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Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library System
Location	Warren, Burke, Lincoln, and Columbia counties, Georgia
Established	2013
Branches	8
Collection
Size	291,278 (2016)
Access and use
Circulation	661,413 (2016)
Population served	181,970 (2016)
Members	65,581 (2016)
Other information
Director	Mary Lin Maner
Website	https://gchrl.org/

The Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library System (GCHRL) is a consortium of eight public libraries working together to serve the populations of Columbia, Burke, Lincoln, and Warren counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia.

GCHRL is a member of PINES, a program of the Georgia Public Library Service 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. This 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 for 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 to the north
• Bartram Trail Regional Library System to the west
• Azalea Regional Library System to the west
• Oconee Regional Library System to the west
• Jefferson County Library System to the west
• Statesboro Regional Public Libraries to the south
• Screven-Jenkins Regional Library System to the south
• Augusta-Richmond County Public Library System among all districts

References

1. ^ "Current Look at Georgia Libraries 2016" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
2. "PINES - About". Retrieved 8 April 2017.
3. "PINES Facts" (PDF). Retrieved 8 April 2017.
4. "GALILEO - About". Retrieved 8 April 2017.
5. Crawford, Steve (July 13, 2014). "Burke County joins Clarks Hill Regional Library System". The Columbia County News Times. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
6. Wesley, Brown (March 1, 2015). "Area libraries outside of Augusta benefit from split, formation of new library system". The Columbia County News Times. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
7. "Breaking new ground" (PDF). Georgia Public Library Service. GPLS News. June 2017. p. 6. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
8. "Grovetown, GA". City of Grovetown. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
9. "Grovetown Library". Facebook. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
10. "Grovetown Library Opening". Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library. Retrieved 30 July 2020.

External links

• Official website
• PINES catalog

• County library systems in Georgia (U.S. state)
• Public libraries in Georgia (U.S. state)