Ocmulgee Regional Library System

The Ocmulgee Regional Library System (ORLS) is a public library system in the U.S. state of Georgia serving Dodge, Bleckley, Pulaski, Telfair, Wheeler, Wilcox counties. The headquarters of the system is the Murrell Memorial Library, which is located in Eastman, Georgia|Eastman.

Ocmulgee Regional Library System
The Wilcox County Library
LocationSouth-Central Georgia
Branches6
Collection
Size132,278 (2016)[1]
Access and use
Circulation90,627 (2016)[1]
Population served79,032 (2016)[1]
Members16,786 (2016)[1]
Other information
DirectorAnne Bowen
Websitehttp://orls.org/

ORLS is a member of PINES, a program of the Georgia Public Library Service that covers 53 library systems in 143 counties of Georgia.[2] Any resident in a PINES supported library system has access to the system's collection of 10.6 million books.[3] 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.[4]

History

The oldest branch created in the current Ocmulgee Regional Library System area was the M. E. Roden Library in Pulaski County. This library began in 1878 when "a petition for the charter for the incorporation of our Public Library and Literacy Society was signed by prominent citizens"[5] and was run until 1897 closing due to inactivity. By 1910 the Uplift Club in Pulaski organized a new library and the Works Progress Administration aided in its growth in the 1930s.[5]

In 1936 the WPA also helped begin libraries in Bleckley and Wilcox County. The Wilcox Library was operated out of several different county buildings before moving to the county courthouse in 1983 after renovations made a library space possible.[6] In 1986 the Bleckley County Library moved to downtown Cochran into a new dedicated building and was named the Tessie W. Norris Library.[7]

In 1940 with sponsorship from the local P.T.A. the Telfair County Library was established with 200 books borrowed from the Georgia Library Commission. By 1943 a library board was created to relieve the P.T.A. of their sponsorship. The first home for the library was the McRae-Helena School, which was later moved to a log cabin near the courthouse. On May 15, 1955 Telfair and Dodge counties decided to combine their resources and formed the Dodge-Telfair Regional Library. When Bleckley County joined in the 1960s the name was changed to the Ocmulgee Regional Library System. The Telfair library moved to the Civic Memorial Center in 1976 and shortly thereafter was granted full ownership of the property for library use.[8]

The most recent library to join the system is the Wheeler County Library in July 2000. By 2004 the county constructed a new facility for the collection, opening a new history and genealogy room for residents of the library system.[9]

Branches
NameAddress
M. E. Roden Memorial Library400 Commerce Street, Hawkinsville, GA 31036
Murrell Memorial Library531 Second Avenue, Eastman, GA 31023
Telfair County Library101 West College Street, McRae, GA 31055
Tessie W. Norris/Cochran-Bleckley County Library315 Third Street, Cochran, GA 31014
Wheeler County Library61 West Main Street, Alamo, GA 30411
Wilcox County Library104 North Broad, Abbeville, GA 31004

Library systems in neighboring counties

References
  1. "Current Look at Georgia Libraries 2016" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  2. "PINES - About". Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  3. "PINES Facts" (PDF). Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  4. "GALILEO - About". Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  5. "M.E. Roden Library History". ORLS. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  6. "Wilcox Library History". ORLS. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  7. "Bleckley County Library History". ORLS. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  8. "Telfair Library History". ORLS. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  9. "Wheeler County Library History". ORLS. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
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