Marsh-Warthen House · Photo: Harold Bush-Brown, Photographer Enlarged by L.D. Andrew · Public domainLaFayette’s library is a branch of Cherokee Regional Library System, which lends less per resident than 65% of systems its size
LaFayette’s library is the Lafayette-Walker County Public Library, a branch of Cherokee Regional Library System, which serves 86,235 people and lent 278K items last year.
What stands out about Lafayette-Walker County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind LaFayette’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, LaFayette is ahead of 11% of U.S. towns, #155 of 222 in Georgia. LaFayette is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Cherokee Regional Library System spends $22 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($35K–$58K) 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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in LaFayette
2.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (11 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.0%
6.0% of LaFayette’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 LaFayette’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Cherokee Regional Library System serves 86,235 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 36 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Cherokee Regional Library System system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
278K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
55,871 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
Lafayette-Walker County Public Library, 305 South Duke Street, Lafayette.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Cherokee Regional Library System branch.
New in LaFayette? 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 $2.34 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average LaFayette cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.9M 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 43,796 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Lafayette-Walker County Public Library is one branch of Cherokee Regional Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 86,235 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 LaFayette
Does LaFayette have a public library?
Yes: Lafayette-Walker County Public Library, 305 South Duke Street, is a branch of Cherokee Regional Library System, which serves 86,235 people. The branch is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Cherokee 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 LaFayette’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 3.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is LaFayette’s civic life grade?
D LaFayette is ahead of 11% of U.S. towns on civic life, #155 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 LaFayette.
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.