Glover-McLeod-Garrison House · Photo: Jud McCranie · CC BY-SA 4.0Fair Oaks’ library is a branch of Cobb County Public Library System, which lends less per resident than 68% of systems its size
Fair Oaks’s library is the Sibley Library, a branch of Cobb County Public Library System, which serves 783,536 people and lent 2.9M items last year.
What stands out about Sibley Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Fair Oaks’ civic life grade
Fair Oaks isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Cobb County Public Library System, so there is no town figure for visits.
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 →
Volunteering in Fair Oaks
Fair Oaks is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
4.2%
4.2% of Fair Oaks’ 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 Fair Oaks’ residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Cobb County Public Library System serves 783,536 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
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.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
2.9M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
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.
About 74 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
Sibley Library, 1539 South Cobb Drive, Marietta.
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 Fair Oaks? 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 $2.31 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Fair Oaks cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $19M.
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.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
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. Sibley 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 Fair Oaks
Does Fair Oaks have a public library?
Yes: Sibley Library, 1539 South Cobb Drive, is a branch of Cobb County Public Library System, which serves 783,536 people. The branch is open about 42 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 Fair Oaks’ 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 Fair Oaks’ civic life grade?
Fair Oaks isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Cobb County Public Library System, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Fair Oaks.
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.