The Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library System (GCHRL) is a consortium of eight

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 ...

working together to serve the populations of Columbia,

Burke Burke is an Anglo-Norman Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (–1206) had the surname ''de Burgh'' which was gaelicised ...

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

, and

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...

counties in east

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 ...

. GCHRL is a member of

PINES A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

, a program of the

Georgia Public Library Service The Georgia Public Library Service (GPLS) is the state agency for libraries in the U.S. State of Georgia and a unit of the University System of Georgia. The service was initially founded in 1996 after the inception of the Library Services and Tec ...

that covers 53 library systems in 143 counties of Georgia. Any resident in a PINES supported library system has access to the system's collection of 10.6 million books. 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.

History

The Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library System was established in 2013 when Warren, Columbia, and Lincoln counties left the now-defunct East Central Georgia Regional Library System headquartered in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...

. The reason for the move was due to a change in director in 2012 at the central Augusta-Richmond library. In 2014 Burke County also broke from the East Central Georgia system and joined the GCHRL due to similar issues with the director of the Augusta library. They also cited a lack of funding to their library while in the old system, and expensive dues required to keep their affiliation. On May 1, 2017, the Harlem Branch Library reopened after renovation to 14,000 feet. The project cost $3.3 million, which was largely raised through a state capital projects grant and a local SPLOST campaign. On Tuesday, February 26, 2019, the groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new Grovetown Library to replace the existing Euchee Creek location. Euchee Creek Library closed to move to their new location on March 9, 2020. The Grovetown Library opened on a limited basis as of July 20, 2020.

Branches

Library systems in neighboring counties

Elbert County Public Library The Elbert County Public Library (ECPL) is a public library system made up of two branches serving the population of Elbert County, Georgia. ECPL is a member of PINES, a program of the Georgia Public Library Service that covers 53 library systems ...

to the north. *

Bartram Trail Regional Library System The Bartram Trail Regional Library System (BTRLS) is a public library system serving the counties of Wilkes, McDuffie, and Taliaferro, Georgia, United States. The central library is the Mary Willis Library, a historic library built in 1888 out ...

to the west. *

Azalea Regional Library System The Azalea Regional Library System (AZRLS) is a collection of ten public libraries located partially in the Atlanta metropolitan area and Central Georgia. It is headquartered in Madison, Georgia and serves the counties of Greene, Hancock, Jasper, ...

to the west. * Oconee Regional Library System to the west. *

Jefferson County Library System The Jefferson County Library System (JCLS) is a public library system in Jefferson County, Georgia, United States. The system consists of three libraries, with headquarters in Louisville. JCLS is a member of PINES, a program of the Georgia Publi ...

to the west. * Statesboro Regional Public Libraries to the south. *

Screven-Jenkins Regional Library System The Screven-Jenkins Regional Library System (SJRL) is a two county public library system serving the counties of Screven County, Georgia, Screven and Jenkins County, Georgia, Jenkins Georgia (U.S. State), Georgia. SJRL is a member of Public Infor ...

to the south. *

Augusta-Richmond County Public Library System The Augusta-Richmond County Public Library System is a public library system consisting of six branches serving the county of Richmond, Georgia,United States. The headquarters for the library system is the Augusta-Richmond County Public Library lo ...

between all districts.

References

External links

Official WebsitePINES Catalog
{{authority control County library systems in Georgia (U.S. state) Public libraries in Georgia (U.S. state)