The Chattahoochee Valley Libraries (CVL) are a consortium of

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 fundamenta ...

serving the Greater Columbus area of Georgia, United States. The library system consists of seven branches over four counties,

Muscogee The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsChattahoochee The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the con ...

Marion Marion may refer to: People *Marion (given name) *Marion (surname) *Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion" *Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992) Places Antarctica * Mario ...

, and Stewart,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. The headquarters of the library system is the Columbus Public Library located in the county seat,

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

. The Chattahoochee Valley Libraries run their own

interlibrary loan Interlibrary loan (abbreviated ILL, and sometimes called interloan, interlending, document delivery, document supply, or interlibrary services, abbreviated ILS) is a service where patrons of one library can borrow materials and receive photocopies ...

system throughout the four counties. Residents of any county covered in the system may apply for a card granting them access to the circulation's 412,000 book collection.

History

History of a library in Columbus, Georgia reaches back to 1832 when the '' Columbus Enquirer'' stated, "We have three churches, a theatre, a book store, and a circulating library." This is the earliest known library in the region until after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, in 1881, when the book and music clubs of the city merged to established the Columbus Public Library. The next phase of the library was concerned with the construction of a dedicated building to house the collection. In 1902 Nina Holstead, a Columbus native, petitioned

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

for funds to erect a library downtown. Carnegie offered $30,000 for the building under the condition the city of Columbus pay for the maintenance costs, which was to be 10% of the initial donation amount. The library was opened in a centrally located area of the city, known as Mott's Green, on October 15, 1907. This location was used until 1950 with the construction of the William C. Bradley Memorial Library which was created to house the library collection which no longer fit in the original Carnegie building. Today the Carnegie library is used as office space.

Black library use

In 1910, despite the black population making up more than 37% of the overall population of Columbus, segregation laws made the Carnegie library use restricted to whites only. Blacks in Columbus had access to private collections of books from prominent black citizens in the county, but didn't have access to a public library until 1938 when the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

and Columbus Public Library began a summer reading program open to both white and black students. The black community showed a lot of interest in public library use after the WPA withdrew in 1941, and the Columbus Public Library opened a "Negro-only" branch called the Spencer High School Library in 1944. Due to intense interest and subsequent overcrowding more libraries were made to serve the black community. The Booker Washington branch was opened in 1952 and in 1953 the Fourth Avenue Branch Library opened as well.

Branches

Library systems in neighboring counties

* Troup-Harris Regional Library to the north * Pine Mountain Regional Library System to the northeast *

Lake Blackshear Regional Library System The Lake Blackshear Regional Library System (LBRLS) is a public library system covering the four counties of Sumter, Crisp, Dooly, Schley, Georgia, United States. The Lake Blackshear Headquarters Library is located in Americus. The system i ...

to the east *

Kinchafoonee Regional Library System The Kinchafoonee Regional Library System (KRLS) is a public library system serving the counties of Calhoun, Clay, Quitman, Randolph, Terrell, and Webster, in the state of Georgia. The headquarters of the library system is the Terrell County Pu ...

to the south

References

External links

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