This NC library checks out 1M books, DVDs a year. Now it’s a National Medal finalist.
Kena Steed leafed through books in the children’s section of the Chapel Hill Public Library while waiting for her 4-year-old charge to find books they could read at home.
“As a nanny, I love it,” said Steed, 45, a nanny with the same family for 10 years who brings every child in her care to the library.
“It’s a great atmosphere. It’s very warm and welcoming here,” Steed said. “The family are big readers, so I’m constantly reading all the time.”
The 64,000-square-foot Chapel Hill Public Library serves 60,000 cardholders and thousands more through services, programs and meetings. It’s one of the state’s busiest libraries, circulating more than 1 million items each year.
On Wednesday, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency that supports libraries and museums nationwide, named the library one of 30 finalists for the 2024 National Medal for Museum and Library Service.
Chapel Hill is the only North Carolina finalist for the award, the nation’s highest honor for museums and libraries. National Medal winners will be announced in late May and be honored in a ceremony at The White House this summer.
It’s an honor to be nominated, said interim Library Director Meeghan Rosen.
“It’s a testament to our collaborative, empathetic and community-driven staff. Their commitment to community service helps make our community a better place,” she said. “It’s also a testament to our community partners, who make us a better library.”
Why is the Chapel Hill library so popular?
Tony Millbank and his wife have been library card holders since 2007, paying $65 to get one because they live in Durham.
He prefers biographies and history books, Millbank said, and he recently learned the library has an Ancestry.com account available to patrons in the computer lab downstairs.
The library is “quiet, spacious,” he said. “It’s got a pretty good range of books; it keeps me happy.”
They were among a few dozen people waiting when a staff member opened the door promptly at 10 a.m. Thursday. By midday, spaces in the main parking lot are scarce, sending patrons to the overflow lot down the hill.
Popular spots include the tables by the library’s big windows looking out over Pritchard Park and the study group cubicles. The library’s “hold” shelf always stays busy.
The free wifi access attracts 24-year-old Sykai Tolbert, who started going to the library with his family and on school field trips when it was in a much smaller building. The town expanded the library in 2013.
“They remodeled it a couple of years ago. It made it a bunch better,” Tolbert said. “I don’t come to the library to read or anything. I just come for a quiet spot, to chillax sometimes.”
Why was the Chapel Hill library nominated?
▪ U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee, a Chapel Hill native and Democrat from the 4th District, submitted the National Medal nomination, citing the library’s work toward community literacy, lifelong learning, cultural enrichment and access to information.
▪ The library offers audio, ebooks and traditional books, outdoor play areas and programs, and a calendar filled with events, online education for kids and adults. It also is home to The Studio, a digital media space.
▪ Former Mayor Pam Hemminger and Chapel Hill Poet Laureate Cortland Gilliam sent supportive letters.
▪ The library nominated itself for the National Medal in 2020 and was a finalist in 2021.
What they said: “Chapel Hill Public Library endeavors to be a place for everyone, regardless of who they are, where they come from, or their journey through the world,” Gilliam said, noting the library’s oral history and storytelling programs, free menstrual period products in restrooms, and commitment to compensate artists and “to better understanding and serving neurodivergent library users.”
What to know about the library?
▪ Location: 100 Library Drive, Chapel Hill
▪ Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday-Thursday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday-Sunday
▪ Getting a card: Library cards are free to Orange County residents, Chapel Hill and Orange County property taxpayers, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools employees and students, and current and former town employees. Others pay $65 a year.
▪ Other key details: No overdue fines, but patrons might pay for materials not returned after a certain period of time and lose their card holder status. Books on hold can also be picked up from lockers at University Place, 201 S. Estes Drive.
