The Chapel Hill Library has admirably served the information needs of the residents of Chapel Hill and provided the same service to people living in the county outside the town.

Carrboro Alderman Joal Hall Broun is not correct when she says, "Orange County has two library systems" (CHN March 29). No, the county has one system and the municipality of Chapel Hill has one system. The Hyconeechee Regional Library, the county library system, is financially responsible to the county governing body.

In the 1960s when the Chapel Hill Library was organized, it was decided that it would be a "municipal" library without branches. Municipal pertains to a local, self-governed urban area, namely the Town of Chapel Hill. This is the governing body responsible for the financial support of the municipal library.

For 22 years an active group has traveled the state, worked with the State Library, the Town of Carrboro and the county commissioners in the quest for a free-standing library in downtown Carrboro. We particularly wanted the folks living in the southwestern parts of the county to more readily receive library services.

Between 1986 and 1988 a small group was asked by then Mayor Ellie Kinnaird to study the feasibility of establishing in Carrboro a public library, a branch of the county library. The responses were always enthusiastic. The choice of a library outnumbered many times over the next cited item of need. The mayor's group had members who continued working toward the goal of a free standing library. Through the years others have joined in the effort and together they all became known as The Friends of the Carrboro Branch Library. This group meets monthly and is open to anyone living in the county.

When the funds were not forthcoming, the Chapel Hill/Carrboro school board offered the use of a portion of the McDougle School media center. It was understood by both parties that this would be a temporary solution. It has only been from the gracious, cooperative support on the part of the school, the administration, the faculty, and particularly, the two librarians, that this venture has been a smooth and successful one. The library opened in 1995 and is now 14 years old. We are still waiting for a full-service library to serve the people in the southwestern segment of the county.

Since 2001 three Orange County Library Task Force reports have been presented to the Board of Commissioners. The last one, in October 2007 stipulates that after the completion of the new Orange County Library in Hillsborough in 2009, the next in line to be expanded is the Carrboro Branch Library. In the report, the library is referred to as the southwest Orange Regional Branch Library.

We want to continue our cooperative work with the Chapel Hill Library as we find their service to the community exemplary and their advice often useful. However, I am confident you can understand how difficult it is for us to watch $250,000 of county money for library service go to a municipal library just because they are having to serve the very people we should be serving and can't because our budget from the county is less than one-fifth the above amount that Chapel Hill receives. We do not intend to give up but, indeed, to continue in our efforts.

Martha Tyson is the president of The Friends of The Carrboro Branch Library