The Newton County Library System (NCLS) is a consortium of two

public libraries 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 servants. There are five fundament ...

Newton County, Georgia Newton County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 112,483. The county seat is Covington. Newton County is included in the ''Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, G ...

, United States. The system has libraries in

Covington Covington may refer to: People * Covington (surname) Places United Kingdom * Covington, Cambridgeshire * Covington, South Lanarkshire United States * Covington, Georgia * Covington, Indiana * Covington, Kentucky, the largest American cit ...

. NCLS 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 over 10.6 million books in the system's circulation. 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

Early history

The Newton County Library System began in 1916 as a public library service offered by the Covington Womans Club and housed in their own building. This is the only known library in the county during this time until 1944, when plans were made for an official public library to be used by the town. This library was opened and served out of the basement of the Newton County Courthouse. According t
The History of Newton County
the "official" free public library opened to the public in 1944. The beginnings of the public library was assembled in the basement of the Newton County Courthouse. The library eventually migrated to th
Covington Gymnasium
located on Conyers Street.

DeKalb Regional Library System

In 1953 Newton County joined DeKalb and Rockdale counties to make a three-county library system then called the DeKalb Regional Library System. Working as a consortium, rather than independently, these three growing counties allowed their residents a much wider circulation of volumes, which helped increase interest in each town's local library. Due to increased interest, the Newton branch moved out of the county courthouse and into the Covington Gymnasium to increase the amount of space available for books. By 1978 space was no longer an issue, as the James H. Porter Foundation funded the renovation of the local post office into the Porter Memorial Library. After a few decades of growth, the individual counties in the DeKalb Regional Library System were able to become self-sufficient. The consortium was dissolved in 1989 and led to the formation of the individual county systems which stand today.

Present day

In 2000 the NCLS joined PINES, a state-wide consortium of public libraries working towards the goal of providing easier access to books for Georgians.

Branches

Library systems in neighboring counties

* Azalea Regional Library System to the east *

Flint River Regional Library System The Flint River Regional Library System (FRRLS) is a collection of nine public libraries in the Atlanta metropolitan area of Georgia. The library serves the residents of the following six counties: Butts, Fayette, Lamar, Monroe, Pike, and S ...

to the south *

Henry County Library System The Henry County Library System (HCLS) is a public library system consisting of five branches in Henry County, Georgia. The five branches are located in the towns of Stockbridge, Hampton, Locust Grove, and McDonough. HCLS is a member of PINE ...

to the west *

Conyers-Rockdale Library System The Conyers-Rockdale Library System (CRLS) is a public library located in Rockdale County, Georgia. It is home to one branch on Green Street, Conyers, Georgia, the Nancy Guinn Memorial Library. Conyers-Rockdale Library System is a member of PINES ...

to the northwest

References

External links

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