GPALS, or Georgia's Private Academic Libraries, is a consortium of the libraries of privately supported, not-for-profit institutions of higher education in Georgia.
GALILEO, the renowned virtual library of the State of Georgia, was begun by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, with planning beginning in 1994-1995. From the beginning of the GALILEO project, the Board of Regents was amenable to the participation of other Georgia library consortia on a fee basis. Private college library directors from several institutions began a discussion which resulted in the formation of the GPALS consortium. This effort was led by Bob Richardson of Young-Harris College, Gene Ruffin of Piedmont College (now Piedmont University), and Lance Foldes of Berry College. The founding members of GPALS began participation in GALILEO in Fall 1996.
Since that time, the group has grown considerably in size and has developed sharing agreements for interlibrary loan and for reciprocal borrowing privileges. Subsets of the whole consortium have, from time to time, developed their own purchasing agreements.