Middle Georgia Regional Library System

Middle Georgia Regional Library System
The old Carnegie library located in Montezuma, Macon County
LocationCentral Georgia
Established1949
Branches14
Collection
Size594,540 (2016)[1]
Access and use
Circulation864,669 (2016)[1]
Population served229,412 (2016)[1]
Members84,478 (2016)[1]
Other information
DirectorJennifer Lautzenheiser
Websitehttp://www.bibblib.org/

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 275 libraries affiliated with the program across Georgia, as well as the 14 branches in the Middle Georgia Regional Library System, and is open to all Georgian residents.[2][3]

History

Carnegie Library

The first request for a Carnegie library was sent by a Montezuma citizen by the name of E. B. Lewis in 1906. Blueprints sent along with the petition were modeled very similarly to the Carnegie building constructed one year earlier in Albany.[4] On March 24, 1906, Andrew Carnegie accepted the request and gave the town of Montezuma $10,000 for construction of the building. This came with the stipulation that the town pay an upkeep and maintenance fee of $1,000 per year to keep the building in good condition.[5] Construction began later that year with help from Masons across Georgia.[6] By 1923 this library was seeing circulation of 12,453 books per year, and the $1,000 annual cost of upkeep was still being administered per Carnegie's request.[7]

Branches

Bibb branches

  • Washington Memorial Library, Macon
  • Riverside Branch, Macon
  • Charles A. Lanford, M.D. Library, Macon
  • Shurling Branch, Macon
  • West Bibb Branch, Macon (closed)
  • Bloomfield Library, Macon

Regional branches

  • Crawford County Public Library (Roberta, Crawford County)
  • Jones County Public Library (Gray, Jones County)
  • Ideal Public Library (Ideal, Macon County)
  • Marshallville Public Library (Marshallville, Macon County)
  • Montezuma Public Library (Montezuma, Macon County)
  • Oglethorpe Public Library (Oglethorpe, Macon County)
  • Twiggs County Public Library (Jefferson, Twiggs County)
  • East Wilkinson County Public Library (Irwinton, Wilkinson County)
  • Gordon Public Library (Gordon, Wilkinson County)

Library systems in neighboring counties

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Current Look at Georgia Libraries 2016" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  2. ^ "Catalog Search". Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  3. ^ "LIBRARY CARDS & RULES". Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  4. ^ Walker, Jr, Robert Burke (1994). Georgia's Carnegie Libraries: A study of their History, Their Existing Conditions, and Conservation (PDF). Athens, Georgia. pp. 60–62. Retrieved 11 May 2017.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ Jones, Theodore (1997). Carnegie Libraries Across America. New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-14422-3.
  6. ^ "Corner Stone at Montezuma: Meyerhart Lays Corner Stone at $10,000 Carnegie Library". Vol. XXXIX, no. 237. The Atlanta Constitution. February 7, 1907. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  7. ^ "Montezuma Library Has Successful Year". Vol. LV, no. 213. The Atlanta Constitution. January 12, 1923. Retrieved 12 May 2017.