The Elbert County Public Library (ECPL) is a

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

system made up of two branches serving the population of

Elbert County, Georgia Elbert County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,637. The county seat is Elberton. The county was established on December 10, 1790, and was named for Samu ...

. ECPL is a member of

PINES A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden a ...

, a program of the

Georgia Public Library Service The Georgia Public Library Service (GPLS) is the state agency for libraries in the U.S. State of Georgia and a unit of the University System of Georgia. The service was initially founded in 1996 after the inception of the Library Services and T ...

that covers 53 library systems in 143 counties of Georgia. Any resident in a PINES supported library system has access to the system's 10.6 million book collection. The library is also serviced by GALILEO, a program of the University System of Georgia which stands for "GeorgiA LIbrary LEarning Online". This program offers residents in supported libraries access to over 100 databases indexing thousands of periodicals and scholarly journals. It also boasts over 10,000 journal titles in full text.

History

In 1968 Elbert County agreed to create a temporary library system with neighboring

Hart County Hart County is the name of two counties in the United States: * Hart County, Georgia * Hart County, Kentucky {{geodis, uscounty ...

to pool their resources after the Hart County collection was mostly destroyed in a fire. During this time the libraries worked under the same name, the War Woman Regional Library System. In 2012 the Georgia Department of Labor closed their Elbert County job offices, causing some unrest in the community as their unemployment rates were 3.1% higher than the national average at 11.3% of the population. The Elbert County Public Library in the interim offered to provide more resources to those in their community, as the next nearest department of labor offices were located farther away in

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the st ...

. Among the services provided "library visitors can conduct job searches on the Internet, file claims for unemployment insurance benefits, research careers, update or create résumés, and obtain a wide range of additional services."

Branches

The Elbert County Library System consists of two branches. The Elbert County Public library is the central library of the system and is located at 345 Heard Street in Elberton. A newer, smaller branch, the Bowman Branch, is used as a service outlet and is located at 21 Prince Avenue, Bowman. This branch is part of a new Georgia $21.7 million capital investment to modernize public libraries, with Bowman Library receiving $424,000 to upgrade its own amenities. The library also provides service to area daycares, nursing homes, senior living centers, and individuals who are unable to visit the library on their own via a bookmobile.

Library systems in neighboring counties

* Hart County Library to the north *

Athens Regional Library System The Athens Regional Library System (ARLS) is a consortium of 11 public library, public libraries across five counties, comprising the Athens – Clarke County metropolitan area as well as Franklin County, Georgia, Franklin County in northeast Geor ...

to the west *

Bartram Trail Regional Library System The Bartram Trail Regional Library System (BTRLS) is a public library system serving the counties of Wilkes, McDuffie, and Taliaferro, Georgia, United States. The central library is the Mary Willis Library, a historic library built in 1888 out of ...

to the south *

Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library System The Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library System (GCHRL) is a consortium of eight public libraries working together to serve the populations of Columbia, Burke, Lincoln, and Warren counties in east Georgia. GCHRL is a member of PINES, a program of ...

to the southeast

References

External links

PINES catalog
{{authority control County library systems in Georgia (U.S. state) Public libraries in Georgia (U.S. state)