Fitzgerald-Ben Hill County Library

Fitzgerald-Ben Hill County Library
Established 1915
Location Ben Hill County, Georgia
Coordinates 31°42′56″N 83°15′13″W / 31.71556°N 83.25361°W / 31.71556; -83.25361Coordinates: 31°42′56″N 83°15′13″W / 31.71556°N 83.25361°W / 31.71556; -83.25361
Branches 1
Collection
Size 74,449 (2016)[1]
Access and use
Circulation 47,251 (2016)[1]
Population served 17,780 (2016)[1]
Members 7,470 (2016)[1]
Other information
Director Martha F. Powers-Jones
Website http://www.fitzgeraldbenhillcountylibrary.org/

The Fitzgerald-Ben Hill County Library is a single branch public library system serving the county of Ben Hill County, Georgia.

The library is a member of PINES, a program of the Georgia Public Library Service that covers 53 library systems in 143 counties of Georgia.[2] Any resident in a PINES supported library system has access to the system's collection of 10.6 million books.[3] 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.[4]

History

The original Carnegie Library, now used as a community center.

In 1915 the Woman's Club of Fitzgerald contacted American industrialist Andrew Carnegie to secure a grant for the construction of a library to serve the town. This Carnegie library was formally dedicated on March 1, 1915 with a collection size of just over 2,000 books.[5][6]

In 1918 use of the library was extended to all of the residents of Ben Hill County. The Works Progress Administration in 1944 organized a bookmobile to be used by Ben Hill and neighboring Irwin County, Georgia, which both groups made use of until 1947 when Irwin ended the agreement. The American Legion in 1951 funded and gifted to the library a new bookmobile for public use.[6]

The current library building was constructed to replace the old Carnegie library which for years was running out of space. Opening in 1983 the Fitzgerald-Ben Gill County Library opened nearby on North Main Street and members of the public helped to create a brigade line to pass books from the old library to the new.[1]

Library systems in neighboring counties

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Current Look at Georgia Libraries 2016" (PDF). Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  2. ↑ "PINES - About". Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  3. ↑ "PINES Facts" (PDF). Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  4. ↑ "GALILEO - About". Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  5. ↑ "Carnegie Library in Fitzgerald" (Vol. XLVIII No. 152). Atlanta, Georgia: The Atlanta Constitution. November 14, 1915. p. 8. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Fitzgerald Library - Our History". Retrieved 12 April 2017.
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