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Collins Avenue Historic DistrictCollins Avenue Historic District · Photo: Nilesrob · CC BY-SA 4.0
North Cobb Regional Library · part of Cobb County Public Library System

Acworth’s library is a branch of Cobb County Public Library System, which lends less per resident than 68% of systems its size

Acworth’s library is the North Cobb Regional Library, a branch of Cobb County Public Library System, which serves 783,536 people and lent 2.9M items last year.

3535 Old 41 Highway, Kennesaw 30144 · about 51 hours a week
CCivic lifeAhead of 33% of U.S. towns · #57 of 222 in Georgia. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
2.9M
3.7 per resident
Visits a year
1.4M
1.8 per resident · Below typical (2.1)
Programs & events
6,271
about 121 a week · 143K attended
Cardholders
53%
418,304 cards
Open
51 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about North Cobb Regional Library

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Acworth’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Acworth is ahead of 33% of U.S. towns, #57 of 222 in Georgia. Acworth is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.

C
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Acworth’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 33%
FewerMore
Georgia towns we grade (222)Ahead of 75%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $63K–$104K (8,872)Ahead of 32%

Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($63K–$104K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.

Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →

Places to belong

70 community nonprofits are registered in Acworth

3.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture40.19 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation120.52 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans70.30 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services160.69 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education130.58 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health40.16 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals40.17 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other120.52 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (26 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.

Volunteering

7.1%

7.1% of Acworth’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 4.9% in the typical Georgia town and 7.5% nationally.

Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Acworth’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 1.8 visits · typical 2.1Lower than 63%
Borrowing per resident 2.3 print items · typical 3.2Lower than 68%
Digital borrowing 1.4 e-items · typical 1.4Higher than 52%
Kids’ borrowing 1.3 kids’ items · typical 1.6Lower than 59%
Program attendance 0.2 attendees · typical 0.2Lower than 59%
Programs offered 8 per 1,000 residents · typical 9Lower than 60%
Cardholders 53% of residents · typical 41%Higher than 73%
Spending $24 per resident · typical $36Lower than 70%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Cobb County Public Library System serves 783,536 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 81 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Cobb County Public Library System system. The library’s own count.

1.4M
visits
1.8 per resident
2.9M
loans, print + digital
3.7 per resident
6,271
programs & events
143K attended
418K
library cards
53% of people served
Every open hour81items borrowed
Every week2,760people at a program
Every day359Wi-Fi sessions
194 staff (full-time equivalent)424 public computers
What people borrow

More than half the print loans are kids’ books

2.9M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

2.9Mloans
Books & media (adults) 26%Kids’ books & media 35%E-books, audio & streaming 38%
From your couch

1,125,221 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

About 74 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Acworth →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–52,356
Ages 6–111,486
Teens568
Adults1,861
All ages0
Little ones
45.3

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

1M
kids’ books & media borrowed
143K
people at programs
6,271
programs
The building

Find it

North Cobb Regional Library, 3535 Old 41 Highway, Kennesaw.

51
hours open a week
26,000
square feet
With a card

No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Cobb County Public Library System branch.

New in Acworth? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.31 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Acworth cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$204
a year at retail prices · $17 a month

Who pays for it
$24 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $19M.

Local taxes 88%State 10%Federal 0%Gifts & other 2%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $44M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $19M budget.

Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.

Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 418,304 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
AcworthNorth Cobb Regional Library fine-free—51C
KennesawNone of its own——C

Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. North Cobb Regional Library is one branch of Cobb County Public Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 783,536 people it serves.

Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →

Questions about the library and civic life in Acworth

Does Acworth have a public library?

Yes: North Cobb Regional Library, 3535 Old 41 Highway, is a branch of Cobb County Public Library System, which serves 783,536 people. The branch is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Cobb County Public Library System fine-free? Does it lend e-books?

Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).

How busy is Acworth’s library?

It logged 1.8 visits and lent 3.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.

What is Acworth’s civic life grade?

C Acworth is ahead of 33% of U.S. towns on civic life, #57 of 222 in Georgia. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

Book talk

Reading, story times and the library in Acworth.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.