Peach Public Libraries

Peach Public Libraries
Location Peach County, Georgia
Coordinates 32°33′3.96″N 83°53′0.89″W / 32.5511000°N 83.8835806°W / 32.5511000; -83.8835806Coordinates: 32°33′3.96″N 83°53′0.89″W / 32.5511000°N 83.8835806°W / 32.5511000; -83.8835806
Collection
Size 98,369 (2016)[1]
Access and use
Circulation 48,073 (2016)[1]
Population served 27,313 (2016)[1]
Members 8,209 (2016)[1]
Other information
Director Billy Tripp
Website http://www.peach.public.lib.ga.us/

The Peach Public Libraries are a consortium of two public libraries in central Georgia serving Peach County. The headquarters of the library is the Thomas Public Library located in Fort Valley, Georgia.

PPL 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 first library in Peach County began in 1878 in Fort Valley which "housed 2500 volumes of choice and well-selected reading matter. Eight first-class daily papers, numerous weeklies and several standard magazines."[5] While impressive for its time period, no other information about this initial library exists today.

The central branch today, the Thomas Public Library, was founded on September 15, 1915 at a member called by the president of the History Club. By the end of the meeting the Fort Valley Library Association was formed from a donation by Dr. and Mrs. E. G. Thomas who at the time were lending their 500 volume collection to friends and patients in the town. The Library Association sought to rent the Evans building in town to store the books, and by September 23 had moved over to the new building.[5] The library was initially funded by small $1 per month donations by seventeen citizens of the town, as well as by a $25 per month donation from the Presbyterian church in town.

By 1920 the library was growing at a faster pace than the Association could manage. To help lighten the load a board of trustees was set up in the mid 1920s and a Library Auxiliary was formed by the women members of the library. By the mid 1930s the collection had grown at over seven thousand volumes and the building at the time proved to be inadequate. The library moved to the recently constructed courthouse in order to fit all their materials.[5]

In 1936 with help from the Works Progress Administration Byron, Georgia opened up their own branch under the supervision of the Thomas Public Library. Upon the end of the WPA this library joined the Thomas Public Library to create the first iteration of the Peach Public Library system. A third library joined the system in 1961 on South Macon Street but by 1969 was severely damaged by a fire necessitating the construction of a new building.[5]

On April 16, 1972 the new Thomas Library was formally dedicated to the county. Due to the aftermath of the fire over $37,000 in funds were raised by the townspeople. The county governance provided $80,000 and a lot for the building and additional donations were made by the Governor Lester Maddox for $25,000, and the city government for $35,000.[5] This library serves a population of over 27,000 people today in Peach County.

Branches

The library system has two branches. The Thomas Public Library is the central branch, located at 315 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Fort Valley. There is one branch library, the Byron Public Library located at 105 Church Street, Byron, Georgia.

Library systems in neighboring counties

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Current Look at Georgia Libraries 2016" (PDF). Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  2. ↑ "PINES - About". Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  3. ↑ "PINES Facts" (PDF). Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  4. ↑ "GALILEO - About". Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Chapter, Treutlen (1972). History of Peach County Georgia. Atlanta, Georgia: Cherokee Publishing Company. pp. 132–134. ISBN 0-87797-023-8.
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