The Northeast Georgia Regional Library System (NEGRLS) is a collection of seven

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 ...

in the counties of Habersham,

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

Rabun ''Rabun'' is a 2003 Malaysian drama film directed by Yasmin Ahmad. It tells a story about a free-spirited older couple, Pak Atan and Mak Inom who decide to spend more time in the country after getting tired of city life. But they find that life ...

, and

Stephens Stephens is a surname. It is a patronymic and is recorded in England from 1086. Notable people with the surname include: *Alexander H. Stephens (1812–1883), Vice President of the Confederate States of America *Alison Stephens (1970–2010), Brit ...

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 ...

, United States. NEGRLS 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 over 10.6 million books in the system's circulation. 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

Clarkesville Library

The origins of the Northeast Georgia Regional Library System began with the Clarkesville Library established in 1928. This library, as well as its sister county library (the Cornelia branch), joined alongside the Stephens County Library Program to create the Habersham-Stephens Regional Library System in 1944. The Clarkesville library served as the regional headquarters for the system from 1928 until 2009, when it was replaced by the general NEGRLS processing center.

Stephens County Library

The next library created in the current region was the Toccoa-Stephens County Library. It was established by 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 first sponsored by the Toccoa Woman's Club on May 1, 1937. Initially the library was housed in a section of the local high school until it was moved after one year into space made available in the Woman's clubhouse. The Kiwanis Club and United Daughters of the Confederacy, as well as the Stephens County Commissioners also offered monetary support to the library in 1938, and by 1939 the WPA withdrew its involvement. During the 1940s the library was officially designated the Toccoa-Stephens County Public Library, and in the next three years moved to three different buildings before settling down in city hall until 1956. At this point the Woman's Club offered their clubhouse as a permanent space for the library as a gift to the city which was accepted. The library joined the greater Northeast Georgia system in 1966. During this time space became limited in the old Woman's clubhouse and a new building was conceived. Dedicated in May 1970 the new $240,000 library more than doubled the space of the old library. Another addition in 1988 doubled the floor space of the library again.

White County

The White County library joined in 1951, and with the introduction of White County the name of the library system was changed to its present form. In 1956 Rabun County joined the system, and a decade later, in 1966, the City of Toccoa joined. The current system has been made up of the same libraries since these last two additions.

Branches

Library systems in neighboring counties

* Mountain Regional Library System to the east * Chestatee Regional Library System to the east * Hall County Library System to the south east *

Piedmont Regional Library System The Piedmont Regional Library System (PRLS) is a consortium of ten public libraries serving the counties of Banks, Barrow, and Jackson, Georgia, United States. PRLS is a member of PINES, a program of the Georgia Public Library Service that cover ...

to the south *

Athens Regional Library System The Athens Regional Library System (ARLS) is a consortium of 11 public libraries across five counties, comprising the Athens – Clarke County metropolitan area as well as Franklin County in northeast Georgia, United States. The ARLS is a member ...

to the south

References

External links

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