diff --git a/app/controllers/embed_controller.rb b/app/controllers/embed_controller.rb
index da5dcd3706..f68189feb9 100644
--- a/app/controllers/embed_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/embed_controller.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-require_relative '../../lib/geo_i_p_country'
 require_relative '../../lib/aapb'
 
 class EmbedController < CatalogController
diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index dc862464c3..8f27fe15f9 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 require 'set'
 require 'ipaddr'
-require_relative '../../lib/geo_i_p_country'
+require 'geo_location'
 
 class User
   DARTMOUTH_HOST_RE = /^(.+\.)?meptest\.dartmouth\.edu$/
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ def onsite?
   end
 
   def usa?
-    %w(US PR WS GU MP VI).include?(::GeoIPCountry.instance.country_code(request.remote_ip)) || onsite?
+    %w(US PR WS GU MP VI).include?(GeoLocation.country_code(request.remote_ip)) || onsite?
     # WGBH doesn't actually geocode to USA. No idea why.
   end
 
diff --git a/config/application.rb b/config/application.rb
index d5842f0894..cea5f4489d 100644
--- a/config/application.rb
+++ b/config/application.rb
@@ -37,10 +37,7 @@ class Application < Rails::Application
     config.exceptions_app = routes
     config.cache_store = :memory_store
 
-    # load that geocode ip!
-    config.after_initialize do
-      @mmdb = MaxMindDB.new(Rails.root + 'config/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb')
-      Rails.cache.write('maxmind_db', @mmdb)
-    end
+    # Call GeoLocation.mmdb to warm the cache.
+    config.after_initialize { GeoLocation.mmdb }
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/geo_i_p_country.rb b/lib/geo_i_p_country.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 2d2cb37b01..0000000000
--- a/lib/geo_i_p_country.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
-require 'singleton'
-
-class GeoIPCountry
-  include Singleton
-
-  def initialize
-    @mmdb = Rails.cache.fetch('maxmind_db')
-  end
-
-  def country_code(ip)
-    look = @mmdb.lookup(ip)
-    look.found? && look.country.iso_code
-  end
-end
diff --git a/lib/geo_location.rb b/lib/geo_location.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7ffa795ab6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/geo_location.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+require 'maxminddb'
+
+class GeoLocation
+  MMDB_PATH = Rails.root + 'config/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb'
+  CACHE_KEY = 'maxmind_db'.freeze
+
+  class << self
+    # Looks up an IP address to find out what country it's coming from.
+    # @return [String] capitalized, two-character ISO country code of the IP's
+    #   origin according to our current copy of MaxMindDB's GeoLite2 Country db.
+    def country_code(ip)
+      mmdb.lookup(ip).country.iso_code
+    end
+
+    # Caches a new instance of MaxMindDB::Client at CACHE_KEY loaded with data
+    # from MMDB_PATH and returns it.
+    # @return [MaxMindDB::Client] client instance used to look up country of
+    #   origin for IP address.
+    def mmdb
+      Rails.cache.fetch(CACHE_KEY) { MaxMindDB.new(MMDB_PATH) }
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/lib/geo_i_p_country_spec.rb b/spec/lib/geo_i_p_country_spec.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 6eeb7ea3b6..0000000000
--- a/spec/lib/geo_i_p_country_spec.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,45 +0,0 @@
-require_relative '../../lib/geo_i_p_country'
-require 'resolv'
-require 'maxminddb'
-
-describe GeoIPCountry do
-  def country_for_domain(domain)
-    GeoIPCountry.instance.country_code(Resolv.getaddress(domain))
-  end
-
-  before :each do
-    # hope this works!
-    Rails.stub_chain(:cache, :fetch).and_return(MaxMindDB.new(Rails.root + 'config/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb'))
-  end
-
-  it 'fails gracefully' do
-    expect(GeoIPCountry.instance.country_code('0.0.0.0')).to eq false
-  end
-
-  it 'puts UMass in US' do
-    expect(country_for_domain('umass.edu')).to eq 'US'
-  end
-
-  it 'puts canada.ca in CA' do
-    expect(country_for_domain('canada.ca')).to eq 'CA'
-  end
-
-  # Site seems to be down...
-  xit 'puts india.gov.in in IN' do
-    expect(country_for_domain('www.mygov.in')).to eq 'IN'
-  end
-
-  it 'puts www.gob.mx in US!!!' do
-    expect(country_for_domain('www.gob.mx')).to eq 'US'
-  end
-
-  # but...
-
-  #  it 'puts WGBH in US', :caching do # currently '--'
-  #    expect(country_for_domain('wgbh.org')).to eq 'US'
-  #  end
-  #
-  #  it 'puts english.gov.cn in CN', :caching do # response varies
-  #    expect(country_for_domain('english.gov.cn')).to eq 'US'
-  #  end
-end
diff --git a/spec/lib/geo_location_spec.rb b/spec/lib/geo_location_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..86684a601b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/lib/geo_location_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+require 'geo_location'
+require 'resolv'
+
+describe GeoLocation do
+  describe '.country_code' do
+    let(:subject) { GeoLocation.country_code(ip) }
+
+    context 'when IP is invalid' do
+      let(:ip) { '0.0.0.0' }
+      it { is_expected.to be_nil }
+    end
+
+    context 'when IP is valid' do
+      let(:ip) { Resolv.getaddress('americanarchive.org') }
+      it { is_expected.to eq 'US' }
+    end
+  end
+end