Earlier this month, despite the many challenges they have faced this year, the Orion Township Public Library announced that they had provided over $3.6 million in savings to over 5,500 active library users in the Orion community in 2020.

“Like everyone else, we had to look at all of our library services in 2020 and find ways to provide access in a safe way when the COVID-19 pandemic began,” said Library Director, Karen Knox in a press release. “We enabled Automatic Renewal, so you no longer have to request a renewal for an item that has an eligible renewal available. We put more funds into our digital collections, so we allowed more checkouts in hoopla and bought additional titles in CloudLibrary. We added Curbside Pickup for safe access to physical materials and printed items. We created Take & Make programs so you could pick up supplies and complete them safely at home, and we added a new online resource to provide online tutorials on using many of our research tools.”

In February, the Friends of the Orion Library donated a check for $20,000.

“The library depends on the Friends to fund all of our programs, as we do not have a programming budget for the library,” said Knox. “We encourage residents and patrons to support the Friends so library programs and services can be continued at the library.”

Additionally, the passing of former Library Director, Linda Sickles in 2019 was a hard loss for the Twp. Library as well as the community. However, Sickles’ support for the library will only live on as she named the library as a beneficiary of her estate, which will allow the library to continue to provide programs and services that Sickles was proud of to our Orion community.

A large meeting room in the library that is used by many in the community is expected to be renamed after Sickles.

For more information, visit the Orion Township Public Library at 825 Joslyn Road, Lake Orion, MI 48362, orionlibrary.org or call 248-693-3000. The library is open for curbside service, or computer and makerspace appointments.

— M.K.