Lee County Library (Georgia)

The Lee County Library (LCL) is a public library system in Southwest Georgia, United States, located in Lee County. There are four branches associated with the system, with the Leesburg library serving as the central headquarters.

Lee County Library
LocationLee County, Georgia, United States
Branches4
Collection
Size111,601 (2016)[1]
Access and use
Circulation231,701 (2016)[1]
Population served30,634 (2016)[1]
Members13,605 (2016)[1]
Other information
DirectorClaire Leavy
Websitehttps://www.leecountylibrary.org/

LCL 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]

The Lee County Library won the 2015 Library of the Year award presented by the Georgia Public Library Service.[5][6]

History

Lee County was originally a part of the Kinchafoonee Regional Library System, joining the neighboring system through the outreach of the public schools superintendent in 1954. Joining the Kinchafoonee System had additional perks of the use of a bookmobile, and the expansion of a county-wide library collection available for inter-library loan. In 1961 the Town and County Club of Leesburg, a civic and cultural club for women, sponsored the Leesburg Branch of the Lee County Library. It was housed in two rooms from the Georgia Railroad Depot and supplied with books from the regional library system, State Board of Education, and county government.[7]

The Smithville library began planning in 1977 and officially opened in 1979 in the town's old depot. The Smithville Community Development Group raised the funds required for the construction of the building and further secured the library as a branch of the Kinchafoonee Regional Library System.[7]

In 1995 Lee County decided to leave the Kinchafoonee system and create its own single-county public library system.[8]

Branches
NameAddress
Leesburg Library245 Walnut Avenue, South, Leesburg, GA 31763
Oakland Library445 Oakland Parkway West, Leesburg, GA 31763
Redbone Library104 Thundering Springs Road, Leesburg, GA 31763
Smithville Library116 Main Street, Smithville, GA 31787

Library systems in neighboring counties

References
  1. "Current Look at Georgia Libraries 2016" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  2. "PINES - About". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  3. "PINES Facts" (PDF). Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  4. "GALILEO - About". Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  5. Staff Reports (January 9, 2016). "Lee Library named state's best". Albany Herald. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  6. Colby, Cari (January 14, 2016). "Inaugural Georgia Public Library Awards Honor Lee County library, Schaefer and Ash as Library, Librarian and Champion of the Year". Sylvester Local News. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  7. Lee County, Georgia: A History (First ed.). Atlanta, Georgia: WH Wolfe Associates. 1983. pp. 134–136.
  8. Phillips, Abigail Leigh (August 18, 2014). "Systematic Marketing Facilitates Optimal Customer Service: The Marketing Audit of a Rural Public Library System". Public Library Quarterly. 33 (3): 219–235. doi:10.1080/01616846.2014.937212.
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