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Webster County JailsWebster County Jails · Photo: Rivers Langley; SaveRivers · CC BY-SA 3.0
Webster County Library · part of Kinchafoonee Regional Library System

Webster County’s library is a branch of Kinchafoonee Regional Library System, which lends less per resident than 93% of systems its size

Webster County’s library is the Webster County Library, a branch of Kinchafoonee Regional Library System, which serves 27,598 people and lent 25K items last year.

40 Cemetery Road, Preston 31824 · about 14 hours a week
D−Civic lifeAhead of 2% of U.S. towns. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Directions (229) 828-5740 What’s a card worth?
Borrowed a year
25K
0.9 per resident
Visits a year
44K
1.6 per resident · Below typical (2.6)
Programs & events
551
about 11 a week · 6,421 attended
Cardholders
30%
8,224 cards
Open
14 hrs
a week at this branch
In brief

What Webster County’s library is like

Georgia pays a big share

58% of the budget comes from the state, and 32% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓

Open only about 14 hours a week

The Webster County branch keeps short hours: about 14 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓

Programs lean toward adults

52% of the 551 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 132 were for children. Kids & programs ↓

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; Webster County’s library is a branch of Kinchafoonee Regional Library System, so they cover the whole system (27,598 people), not just the Webster County branch.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Webster County’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Webster County is ahead of 2% of U.S. towns. Webster County 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.

D−
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Webster County’s overall grade.
–Library visitsServed by a county or regional system, so there is no town figureDCommunity nonprofits1.2 per 1,000 residents · GA towns 2.8 · U.S. 3.7DVolunteering4.4% of adults 25–44 · GA towns 4.9% · U.S. 7.5%
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 2%
FewerMore
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $35K–$58K (3,885)Ahead of 4%

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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. Webster County is small (2,369 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; the volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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

3 community nonprofits are registered in Webster County

1.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture00.17 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans00.17 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services10.42 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other10.42 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

4.4%

4.4% of Webster County’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 Webster County’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 1.6 visits · typical 2.6Lower than 76%
Borrowing per resident 0.7 print items · typical 3.7Bottom 10%
Digital borrowing 0.2 e-items · typical 1.2Bottom 10%
Kids’ borrowing 0.2 kids’ items · typical 1.7Bottom 10%
Program attendance 0.2 attendees · typical 0.3Lower than 66%
Programs offered 20 per 1,000 residents · typical 14Higher than 68%
Cardholders 30% of residents · typical 39%Lower than 70%
Spending $34 per resident · typical $40Lower than 58%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Kinchafoonee Regional Library System serves 27,598 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Kinchafoonee Regional Library System system. The library’s own count.

44K
visits
1.6 per resident
25K
loans, print + digital
0.9 per resident
551
programs & events
6,421 attended
8,224
library cards
30% of people served
Every open hour3items borrowed
Every week123people at a program
Every day236Wi-Fi sessions
8 staff (full-time equivalent)66 public computers
What people borrow

Mostly books and media off the shelf

25K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

25Kloans
Books & media (adults) 57%Kids’ books & media 26%E-books, audio & streaming 17%
From your couch

4,340 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 3 kids’ programs a week

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

Schools in Webster County →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–588
Ages 6–1144
Teens17
Adults284
All ages118
Little ones
1.7

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

6,469
kids’ books & media borrowed
6,421
people at programs
551
programs
The building

Find it

Webster County Library, 40 Cemetery Road, Preston.

Directions(229) 828-5740
14
hours open a week
4,000
square feet
With a card

E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Kinchafoonee Regional Library System branch.

New in Webster County? The Handbook →

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

What your card is worth

What a library card is worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Webster County 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
1
Your card saves you about
$240
a year at retail prices · $20 a month

Who pays for it
$34 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $951K.

Local taxes 32%State 58%Gifts & other 10%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $705K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $951K 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 8,224 cardholders ÷ 12.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Webster County Library is one branch of Kinchafoonee Regional Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 27,598 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 Webster County

Does Webster County have a public library?

Yes: Webster County Library, 40 Cemetery Road, is a branch of Kinchafoonee Regional Library System, which serves 27,598 people. The branch is open about 14 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Kinchafoonee 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 Webster County’s library?

It logged 1.6 visits and lent 0.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.

What is Webster County’s civic life grade?

D− Webster County is ahead of 2% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Webster County.

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.