Library Information

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Library Services

Our libraries offer a variety of services to the Sullivan County community, including:

Call us or drop by any of our branches for any questions you have about our services. We’d love to help you find what you need.

Library History

The Sullivan County Library System has grown from a small space in the courthouse with 500 books to five branches throughout the county with a collection of approximately 120,000 items.

The library continues to grow in services to the community, offering a wide variety of print and digital materials. We are an internet connectivity resource center with public access computers and Wi-Fi in our libraries as well as providing WiFi hotspots for home use. Other services provided include copies, faxes, scanning, and notary services

Blountville

1655 Blountville Blvd. Blountville, TN 37617

Monday-Thursday: 9am-6pm

Friday-Saturday: 9am-5pm

Phone: (423) 279-2714

Fax: (423) 830-1624

The main branch of the Sullivan County Public Library is located in Blountville, Tennessee at 1655 Blountville Blvd. It has a strong history of serving the county’s population with reading and reference material, as well as area historical and genealogical material.

Bloomingdale

3230 Van Horn Street Kingsport, TN 37660

Tuesday-Saturday: 9am-5pm

Phone: (423) 288-1310

Fax: (423) 830-1628

In 1962, the second branch of the Sullivan County Library opened in the Bloomingdale area of Kingsport. The Bloomingdale Ruritan Club felt there was a strong need for an adequate library to enhance educational opportunities in the community.

Colonial Heights

149 Pactolus Road Kingsport, TN 37663

Monday-Saturday: 9am-5pm

Phone: (423) 239-1100

Fax: (423) 220-8281

In 1961, the Sullivan County Library Board decided to look into the feasibility and need for a branch library in the Kingsport suburb of Colonial Heights. A book deposit station for the Watauga Regional bookmobile had been servicing Colonial Heights since 1956

Sullivan Gardens

104 Bluegrass Drive Kingsport, TN 37660

Hours: Monday- Friday 10am-5pm
Saturday 10am-2pm

Phone: (423) 349-5990

Fax: (423) 220-8283

The fourth branch of the Sullivan County Library system was established in Sullivan Gardens in 1975. The citizens of the community, led by the Sullivan Garden Optimist Club, entered into an agreement with Sullivan County to establish a branch library.

Thomas Memorial

481 Cedar Street Bluff City, TN 37618

Monday-Saturday: 9am-5pm

Phone: (423) 538-1980

Fax: (423) 220-8284

Library services have been provided to the Bluff City community beginning as early as 1949, when a collection of books was kept at the Smith Drug Store. Then in 1964, the Avoca Library began providing Bluff City residents with reading materials.

Blountville History

The main branch of the Sullivan County Public Library is located in Blountville, Tennessee at 1655 Blountville Blvd. It has a strong history of serving the county’s population with reading and reference material, as well as area historical and genealogical material.

In 1946 Mrs. Sam Eanes chaired the Citizens Library Movement in order to establish a library in Sullivan County. Due to the group’s efforts and funding provided by the County Court, the Sullivan County Library opened in one room of the Sullivan County Courthouse on January 2, 1947 with a collection of 500 books. It was open to the public three days a week.

In 1949 the library was moved to the Mutual Insurance building and then in 1950, it occupied three rooms in the old Blountville Elementary School building on Franklin Street. The library next moved in 1952 into the Anderson Town House, a log house built in 1792. In 1973 the library relocated once again into a store front location on Main Street.

Seven years later with funding from the federal government, the state of Tennessee, the county commissioners, the county court and donations raised by the Sullivan County Friends of the Library, director Kay Hamrick saw her vision come to life with a new building located on Blountville Boulevard next to the Blountville Middle School and Elementary Schools. The new library opened its doors to the public on January 27, 1992 and remains open today.

Bloomingdale History

In 1962, the second branch of the Sullivan County Library opened in the Bloomingdale area of Kingsport. The Bloomingdale Ruritan Club felt there was a strong need for an adequate library to enhance educational opportunities in the community. They began a community service project to make the library a reality.

The Bloomingdale Baptist Church provided a five-room house on Bloomingdale Pike free of charge for the library, which was renovated by the Ruritan Club and their Ruritanettes. The Bloomingdale branch opened to the public on March 2, 1962 and for the first year was financed and provided with volunteer staff by the Ruritan Club and the Ruritanettes. Books were supplied by the Sullivan County Library and the Watauga Regional Library by the bookmobile. The library opened with 500 books available for circulation.

In 1967, the Bloomingdale Ruritan Club aided by the Ruritanettes, raised funds through donations and fund-raising projects to erect a new brick building at 3230 Van Horn Street in Bloomingdale where it still operates today.

Colonial Heights History

In 1961, the Sullivan County Library Board decided to look into the feasibility and need for a branch library in the Kingsport suburb of Colonial Heights. A book deposit station for the Watauga Regional bookmobile had been servicing Colonial Heights since 1956. A committee was formed by the Colonial Heights Service Club with Doug Midkiff serving as chairman of the library project. Pitser M. Lyons, the minister of the Colonial Heights Presbyterian Church, offered space for a library in their newly renovated building. The Service Club donated money for shelving and paint. D.E. Carter constructed shelves for the library and Doug Dellinger painted the space as a Boy Scout project. The Kingsport branch of the AAUW (the American Association of University Women) was asked for help in providing personnel to run the library. The library board had established the policy that a branch would be operated by volunteers for the first year, after which the need for a branch would be determined. And as the use of the library expanded during its first year, the board was convinced that Colonial Heights did indeed need a library branch.

During the first 10 years at the Colonial Heights Library, additional space in the church was given to the library, a summer storytime was started, and circulation increased.

In 1975, the Colonial Heights Presbyterian Church remodeled its former manse to serve as a community center and space was included in the plans to move the branch library into part of the building. After the efforts and hard work of many volunteers, the branch opened at this location in 1978. In May 1995, representatives of the county accepted the deed to the Pactolus Community Center near Sullivan South High School with plans to renovate the building to house the Colonial Heights library branch. After the renovations were completed, the library collection was cataloged, boxed, and moved to the new building with the help of Boy Scout Troop 48 and members of the Job Corps.

Finally, the library reopened at its current location at 149 Pactolus Road in August 1995. In 2003, the Jan Miles Children’s Room was added to the building, providing a spacious area for children to discover the joys of reading.

Sullivan Gardens History

The fourth branch of the Sullivan County Library System was established in Sullivan Gardens in 1975. The citizens of the community, led by the Sullivan Garden Optimist Club, entered into an agreement with Sullivan County to establish a branch library.

The community was responsible for the housing, half of all equipment, and procuring volunteer staff for one year. The library officially opened on January 19, 1975 in a building owned by Mrs. Walter Moody, the widow of the late Walter F. Moody, former Tennessee legislator, Sullivan County magistrate and community leader. In his honor, the library was named the Moody Memorial Branch Library.

That same year, the Sullivan Gardens Optimist Club won first place for its work in establishing the library branch in the culture and education category of the Optimist International Community Projects Competition judged at the 57th convention in San Francisco, California. The Sullivan Gardens Optimist Club notified the library board in 1981 that they could no longer fund the branch’s building and that it was to be sold. The Sullivan County School Board gave permission for a building to be erected on Sullivan Gardens Middle School property and a contract was entered into to construct an all-steel building at that site.

The library moved into the new building in the summer of 1981 and was renamed the Sullivan Gardens Branch Library.

Thomas Memorial History

Library services have been provided to the Bluff City community beginning as early as 1949, when a collection of books was kept at the Smith Drug Store. Then in 1964, the Avoca Library began providing Bluff City residents with reading materials. The annexation of Avoca by the city of Bristol brought an end to that relationship in 1973, but Sullivan County stepped in and established the third branch of the Sullivan County Library System.

The Bluff City Branch Library was first housed in a rent-free building that had been provided by the First Christian Church of Bluff City. In 1990, the Friends of the Bluff City Library raised funds that allowed the library to relocate on Main Street in the former post office building. Then in 1991, it was proposed that the county purchase for the sum of one dollar the property housing the Thomas Memorial Presbyterian Church for use of the library branch. It was stipulated that the library be known as the Thomas Memorial Branch Library and that the building revert back to the Presbyterian Church should the library cease to use it.

Renovations were made to the building, the majority of which was funded by the Friends of the Library, and the branch was opened at its current location in 1992.