEO.
Health Insurance
Orange County pays 100% of employee premiums for health insurance and a portion of dependent premiums.
Dental Insurance
Orange County pays 100% of employee premiums for dental insurance.
Life Insurance
Orange County pays for an employee life insurance policy based on employees salary up to $50,000.
Vision Insurance
Optional Life and Disability Coverage
401 (k) and 457 Deferred Compensation Plans
Orange County contributes $27.50 per pay period to the supplemental retirement plan you choose and will contribute up to an additional $63 per pay ($1512 annually) period as a match.
Paid Holidays
Annual Leave
Sick Leave
Various other leave programs including civil, funeral, parental, etc.
For additional detailed information click visit http://www.orangecountync.gov/887/Job-Opportunities