Photo: Hans J E from Lawrenceville, US · CC BY-SA 2.0Duluth’s library is a branch of Gwinnett County Public Library System, which lends less per resident than 59% of systems its size
Duluth’s library is the Duluth, a branch of Gwinnett County Public Library System, which serves 992,705 people and lent 3.6M items last year.
What stands out about Duluth
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Duluth’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Duluth is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns, #93 of 222 in Georgia. Duluth is graded on two of the three inputs. Duluth’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($71K–$119K) 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 →
130 community nonprofits are registered in Duluth
4.0 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 (51 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 23 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.0%
4.0% of Duluth’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 Duluth’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.
Gwinnett County Public Library System serves 992,705 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 70 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Gwinnett County Public Library System system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
3.6M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
880,988 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 80 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
Duluth, 3180 Main Street, Duluth.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Gwinnett County Public Library System branch.
New in Duluth? 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 $2.26 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Duluth cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $26M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $58M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $26M 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 614,158 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duluth | Duluth | — | 92 | C− |
| Peachtree Corners | Peachtree Corners | — | 56 | C− |
| Suwanee | Suwanee | — | 92 | C− |
| Johns Creek | Northeast-Spruill Oaks Regional Library | — | 52 | C+ |
| Berkeley Lake | None of its own | — | — | D |
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).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Duluth is one branch of Gwinnett County Public Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 992,705 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 Duluth
Does Duluth have a public library?
Yes: Duluth, 3180 Main Street, is a branch of Gwinnett County Public Library System, which serves 992,705 people. The branch is open about 92 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Gwinnett County Public 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 Duluth’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 3.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Duluth’s civic life grade?
C− Duluth is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns on civic life, #93 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 Duluth.
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.