Henry Asbury House · Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Clarkesville’s library is a branch of Northeast Georgia Regional Library System, which lends less per resident than 66% of systems its size
Clarkesville’s library is the Clarkesville-Habersham County Library, a branch of Northeast Georgia Regional Library System, which serves 123,671 people and lent 376K items last year.
What stands out about Clarkesville-Habersham County Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Clarkesville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Clarkesville is ahead of 15% of U.S. towns. Clarkesville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Clarkesville’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Northeast Georgia Regional Library System spends $18 per resident, against a typical $36 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($55K–$92K) 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.
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 →
6 community nonprofits are registered in Clarkesville
3.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.2%
4.2% of Clarkesville’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 Clarkesville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Northeast Georgia Regional Library System serves 123,671 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 23 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Northeast Georgia Regional Library System system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
376K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
77,826 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 11 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Find it
Clarkesville-Habersham County Library, 178 East Green Street, Clarkesville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Northeast Georgia Regional Library System branch.
New in Clarkesville? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.68 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Clarkesville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $2.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.3M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 36,724 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Clarkesville-Habersham County Library is one branch of Northeast Georgia Regional Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 123,671 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 Clarkesville
Does Clarkesville have a public library?
Yes: Clarkesville-Habersham County Library, 178 East Green Street, is a branch of Northeast Georgia Regional Library System, which serves 123,671 people. The branch is open about 41 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Northeast Georgia Regional Library System fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Clarkesville’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 3.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Clarkesville’s civic life grade?
D Clarkesville is ahead of 15% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Clarkesville.
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.