Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library System


The Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library System is a consortium of eight public libraries working together to serve the populations of Columbia, Burke, Lincoln, and Warren counties in east 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. The reason for the 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 to 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. 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