James W. Merritt, Jr. Memorial Library
Colquitt’s library is the James W. Merritt, Jr. Memorial Library, a branch of Southwest Georgia Regional Library System, which serves 43,930 people and lent 111K items last year.
What stands out about James W. Merritt, Jr. Memorial Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
Every hour the doors are open, about 19 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Southwest Georgia Regional Library System system. The library’s own count.
Find it
James W. Merritt, Jr. Memorial Library, 259 East Main Street, Colquitt.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Southwest Georgia Regional Library System branch.
New in Colquitt? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Close to typical for its size
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S. A tiny town’s library always looks busier per person, so it’s only compared with its own size.
Southwest Georgia Regional Library System serves 43,930 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
111K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
21,465 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.60 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Colquitt cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.2M 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 9,828 cardholders ÷ 12.
About these numbers
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Hours are an average. The survey reports a building’s public hours for the whole year. We divide by the weeks it was open, so check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
- Compared by size. “Similar-size” means libraries serving about as many people, nationwide. Per-resident numbers always flatter the smallest towns, so they’re never compared with big cities.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
- System-wide. James W. Merritt, Jr. Memorial Library is one branch of Southwest Georgia Regional Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 43,930 people it serves.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Colquitt.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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.