librarysystems

West Georgia Regional Library

Carrollton, GeorgiaMulti-jurisdictional libraryDistant townFiscal year July 2023 to June 2024

West Georgia Regional Library is a multi-jurisdictional public library system based in Carrollton (Carroll County), Georgia, serving a legal service area of 510,050 residents through 20 library buildings and one bookmobile. Among the 60 profiled systems in Georgia, it ranks third for number of library buildings, fifth for population served, sixth for total visits and sixth for physical checkouts.

Among profiled systems serving 500,000 to 999,999 residents, it records the seventh-smallest decline in physical checkouts since FY 2019 and the eighth-smallest decline in visits since FY 2019, but ranks fourth-lowest for operating spending per resident and sixth-lowest for the electronic share of checkouts. Against the median system of its size class, it records 48% fewer paid staff per resident and 47% fewer physical checkouts per resident.

Compare with similar-size systemsSystems serving 500,000 to 999,999

West Georgia Regional against the 61 systems of its size class

size-class median (50th percentile) · spine height = percentile within the class1.34Visitsper resident19th percentile2.06Checkoutsper resident19th percentile$16.52Spendingper resident6th percentile1.04Print volumesper resident45th percentile208Program visitsper 1,000 people57th percentile7.1Computersper 10,000 people57th percentile37.3Open hoursper outlet a week21st percentile2.1Staff (FTE)per 10,000 people14th percentile
Gold tick: size-class medianVisits per resident1.3419th pct.Checkouts per resident2.0619th pct.Spending per resident$16.526th pct.Print volumes per resident1.0445th pct.Program visits per 1,000 people20857th pct.Computers per 10,000 people7.157th pct.Open hours per outlet a week37.321st pct.Staff (FTE) per 10,000 people2.114th pct.

How the measures and percentiles are calculated

West Georgia Regional, building by building

The 20 buildings cover 191,696 square feet in total, 0.38 square feet per resident against a median of 0.45 for the size class. The largest building is Neva Lomason Memorial Library at 27,866 square feet; the smallest is Mt. Zion Public Library at 2,050. The longest hours are at Douglas County Public Library, 51.7 a week.

BuildingTypeTownHours a weekFloor area, sq ft
Neva Lomason Memorial LibraryCentral libraryCarrollton47.827,866
Betty C. Hagler/Lithia Springs Public LibraryBranchLithia Springs48.215,665
Buchanan-Haralson Public LibraryBranchBuchanan30.26,975
Centralhatchee Public LibraryBranchFranklin28.82,500
Crossroads Public LibraryBranchAcworth45.510,000
Dog River Public LibraryBranchDouglasville49.715,800
Douglas County Public LibraryBranchDouglasville51.721,000
Ephesus Public LibraryBranchRoopville30.26,100
Heard County Public LibraryBranchFranklin42.35,000
Maude P. Ragsdale Public LibraryBranchHiram49.15,000
Mt. Zion Public LibraryBranchCarrollton28.12,050
New Georgia Public LibraryBranchDallas45.45,000
Paulding County Public LibraryBranchDallas49.114,500
Regional OfficeBranchCarrollton–6,270
Ruth Holder Public LibraryBranchTemple42.72,500
Tallapoosa Public LibraryBranchTallapoosa35.76,400
Villa Rica Public LibraryBranchVilla Rica50.316,370
Warren P. Sewell Memorial Library-BowdonBranchBowdon40.37,500
Warren P. Sewell Memorial Library-BremenBranchBremen37.212,500
Whitesburg Public LibraryBranchWhitesburg31.92,700
Wgrls BookmobileBookmobileCarrolton–

A dash marks a value not reported for FY 2024.

West Georgia Regional in numbers, FY 2024

Visits
681,789
Physical checkouts
1,052,463
…of children's materials
593,079
Electronic checkouts
237,998
…of e-books
83,185
…of e-audio
131,719
Registered users
249,453
Program sessions
4,503
Program attendance
106,324
Print volumes
531,084
Audio items (physical)
24,745
Video items (physical)
57,153
Public computers
364
Public service hours, all outlets
40,770
Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
109.3
Operating spending
$8.4 million
…on books and other materials
$1.1 million
Overdue fines on print items
charged

Where West Georgia Regional gets its operating money

Operating revenue came to $8.6 million, or $16.94 per resident. The local-government share is close to the combined share for the 60 profiled systems in Georgia.

This system74%21%All profiled systems in Georgia76%18%
This system74%21%All profiled systems in Georgia76%18%
  • Local government
  • State
  • Federal
  • Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)

West Georgia Regional since FY 2019

Visits were 12% below the FY 2019 count of 774,855 (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 7% down over the same span.

FY 2019 = 100708090100110FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
FY 2019 = 100708090100110FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
  • Visits
  • Physical checkouts

Who comes to West Georgia Regional programs

Programs for children up to age 11 drew 57% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 24 people each.

Children 0–1160,446Young adults 12–185,131Adults 19+13,648General interest27,099
Children 0–1160,446Young adults 12–185,131Adults 19+13,648General interest27,099

Multi-jurisdictional libraries of similar size in other states

All six of these systems record more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Santa Clara County Library in California.

SystemBased inResidentsVisits per residentCheckouts per residentSpending per resident
Prince William Public LibrariesPrince William, VA525,4411.663.32$44.93
Great River Regional LibrarySt. Cloud, MN515,8552.194.53$19.03
Sonoma County LibraryRohnert Park, CA478,1522.985.72$87.04
Santa Clara County LibraryCampbell, CA456,3555.4017.73$147.69
Pioneer Library SystemNorman, OK422,0562.373.77$54.96
Solano County LibraryFairfield, CA420,3931.833.56$60.66

Nearest in size within Georgia

All profiled systems in Georgia