The Houston County Public Library is a single county

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending 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 servic ...

system that serves the county of

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, United States. The headquarters of the library is the Perry Branch, located in

Perry Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England (particularly Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire), parts of South Wales, France (especially Normandy and Anjou), Canada, Austral ...

. The system was formed in 1974. The library system 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. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as ...

, a program of the Georgia Public Library Service that covers 51 library systems in 143 counties in 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 The University System of Georgia (USG) is the government agency that includes 26 public institutions of higher learning in the U.S. state of Georgia. The system is governed by the Georgia Board of Regents. It sets goals and dictates gener ...

which stands for "

Georgia Library Learning Online Georgia Library Learning Online, more commonly known as GALILEO, is a virtual library operated by the University System of Georgia. There are over 100 core databases available, offering full text access to journals, magazines, e-books, government ...

". 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. Downloadable e-books and e-audios are available through Georgia Download Destination (GADD).

Nola Brantley Memorial Library

The Nola Brantley Memorial Library is the largest of the three branches in the system, at 23,000 square feet. It was originally formed as the Warner Robins Library in 1948 by private donations, and became part of the City of Warner Robins government in 1953. The current building was built in 1976. In 1980, the library board voted to change the library's name to the Nola Brantley Memorial Library. Prior to coming to Warner Robins, Brantley, a Laurens County native, taught in Laurens, Bleckley, Webster and Meriwether counties. She was the chair of the first committee to explore library services in Warner Robins in 1948. She was the principal of the Charles E. Thomas II school (formerly the Warner Robins Elementary School) in Warner Robins from 1944 until 1969. She had worked in the field of education for 46 years. The library received an 8,000 square foot addition in 2001. In 2013 the library received a $1.9 million renovation that considerably updated the facility and added "an expanded local history room, teen area, more than 84,500 items for checkout, 32 public computers and an additional 5,000 square feet of library space."

Centerville Branch

The Centerville Branch is the newest branch, at 16,000 square feet. This is the busiest of the three locations, and began in 1964 with private donations. It was formerly housed in a shopping center and Centerville City Hall. The current location was built in 2010.

Perry Branch

The Perry Branch started in 1879 when the Perry Public Library and the Perry Reading Club were formed with donated books. In 1939, the WPA, with the Perry

Kiwanis Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and is found in more than 80 nations and geographic areas. In 1987, the organization ...

Club as a sponsor, formed a public library which was housed in the basement of the county courthouse. In 1972, the library had a new building with 23,000 books, 40 magazines, 4000 regular members and a circulation of 5000 books a month. In 2015, a major renovation and expansion increased the overall size to 14,152 square feet.

Branches

Library systems in neighboring counties

* Middle Georgia Regional Library System to the north * Ocmulgee Regional Library System to the south east * Lake Blackshear Regional Library System to the southwest * Peach Public Libraries to the west

References

External links

PINES catalogGeorgia Download DestinationStatistics about Georgia libraries
{{authority control County library systems in Georgia (U.S. state) Public libraries in Georgia (U.S. state)