Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 4.0Lithia Springs’ library is a branch of West Georgia Regional Library, which lends less per resident than 72% of systems its size
Lithia Springs’s library is the Betty C. Hagler/Lithia Springs Public Library, a branch of West Georgia Regional Library, which serves 510,050 people and lent 1.3M items last year.
What Lithia Springs’s library is like
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
The West Georgia Regional Library system charges late fines on some overdue items. Two of the three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Georgia pays a big share
21% of the budget comes from the state, and 74% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
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; Lithia Springs’s library is a branch of West Georgia Regional Library, so they cover the whole system (510,050 people), not just the Lithia Springs branch.
What’s behind Lithia Springs’ civic life grade
Lithia Springs 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 West Georgia Regional Library, 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 Lithia Springs
Lithia Springs is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
3.5%
3.5% of Lithia Springs’ 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 Lithia Springs’ 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.
West Georgia Regional Library serves 510,050 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 32 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole West Georgia Regional Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
1.3M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
237,998 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 38 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
Betty C. Hagler/Lithia Springs Public Library, 7100 Turner Drive, Lithia Springs.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every West Georgia Regional Library branch.
New in Lithia Springs? 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 $2.47 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lithia Springs cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $8.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $21M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $8.4M 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 249,453 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lithia Springs | Betty C. Hagler/Lithia Springs Public Library | — | 48 | — unincorporated |
| Austell | Sweetwater Valley Library fine-free | — | 42 | D |
| Douglasville | Douglas County Public Library | — | 52 | C |
| Mableton | South Cobb Regional Library fine-free | — | 55 | 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. Betty C. Hagler/Lithia Springs Public Library is one branch of West Georgia Regional Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 510,050 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 Lithia Springs
Does Lithia Springs have a public library?
Yes: Betty C. Hagler/Lithia Springs Public Library, 7100 Turner Drive, is a branch of West Georgia Regional Library, which serves 510,050 people. The branch is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is West Georgia Regional Library 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 Lithia Springs’ library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 2.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Lithia Springs’ civic life grade?
Lithia Springs 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 West Georgia Regional Library, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Lithia Springs.
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.