Tazewell
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310 East Main Street
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Book Discussion Group Schedule
Light Lunch is served at NOON. Register at 276.988.2541. Copies of these books are available to borrow; audiobook versions are available for some titles. Come share the joy of good reading!
19 Oct 2011 Peter Carey Parrot and Olivier in America
9 Nov 2011 Andrea Levy Long Song
14 Dec 2011 David McCullough The Greater Journey
11 Jan 2012 Erik Larson Devil in the White City
8 Feb 2012 Hilary Mantell Wolf Hall
14 Mar 2012 Thaddeus Carhart Piano Shop on the Left Bank
11 Apr 2012 John Grisham Innocent Man
9 May 2012 Free Choice PRESIDENTIAL BIOGRAPHY is the topic
13 June 2012 Abraham Verghese Cutting for Stone
11 July 2012 Alan Riding And the Show Went On
8 Aug 2012 Thomas Friedman any title by this author
12 Sep 2012 Rebecca Skloot The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Directions
From Bluefield
Take 460 West to Tazewell
Exit #2
Turn left onto Rt. 16 South (Tazewell Avenue)
Turn right onto Business Rt. 460 West (Fincastle Turnpike)
Follow curve to Main Street
Library is on left, across street from National Bank
Parking available behind building: Turn left just past Library between
florist shop and small park, turn left into parking lot. Follow
walkway to enter building from front on Main Street.
From Richlands
Take 460 East to Tazewell
Exit #2
Turn right onto Rt 16 South (Tazewell Avenue)
Turn right onto Business Rt. 460 West (Fincastle Turnpike)
Follow curve to Main Street
Library is on left, across street from National Bank
Parking available behind building: Turn left just past Library between
florist shop and small park, turn left into parking lot. Follow
walkway to enter building from front on Main Street.
Staff
Lynne Bartlett, Library Director
Brenda Brewster, Youth Services
Kathy Buchanan, Circulation Manager
Debbee Linkous, Circulation Specialist
Rachel Maderik, Technical Services Librarian
Lonnie Payne, Interlibrary Loan
Mylinda Poteet, Administrative Assistant
Travis Stone, Technical Services
Lisa Tyson, Youth Services Coordinator
Andre Wallace, Custodian
Emily Whitted, Circulation Specialist
Natasha Wooley, Circulation (Youth Services)
History
Organized public library service in Tazewell County is a relatively recent phenomenon. Through the years, women’s clubs offered lending library programs, some to members, some to the general community. Notices of new books available for lending appeared in the pages of the Clinch Valley News from time to time.
In the early1960s, as a result of Sputnik, federal funds for education increased significantly and led, through the Library Services Act, to initiation of public library service in previously unserved communities. This provided the impetus for establishing many library systems in Virginia, particularly those serving small and rural populations. The Virginia State Library offered to demonstrate library service in a community for two years, at the end of which time the locality would assume responsibility for continuing it if it was successful.
For many years, Mrs. W. B. Leslie, a teacher and newspaper publisher, had sought to have a public library in Tazewell County. The Demonstration Library program delivered the vehicle for reaching this goal. Mrs. Leslie worked with a number of interested county residents and officials to apply for the Demonstration Library, which was approved. Dorothy M. Fuller of the Virginia State Library guided the library to its opening July 1964. The Town of Tazewell arranged for space in the town hall, built wooden shelving, and furnished utilities. The Library of Virginia selected, bought and cataloged books, organized the collection, trained the staff, provided a bookmobile to reach communities beyond Tazewell and paid all operational costs. Mrs. Edith M. Farley was the first librarian and she had a staff of four.
Tazewell County assumed operational responsibility for the library at the end of the agreed two-year demonstration. The Board of Supervisors appointed a five-member Board of Trustees, chaired by Mrs. Leslie, and including Lester L. Jones, Cora Lee Philpott, T. G. Shufflebarger, and Mary Sue Sult. They built a permanent library on Main Street, on the site of the old Tazewell High School. Dr. W. F. Wadsworth, Presbyterian minister and community leader, worked with Mrs. Leslie and the Board, Mrs. Irma Gillespie and many other individuals and community groups, and the support of E. R. Kilgore, James Bailey, and Graham Hedrick of the Board of Supervisors, to see this building project through. The library was dedicated 3 December 1967. The architect was J. Coates Carter and the contractor was Fort Chiswell Construction Company. Major funding was provided by federal grants from the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Library Services and Construction Act.
Mrs. Farley served as Librarian from 1964 until her retirement in1976. She was followed by Clare DeCleene, 1976-1977, and in 1977 by Laurie Surface Roberts.
