Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 3.0Cordele’s library is a branch of Lake Blackshear Regional Library System, which lends less per resident than 89% of systems its size
Cordele’s library is the Cordele-Crisp Carnegie Library, a branch of Lake Blackshear Regional Library System, which serves 63,626 people and lent 87K items last year.
Cordele’s library, in brief
The Lake Blackshear Regional Library System is used less than most libraries its size
The Lake Blackshear Regional Library System records 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $21 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Georgia pays a big share
46% of the budget comes from the state, and 49% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Few programs for a library this size
The Lake Blackshear Regional Library System offered 276 programs last year, 4.3 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Most programs are for young children
73% of the 276 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.2 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024; Cordele’s library is a branch of Lake Blackshear Regional Library System, so they cover the whole system (63,626 people), not just the Cordele branch.
What’s behind Cordele’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Cordele is ahead of 25% of U.S. towns, #78 of 222 in Georgia. Cordele is graded on two of the three inputs. Cordele’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Lake Blackshear Regional Library System spends $21 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($25K–$42K) 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 →
45 community nonprofits are registered in Cordele
4.5 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 (34 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.4%
3.4% of Cordele’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 Cordele’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Lake Blackshear Regional Library System serves 63,626 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lake Blackshear Regional Library System system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
87K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
22,890 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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
Cordele-Crisp Carnegie Library, 115 East Eleventh Avenue, Cordele.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lake Blackshear Regional Library System branch.
New in Cordele? 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 $1.11 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cordele cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.3M 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 17,051 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Cordele-Crisp Carnegie Library is one branch of Lake Blackshear Regional Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 63,626 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 Cordele
Does Cordele have a public library?
Yes: Cordele-Crisp Carnegie Library, 115 East Eleventh Avenue, is a branch of Lake Blackshear Regional Library System, which serves 63,626 people. The branch is open about 41 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lake Blackshear 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 Cordele’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 1.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Cordele’s civic life grade?
C− Cordele is ahead of 25% of U.S. towns on civic life, #78 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 Cordele.
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.