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Solomon and Penelopy Pace HouseSolomon and Penelopy Pace House · Photo: Jud McCranie · CC BY-SA 4.0
Vinings Library · part of Cobb County Public Library System

Vinings’ library is a branch of Cobb County Public Library System, which lends less per resident than 68% of systems its size

Vinings’s library is the Vinings Library, a branch of Cobb County Public Library System, which serves 783,536 people and lent 2.9M items last year.

4290 Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta 30339 · about 51 hours a week
–Civic lifeNot graded: unincorporated places have too few inputs
Borrowed a year
2.9M
3.7 per resident
Visits a year
1.4M
1.8 per resident · Below typical (2.1)
Programs & events
6,271
about 121 a week · 143K attended
Cardholders
53%
418,304 cards
Open
51 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Vinings Library

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Vinings’ civic life grade

Vinings 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 lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Vinings’ overall grade.

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 →

Places to belong

Volunteering in Vinings

Vinings is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.

Volunteering

5.3%

5.3% of Vinings’ 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 Vinings’ residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 1.8 visits · typical 2.1Lower than 63%
Borrowing per resident 2.3 print items · typical 3.2Lower than 68%
Digital borrowing 1.4 e-items · typical 1.4Higher than 52%
Kids’ borrowing 1.3 kids’ items · typical 1.6Lower than 59%
Program attendance 0.2 attendees · typical 0.2Lower than 59%
Programs offered 8 per 1,000 residents · typical 9Lower than 60%
Cardholders 53% of residents · typical 41%Higher than 73%
Spending $24 per resident · typical $36Lower than 70%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Cobb County Public Library System serves 783,536 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.

A year at the library

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.

1.4M
visits
1.8 per resident
2.9M
loans, print + digital
3.7 per resident
6,271
programs & events
143K attended
418K
library cards
53% of people served
Every open hour81items borrowed
Every week2,760people at a program
Every day359Wi-Fi sessions
194 staff (full-time equivalent)424 public computers
What people borrow

More than half the print loans are kids’ books

2.9M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

2.9Mloans
Books & media (adults) 26%Kids’ books & media 35%E-books, audio & streaming 38%
From your couch

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.

Kids & programs

About 74 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Vinings →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–52,356
Ages 6–111,486
Teens568
Adults1,861
All ages0
Little ones
45.3

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

1M
kids’ books & media borrowed
143K
people at programs
6,271
programs
The building

Find it

Vinings Library, 4290 Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta.

51
hours open a week
8,567
square feet
With a card

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 Vinings? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

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 Vinings cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$204
a year at retail prices · $17 a month

Who pays for it
$24 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $19M.

Local taxes 88%State 10%Federal 0%Gifts & other 2%

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.

Next door

Libraries next door

Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
ViningsVinings Library fine-free—51— unincorporated
AtlantaCentral Library—53B+

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).

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Vinings 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 Vinings

Does Vinings have a public library?

Yes: Vinings Library, 4290 Paces Ferry Road, is a branch of Cobb County Public Library System, which serves 783,536 people. The branch is open about 51 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 Vinings’ 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 Vinings’ civic life grade?

Vinings 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 Vinings.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.