The Athens County Public Libraries were originally known as the Nelsonville Public Library. The original facility in Nelsonville was created in 1935 as an outgrowth of the Nelsonville school system.
The library system has an inventory of about 300,000 items. In recent years, it has provided computers with Internet connections at its libraries, and this service has been shown to be very popular.
Recently, the library system has begun a landscaping program at its libraries to introduce a wider variety of plantings, especially including native trees and shrubs.
Today, the library system has these branches: