PINES: Georgia's Statewide Library Card

     So, what is PINES, you ask?   That stands for the Georgia Library Public Information Network for Electronic Services.  It's Georgia's public library automation and lending network for 285 public libraries and affiliated service outlets in 143 counties.  PINES serves patrons in all 159 Georgia counties.
    PINES is an initiative of the Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the University System of Georgia.  Fifty percent of Georgia's population and more than 80 percent of Georgia's public library systems rely on the PINES network for their library service.
     PINES creates a statewide "borderless library" that eliminates geographic and socio-economic barriers and provides equal access to information for all Georgians.
     Georgians with PINES cards have access to materials beyond what is available on their local library shelves, and they enjoy the benefits of a shared collection of approximately 10 million books and materials that can be delivered to their home library with no charge to them.
     OK...how do Georgia's citizens benefit from PINES?
     Any resident of Georgia may obtain a free PINES card by visiting any PINES library. (Your Moultrie-Colquitt County Library is a PINES library.)  In addition to browsing and checking out books on the shelves of their local libraries, PINES allows library users to log on to www.gapines.org, browse or search the online catalog for books and other library materials, and have their selections delivered to their local library.
     Look at these statistics of PINES by the numbers:

• 2.4 million PINES library cards are in use.
• Nearly 1 of 4 Georgians (23.8%) has a PINES card.
• PINES serves patrons in all 159 Georgia counties.
• 10 million items (books, tapes, CDs, videos) are available.
• There were 19.1 million circulations in FY 2010.

     With an annual budget of $1.3 million, the PINES program costs less than 60 cents for each cardholder!
     We're here to help you find any information you need.  Do you have your PINES library card?