Local bookworms have been swiping their library cards even more than usual during this year’s celebration of National Library Week.

Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library are paving the way for the library’s new site — literally.

When Tim and Jessica Baker purchased Orange County Gymnastics in Dec. 2011, the last thing they expected to find was their recently town-owned building to be ridden with mold and asbestos.

The Chapel Hill Public Library will launch a new service Thursday to help local students with a library card get the extra help they need.

When it comes to technological resources, the Chapel Hill Public Library is working to stay one page ahead.

Chapel Hill residents will welcome a temporary public library spot and offer feedback on goals to guide the town’s future on Saturday at Chapel Hill 2020’s open house.

Looking around at the clutter of makeshift shelves, books and 14-year-old piles of dust at the Chapel Hill Public Library, Ron Mills said it is hard to imagine the building will be empty in five days. The town is in the process of moving its only library from its location at 100 Library Drive to a temporary spot in University Mall.

In the two years librarian Blake Norby has worked at Chapel Hill High School, she hasn’t seen a book banned. And she doesn’t expect to anytime soon. “As a librarian, it’s one of the key principles I live by — that they have the right to free and equal access to all kinds of information,” said Norby.

The Chapel Hill Public Library might be a quiet space now, but it will become even more silent after the library closes its doors tonight to move to a temporary location at University Mall.

The town’s only public library ­— which sees about 375,000 visitors a year — will close on Sept. 23 while it prepares to pack up its 187,000-book collection to move to a temporary location at University Mall in Chapel Hill, said Mark Bayles, assistant director of the library.

The Chapel Hill Town Council voted Monday against a resolution that would have instituted a fee-based library card system for county residents who live outside Chapel Hill’s borders but use the town’s library.

Amidst discussion of a potential library card fee and an unexpected tipping fee increase, the Chapel Hill Town Council passed a $50.5 million budget for the 2011-2012 fiscal year Monday night.

Visitors and employees will see more changes at the Chapel Hill Public Library.

Chapel Hill residents will continue to enjoy books surrounded by the trees of Pritchard Park after the Chapel Hill Town Council unanimously decided not to move the town’s only library Monday night.

The future of the Chapel Hill Public Library will be decided tonight. The Chapel Hill Town Council will vote on whether to accept a proposal from Madison Marquette to permanently move the library from its 100 Library Drive location to the current location of Dillard’s at University Mall.

More than three months after losing his job, Kerry Bigelow has yet to find out if his termination is final. Bigelow and Clyde Clark, two former Chapel Hill solid waste employees, have appealed their Oct.

Town Council will begin an annual retreat tonight to establish a plan for the next year. Council members will use the retreat to outline goals for the year and see which ones they can keep.The past year was defined by projects that aimed to revitalize Chapel Hill.

Three library special interest groups hinted to the town that Chapel Hill’s only library should not be in a mall at a meeting Thursday night. Members of the Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library, the Chapel Hill Public Library Foundation and the Library Board of Trustees met to voice their thoughts about the possible move.

A proposal to move Chapel Hill’s public library to University Mall was met with criticism at Tuesday night’s Chapel Hill Town Council meeting. Town Manager Roger Stancil first presented the plan to the council on Nov.

While controversy over the Chapel Hill Public Library expansion builds, a resolution is not expected to be reached at tonight’s Town Council meeting.