Laura Dallas, Cybrary branch manager, says Carrboro’s downtown Cybrary could be one of the town’s first service cuts, as permanently closing the facility was proposed late last week to the Orange County Board of Commissioners to counteract the county’s budget shortfall.

The Orange County Board of Commissioners got their first look at proposed service cuts late last week, and it was recommended by Orange County Library Services Director Lucinda Munger to permanently shut down two library branches in Orange County: Cedar Grove library in Northern Orange County and the Carrboro Cybrary located in the Century Center on North Greensboro Street.

The Cybrary is a smaller-scale library branch that focuses on providing access to Internet-based materials, instead of a traditional library services, while providing access to computers and wireless internet. It’s a fairly recent addition to Orange County as it was opened in August of 2004.

Last summer, the Cybrary was able to escape having their hours of operation reduced when Orange County library officials announced cuts to library hours across the county.  This time it seems reducing hours will not save the budget.

Dallas says she is beginning to plan for the closing.

The total budget of the downtown facility is just under $79, 000 to maintain operation.