by Kate Searcy
Carrboro Commons Writer

The Carrboro Cybrary isn’t like other libraries. There are no endless shelves of books or stacks of movies and cassettes. There are however, plenty of computers—computers that are serving a purpose in the lives of many patrons looking to brush up on their technological skills.

Anne Pusey teaches the computer classes at the Cybrary. The award-winning classes are taught solely by volunteers.
Photo by Kate Searcy

The Cybrary, located on the ground floor of the Carrboro Century Center, offers free computer classes to the general public on Wednesday nights from 7 to 8 p.m.

The subjects vary, from computer and Web basics to online health information for senior citizens. Library cards are optional, and pre-registration is recommended but not required. If there is a spot available when the class begins, anyone can come in and fill it, according to Anne Pusey, the circulation supervisor of the Cybrary.

Pusey, who is also a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, teaches all of the classes available at the Cybrary. The Chapel Hill Public Library, the Carrboro Branch Library, and the Durham Public Library also offer computer classes on differing subjects.

Since the classes are a partnership with UNC libraries, most of the teachers are UNC students, according to Pusey. All of the teachers are volunteers, and anyone can ask to teach the classes, Pusey stated.

The Cybrary is equipped with five computers, so space in the classes is limited but people can also bring their own laptops. The other libraries offering classes have more space – the Chapel Hill Public Library can seat 20-25 people, according to Pusey.

“The Cybrary is a more intimate setting, but as long as we have a teacher, we can offer the classes,” she stated.

The classes offer a great opportunity to the public, according to Pusey. “There is a need in the community to ease the gap between people who don’t have computers and don’t know how to use them and people who do,” she said.

Pusey said that computer skills are needed for more and more things in the modern world, such as job applications.

“We are able to meet a community need and offer affordable, free access to [computer] classes,” she said.

The amount of people who attend the classes varies according to which class is being offered, Pusey said. The beginner’s classes tend to have fewer people as time goes on because those people are moving to the advanced classes.

The classes are also on a rotating schedule that coincides with the UNC semester system. They have been offered for a few years already, and the Cybrary plans to continue offering them in the future.

The classes won the Innovative Instructional Award from the Association of College and Research Libraries in 2007. Pusey called the national award “a big honor for such a small program.”

Additionally, the Cybrary won the National Association of Counties Achievement Award for a Model County Program in 2006.

“We are a unique library,” Pusey said. “Most people come in to use the computers, and we get a lot of traffic.”

Pusey said that she hoped that Carrboro residents will continue to use the Cybrary’s computers to bridge the technological divide.