The Cobb County Public Library is known for its books and its digital offerings, but a lot more is done by the library system, and some of it might be surprising.

The library system won an award for making “substantial contributions to reducing injury” in Georgia. 

Cobb Library along with four other organizations and five individuals won the Award for Outstanding Service presented by the Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory (IPRCE).

According to the news release on the Cobb County website:

“The awards were presented recently during the 30th anniversary Points of Light celebration of IPRCE, which is housed in the Emory University School of Medicine. 

“IPRCE membership includes leading injury prevention experts from Cobb Senior Services, Emory, Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH), CDC, Shepherd Center, Wellstar Health System, Grady Health System, Mercer University, and other organizations.”

The library’s Falls Prevention initiative is focused on the message that falls are not inevitable.

Events in the initiative include “Senior Wellness programs at East Cobb Library, health screening events at South Cobb Regional Library and other libraries, library staff members receiving training to lead A Matter of Balance and Tai Chi for Arthritis and Fall Prevention classes, Adaptive Gardening at North Cobb Regional and East Cobb libraries, and other programs.”

To read more about the award and about the Cobb Public Library’s activities about fall prevention, follow this link to the county’s news release.

About the Cobb County Public Library

According to the Cobb County Public Library website:

Cobb County Public Library is a 15-branch system headquartered in Marietta, Georgia, where its staff members serve a diverse population of over 750,000 people. Cobb is one of Georgia’s fastest-growing counties, and Cobb County Public Library is dedicated to being a resource center in the community by providing equal access to information, materials, and services.

History of Cobb’s library system

The first public library in Cobb County was opened in the home of Sarah Freeman Clarke in Marietta. The first standalone library building, opened on Church Street in 1893 and was named for Clarke.

Libraries were opened in Acworth and Austell in subsequent years, and in 1959, the city of Marietta and several other Cobb County libraries combined to form a countywide system that began the Cobb County Public Library as we know it today.

You can read more about the history of the Cobb County Public Library by following this link.