Commission requests report on libraries
Jackson County has two libraries, both of which operate within the Fontana Regional Library system — the Albert Carlton-Cashiers Community Library and the Jackson County Library in Sylva. NC Cardinal System image
The Jackson County Commission invited Library Director Tracy Fitzmaurice to come before the board and give a report on the state of libraries in the county after concerns were raised over library security last month.
Jackson County has two libraries, both of which operate within the Fontana Regional Library system — the Albert Carlton-Cashiers Community Library and the Jackson County Library in Sylva. The Fontana Regional Library system covers Jackson, Macon and Swain counties, with commissioners renewing the 10-year FRL agreement in November.
While the Sylva library is open six days a week, the Cashiers library is open five days a week.
“Future plans, I would love to work on seeking funding in the next year or two to try and make that a reality for the people in Cashiers,” said Fitzmaurice.
As of the end of February, there are 35,013 active library card holders in Jackson County, or about 79% percent of the population. To be an active card holder a person has to have used their library card within the last three years.
“That is a pretty impressive number when you think about nearly four fifths of this community has a library card,” Fitzmaurice said.
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So far this fiscal year, 92,994 patrons have visited libraries in Jackson County, which puts them on track with last year, and more than 120,000 items have been checked out.
“The number usually starts climbing up especially in the Cashiers area, for you all from that area you know the change once spring gets here,” said Fitzmaurice. “Also, summer learning programs will kick in and we see huge numbers during the summer with school children that are there for us in the reading program.”
Between the two libraries, there are 20 full-time employees and eight part-time employees who handle circulation, programming, technical services, bookkeeping, room oversight and technology maintenance.
Because the library is funded by the state, it is allowed to be part of the NC Cardinal System, which it joined in 2012. All but 28 counties in North Carolina participate in NC Cardinal, with five counties set join in the 2025-26 fiscal year.
“That means if you’re in Beaufort County on vacation and you want to use their library you can use it with your Jackson County library card,” said Fitzmaurice. “You could also check out a book in Beaufort and then bring it back here and we have a mailing system that goes back and forth.”
In addition to its own book circulation, libraries in Jackson County circulate an additional 15,000 books annually through NC Cardinal. While Jackson libraries are home to about 120,000 books, as a member of NC Cardinal the libraries have 8.1 million items in their catalogue.
“The nice thing about that is that our residents here in Jackson County have access to very specialized collections that we may not be able to afford,” said Fitzmaurice. “As you know, books are expensive, especially specialized ones.”
Jackson residents also have access to the state of North Carolina’s Government and Heritage Library, which offers assistance with family history research.
A growing trend over the last decade has been access to electronic resources. In 2016, the North Carolina General Assembly voted to fund special ebook collections for children in grades K-4. Additional funding allocated last year enabled the library system to expanse that collected and divide it into two platforms, one for grades K-3 and one for grades 4-8.
“They felt it important obviously to keep those books available for the right ages in the right platforms,” said Fitzmaurice. “During the last state budget development, the legislature added $300,000 recurring every year to keep this collection going.”
One of the library’s primary services now is technology assistance. It offers classes on iOS, for apple product users, as well as classes for android users.
“We have tech time digital navigators,” Fitzmaurice said. “They travel to our libraries once a week and they also teach classes at the Department on Aging and at the Senior Center in Cashiers.”
The two digital navigator positions are paid for with a $300,000 grant through Digital Champion that Fitzmaurice obtained last year.
“When they teach a class at Department on Aging, if folks that take that class show up for six classes, they are given a Chromebook through that grant, so they are able to maintain access after the class,” Fitzmaurice said. “That’s a really big boon for a lot of people that can’t afford the digital equivalent.”
In addition to normal library programming and classes which have drawn a total of about 8,800 attendees so far this year, the library rents its rooms out for use by non-library programs. So far this year, it has had 1,569 nonlibrary programs with more than 10,000 people attending those.
Both libraries in Jackson County offer free lunches, working with JCPS at the Sylva library and MANNA Foodbank in Cashiers.
The library briefly considered hosting a medicine cabinet through the non-profit pharmacy group NC MedAssist but decided against it after staff and members of the public expressed concern about having over-the-counter medicines.
“We still have things like Band-Aids, toothbrushes, soap, things like that, but there’s no more oral medications,” said Fitzmaurice.
Commissioner Jenny Lynn Hooper asked Fitzmaurice, “why would you donate soap?”
Fitzmaurice said that library staff kept it on hand to give out to unhoused people who use the library if they needed it.
“I mean, like why does HERE [of Jackson County] not do that?” Hooper asked.
“I’m sure they do too,” Fitzmaurice responded. “But a lot of people use the library, so it’s just easy access. I know the Methodist church has a place they can use to wash up in, several of the churches do.”
Hooper then asked Fitzmaurice if she was aware that “they,” ostensibly referring to the unhoused population, dye their hair in the bathroom sinks at the library. Hooper was referencing an accusation she made back in March when commissioners addressed library security that “they are doing hair dye in the sinks.”
Fitzmaurice said that there has only been one instance of someone dying their hair in the library sink and that it was done by a teenager, not an unhoused person.
