The Houston County Public Library is a single county

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 that serves the county of

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

, United States. The headquarters of the library is the Perry Branch, located in

Perry Perry, also known as pear cider, is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally the perry pear. It has been common for centuries in England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land ...

. The system was formed in 1974. The library system 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 51 library systems in 143 counties in Georgia. Any resident in a PINES supported library system has access to the system's collection of 10.6 million books. 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. Downloadable e-books and e-audios are available through Georgia Download Destination (GADD).

Nola Brantley Memorial Library

The Nola Brantley Memorial Library is the largest of the three branches in the system, at 23,000 square feet. It was originally formed as the Warner Robins Library in 1948 by private donations, and became part of the City of Warner Robins government in 1953. The current building was built in 1976. In 1980, the library board voted to change the library's name to the Nola Brantley Memorial Library. Prior to coming to Warner Robins, Brantley, a Laurens County native, taught in Laurens, Bleckley, Webster and Meriwether counties. She was the chair of the first committee to explore library services in Warner Robins in 1948. She was the principal of the Charles E. Thomas II school (formerly the Warner Robins Elementary School) in Warner Robins from 1944 until 1969. She had worked in the field of education for 46 years. The library received an 8,000 square foot addition in 2001. In 2013 the library received a $1.9 million renovation that considerably updated the facility and added "an expanded local history room, teen area, more than 84,500 items for checkout, 32 public computers and an additional 5,000 square feet of library space."

Centerville Branch

The Centerville Branch is the newest branch, at 16,000 square feet. This is the busiest of the three locations, and began in 1964 with private donations. It was formerly housed in a shopping center and Centerville City Hall. The current location was built in 2010.

Perry Branch

The Perry Branch started in 1879 when the Perry Public Library and the Perry Reading Club were formed with donated books. In 1939, the WPA, with the Perry Kiwanis Club as a sponsor, formed a public library which was housed in the basement of the county courthouse. In 1972, the library had a new building with 23,000 books, 40 magazines, 4000 regular members and a circulation of 5000 books a month. In 2015, a major renovation and expansion increased the overall size to 14,152 square feet.

Branches

Library systems in neighboring counties

Middle Georgia Regional Library System The Middle Georgia Regional Library System is a library system which serves the counties of Bibb, Crawford, Jones, Macon, Twiggs and Wilkinson in the U.S. state of Georgia. Patrons receive a PINES library card. This may be used at any of the 2 ...

to the north *

Ocmulgee Regional Library System The Ocmulgee Regional Library System (ORLS) is a public library system in the U.S. state of Georgia serving Dodge, Bleckley, Pulaski, Telfair, Wheeler, Wilcox counties. The headquarters of the system is the Murrell Memorial Library, which is lo ...

to the south east *

Lake Blackshear Regional Library System The Lake Blackshear Regional Library System (LBRLS) is a public library system covering the four counties of Sumter, Crisp, Dooly, Schley, Georgia, United States. The Lake Blackshear Headquarters Library is located in Americus. The system is ...

to the southwest * Peach Public Libraries to the west

References

External links

PINES catalogGeorgia Download DestinationStatistics about Georgia libraries
{{authority control County library systems in Georgia (U.S. state) Public libraries in Georgia (U.S. state)