Bartow County Library System

The Bartow County Library System (BCLS) is the public library system of Bartow County, Georgia. It consists of three branches serving a population of 103,000 people. The main branch is located in Cartersville, Georgia while supplementary branches are present in Adairsville and Euharlee.

Bartow County Library System
Established1981
LocationBartow County, Georgia
Branches3
Collection
Size177,978 (2017)[1]
Access and use
Circulation422,308 (2017)[1]
Population served105,603 (2017)[1]
Members60,706 (2017)[1]
Other information
DirectorCarmen Sims
Staff10[2]
Websitehttp://www.bartowlibraryonline.org/
Map

BCLS's vision is to be recognized as a significant educational, cultural, recreational, and economic asset as well as a comprehensive and varied community learning resource for the county.[3] With the addition of the supplementary branches opening within the last decade the library has seen a large increase in card holders, with an increase in membership of nearly 12% of the county population in the last two years alone.[1]

History

The Bartow County Library System had its beginnings in 1896 as a library organization started by the Cherokee Women's Club of Bartow County. In 1903 a building was funded and constructed to be used as the library, and was located on Public Square. This first library was named the Mary Munford Memorial Library of the Cherokee Club after its first library chairman who passed away while the library was being built.[4]

In 1932 the library was made public to the citizens of Cartersville.[4]

By the 1960s the Mary Munford library was falling into disrepair. The town acquired the ownership of the library and a new board took over the day-to-day running of the library. During this time the library joined a consortium with two other counties to create the Tri-County Library system. This consortium included Bartow County, Floyd County, and Polk County.[4]

In 1980 the town took complete control over the library building and erected their new courthouse on the property. The library moved to its current location on West Main Street in Cartersville, and in the following year left the Tri-County Library System.[4]

In 2004 the library began its first expansion in an effort to rapidly increase the floor space from 17,333 square feet to 44,455 square feet. This was done in the interest of helping the community at a greater capacity. During this time two more locations were established; Adairsville, Georgia, and Euharlee, Georgia in 2009.[5][4]

Branches
Cartersville Public Library
NameAddress
Adairsville Public Library202 North Main Street Adairsville, GA 30103
Cartersville Public Library429 West Main Street Cartersville, GA 30120
Emmie Nelson Public Library116 Covered Bridge Road Euharlee, GA 30120

Library systems in neighboring counties

References
  1. "Current Look at Georgia Libraries 2017" (PDF). Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  2. "Bartow County Library System". Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  3. "Emmie Nelson Public Library". Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  4. "Cartersville Library-Bartow County Library System -Georgia". Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  5. "Bartow County Library System - City of Cartersville". Archived from the original on 3 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.