Tazewell

310 East Main Street P.O. Box 929 Tazewell, VA 24651 (276) 988-2541 Fax (276) 988-5980 Hours Sunday 2p - 6p (closed from Memorial Day through Labor Day) Monday 9a - 8p Tuesday 9a - 5:30p Wednesday 9a - 5:30p Thursday 9a - 8p Friday 9a - 5:30p Saturday 10a - 2p

Book Discussion Group Schedule

The Book Group Meets the Second Wednesday of Each Month from noon to 1:30pm. You do not need to register to attend. Copies of these books are available to borrow; audiobook versions are available for some titles. In addition, there are e-books and audiobooks available for some of these books through Overdrive. Come share the joy of good reading!

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
Jade Crabtree, Circulation Specialist
Randy Hurley, Custodian
Debbee Linkous, Circulation Specialist
Rachel Maderik, Technical Services Librarian
Lonnie Payne, Interlibrary Loan/Reference Assistant
Betty Pruett, Administrative Assistant
Travis Stone, Technical Services
Lisa Tyson, Youth Services Coordinator
James Wilkes, Reference Librarian
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.