Mission Statement :

"We provide public access to the Knowledge Network to improve, enhance, and empower lives in our community, region and world."

The Atlanta-Fulton County Library System serves the citizens of Fulton County and the City of Atlanta (including the portion of the city in DeKalb County). The system has 34 libraries. As of April, 2004, there were 362,542 registered library cardholders, with a collection over 2,177,267 items for adults and children, including books, magazines and other periodicals, CDs, DVDs, and videocassettes.

The Central Library, originally designed by Marcel Breuer, has recently been refurbished and includes a modern, fully equipped instructional learning center. The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American History and Culture contains one of the foremost collections of African-American literature and historical documents in the nation. To fulfill is mission as "The People's University," the library also provides a wide variety of classes, workshops, seminars, and ongoing learning opportunities for library users at all learning and interest levels.

In May 1980, a new Central Library was opened to the public under the leadership of Ella Gaines Yates, first African-American director of the library system. Marcel Breuer, a participant in the innovative Bauhaus Movement, planned and designed the building, working closely with his associate Hamilton Smith, although Breuer did not live to see its completion. In 2002, a major renovation of the Central Library was completed and the library system celebrated the centennial of the year in which public library service in Atlanta began.