Elam-Camp House · Photo: Bubba73 · CC BY-SA 3.0Gordon’s library is a branch of Middle Georgia Regional Library System, which lends less per resident than 79% of systems its size
Gordon’s library is the Gordon Public Library, a branch of Middle Georgia Regional Library System, which serves 270,784 people and lent 623K items last year.
What stands out about Gordon Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Gordon’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Gordon has fewer per resident than most U.S. towns. Gordon is graded on two of the three inputs. Gordon’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the U.S. middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($35K–$59K) 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 →
3 community nonprofits are registered in Gordon
1.4 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.
2.8%
2.8% of Gordon’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 Gordon’s 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.
Middle Georgia Regional Library System serves 270,784 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
A year at Middle Georgia Regional Library System
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Middle Georgia Regional Library System system. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
623K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
132,353 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 25 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
Gordon Public Library, 284 Milledgeville Hwy, West, Gordon.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Middle Georgia Regional Library System branch.
New in Gordon? 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 $1.48 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Gordon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $6.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $9.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $6.7M 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 127,502 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gordon | Gordon Public Library | — | 32 | D− |
| Ivey | 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.
- Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
- System-wide. Gordon Public Library is one branch of Middle Georgia Regional Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 270,784 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 Gordon
Does Gordon have a public library?
Yes: Gordon Public Library, 284 Milledgeville Hwy, West, is a branch of Middle Georgia Regional Library System, which serves 270,784 people. The branch is open about 32 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Middle 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 Gordon’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 2.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Gordon’s civic life grade?
D− Gordon has fewer community nonprofits per resident, and fewer younger adults in volunteering groups, than most U.S. towns. 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 Gordon.
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.