As branch manager of the Carrboro Library for the last 12 years, I feel compelled to correct erroneous statements made about our library by former Carrboro Cybrary manager Margot Malachowski (“Letters to the Editor,” July 17).

1. The cuts in Carrboro Library hours were indeed unique to our library and necessitated by our particular situation. Sixty-five percent of our circulation desk staff time is filled by contract workers, the portion of our budget that was cut by 62 percent by Orange County. Our permanent staff is mostly involved in the “behind the scenes” operations of a full-service library. These are operations like evaluation of book reviews; ordering books (our collection is currently 20,000); cataloging and labeling books, DVDs and audio books; acquiring interlibrary loans; weeding the collection; and maintaining a full schedule of adult and children’s programming. Neither of the other Orange County library branches are full-service libraries; neither has a book circulation even one tenth that of the Carrboro Library. Those libraries were able to simply spread their staff more thinly; the Carrboro branch could not do that without seriously compromising the many services it provides.

2. It is indeed true that Carrboro Library’s Spanish-speaking outreach position was cut last fiscal year. It was cut because our temporary-personnel budget was cut LAST fiscal year as well, from $16,500 to $13,500.
It is true that this position was originally funded by a grant from Triangle Community Foundation and was later funded with temporary funds provided by Orange County. Since that position was the last one funded with county funds, it was the first one to go when county funds were cut. Our staff person in that position began immediately looking for another job when I informed her that her position was to be eliminated at the beginning of fiscal year 2007-2008. She did not leave us because she found a new position elsewhere.

3. We at the Carrboro Library are happy to refer to the library in Hillsborough as the “main library.” That statement in the “Library Criticisms Inaccurate” [letter] is one of the only accurate ones.

Jake Lehrer
Branch Manager, Carrboro Library