The library collection is the lifeblood of a public library. The public needs access to up-to-date non-fiction materials and a diverse collection of fiction titles for all age groups, in various formats. At present, our materials budget is woefully inadequate. 
For three years, the Dare County Library Foundation sponsored a series of“Winter Enrichment"programs in the humanities.The programs were well attended. 
Antiquated technology is inadequate technology. The last generation has seen many changes in how people communicate, access news and entertainment, learn and perform commerce. Advances in technology also give smaller public libraries such as ours, access to databases and information on the internet that a generation ago would have only been accessible by a large metropolitan public library or academic library. 
It is our hope and vision that with increased community support, the Dare County Library Foundation will permit the library to thrive even as our Local or State funding is limited.
SUCCESS STORIES
“Staff at the Manteo Library received a brief, handwritten “thank you" note from a customer who used our internet computers to successfully find a job". It is more and more common for employers to request “electronic" or e-mail applications from prospective employees, even with entry-level positions. It is important to remember that there are still many people in our community that do not have the means to own a computer at home and a have a high-speed internet connection."
- Manteo Library
Our computers reduce the“digital divide" that exists between people in our community that can afford access to the internet, computers and productivity software and those that cannot.“Through our “home visit" program, a library staff person makes a monthly visit to deliver library materials to homebound and elderly. When a new person requests this service, staff work very hard to determine their reading interests, and to take books and other materials to them that they will like. This ensures that a person's inability to get to the library does not stop them from enjoying the pleasure that books and reading gives them. In addition to individual homes, our outreach staff visits Colony Ridge and Spring Arbor. For some of these elderly individuals, the interaction they have with our staff is almost as important to them as they books they receive. Over time, one recipient of this service went from “not being interested in reading", to now stating that she never could have selected such “great books even if she was able to visit the library herself"
- Dare County Library
Last year, 1,843 Books, Books on CDand DVD's were delivered to the elderly and homebound though our outreach service.