Editing Chatham County, Georgia (section)

==Libraries==
The [[Live Oak Public Libraries]] constitute a regional library system that provides services to three Georgia counties: Chatham, Effingham, and Liberty. The former name of the system, "Chatham Effingham Liberty Regional Library," described this collaboration. In 2002, the name was changed to Live Oak, which reflects the personality of the region, as well as the life and growth of its branches.<ref name="Library History – Live Oak Public Libraries">{{cite web|title=Library History|url=http://www.liveoakpl.org/about/library-history/|website=Live Oak Public Libraries|access-date=February 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410213732/http://www.liveoakpl.org/about/library-history/|archive-date=April 10, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
At the beginning of the 20th century, city leaders in Savannah began to discuss the need for a public library. The history of libraries in Chatham County dates to 1903. According to Geraldine LeMay, former director of the Savannah Public Chatham-Effingham and Liberty Regional Library, the Georgia Historical Society and the city of Savannah worked out a plan that year to establish the Savannah Public Library.<ref>{{cite web|last1=LeMay|first1=Geraldine|title=HISTORY OF THE SAVANNAH PUBLIC CHATHAM – EFFINGHAM – LIBERTY REGIONAL AND CARNEGIE LIBRARIES 1903 – 1963|url=http://www.liveoakpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LibraryHistoryLeMays.pdf|website=Live Oak Public Libraries|access-date=March 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710024211/http://www.liveoakpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LibraryHistoryLeMays.pdf|archive-date=July 10, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> The idea was the brainchild of the Georgia Historical Society, which set up a planning committee to determine how the facilities of the society might best be useful to the city of Savannah.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|last1=LeMay|first1=Geraldine|title=History of the Savannah Public Chatham-Effingham-Liberty Regional and Carnegie Libraries 1903-1963|url=http://www.liveoakpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LibraryHistoryLeMays.pdf|website=Live Oak Public Libraries (LOPL)|publisher=LOPL|access-date=March 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710024211/http://www.liveoakpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LibraryHistoryLeMays.pdf|archive-date=July 10, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>  In a joint meeting of committee members from the society and the city of Savannah, a free public library was established that would prove to be of great value to the community. This library, however, did not serve citizens of color.
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The parties agreed to allow free use of the society's books, provide physical space for the library, and annually contribute $500 in financial support for the library. In turn, the city would contribute $3,000 in annual support.<ref name=":1" /> The library opened in June 1903, but did not fully serve the public until November. By 1909, the Georgia Historical Society was no longer able to meet its financial commitment, leaving the city to provide full financial support. The library remained at Hodgson Hall, the space provided by the Georgia Historical Society, until 1915. From its early beginnings, the library offered special services to the community, including a department for children (although no one under the age of 14 was permitted to borrow books). The physical space at Hodgson Hall became too small to accommodate a large reference department, so the library established only a small collection of reference materials..<ref name=":1" /> In 1916, the Savannah Public Library opened to doors to a new facility on Bull Street within the [[Savannah Victorian Historic District]]. The new facility was made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation. As the library grew in popularity, it again found itself needing more space. The building was able to add additional space in 1936 thanks to a grant from the U.S. [[Works Progress Administration]] (WPA).<ref>{{cite web|last1=LeMay|first1=Geraldine|title=History of the Savannah Public Chatham-Effingham-Liberty Regional and Carnegie Libraries 1903-163|url=http://www.liveoakpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LibraryHistoryLeMays.pdf|website=Live Oak Public Libraries (LOPL)|publisher=LOPL|access-date=March 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710024211/http://www.liveoakpl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/LibraryHistoryLeMays.pdf|archive-date=July 10, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
With an ever-increasing population the library's board of directors decided to expand services beyond the Main Library. In 1916, two branch libraries were opened: the East Side Branch at Habersham and Congress Streets, and the Waters Avenue Branch. The services provided by these two branches were confined to children.<ref name=":1" />
To help further expand services, the Georgia Historical Society once again offered the library space at Hodgson Hall to be used as a branch library. This move was of mutual benefit to both the library and the Society. The library gained needed space for a downtown branch and the Society could organize and catalog materials. According to the history written by Lemay, some 5,027 volumes belonging to the Georgia Historical Society were cataloged by the library. This branch library continued operating until 1948, when it was sold to Armstrong Junior College (now [[Georgia Southern University-Armstrong Campus]]) to establish an academic library.

In 1924 a traveling book collection was instituted and placed in four public elementary schools; other schools were added when available materials and staff time allowed. In 1926, the [[Savannah Morning News]] donated space for a Downtown branch to primarily serve the business community. The Downtown branch experienced several changes in venues over the years until it was given a permanent home in the Gamble Building. The Gamble Building sits on Factors' Walk, on Bay Street next to Savannah's City Hall. With this move, the branch was renamed in honor of Ola Wyeth, the former president of the Georgia Library Association (1925).

In 1940 a bookmobile service was started to provide outreach to rural communities around Savannah.<ref name="Library History – Live Oak Public Libraries" /> The Effingham County Library joined the Savannah Public Library in 1945 to form the Chatham–Effingham County Regional Library.<ref name="Library History – Live Oak Public Libraries" /> In 1956, the library system was expanded to include Liberty County, resulting in the Chatham–Effingham–Liberty Regional Library (CEL).<ref name="Library History – Live Oak Public Libraries" />

When the United States Supreme Court declared de jure segregation illegal and unconstitutional, the library system experienced one of its greatest changes. As a result of this ruling, the "[[Carnegie Colored Library|Library for the Colored Citizens of Savannah]]" was brought under the auspices of the Chatham-Effingham-Liberty Regional Library System (1963). This move made the library system a truly "free public library" serving all the citizens of Chatham, Effingham, and Liberty counties.  -->