By Melanie Patterson

The North Jefferson News



Warrior is well on its way to getting out of its cramped quarters and into a spacious, state-of-the-art facility.

A ribbon-cutting and fund-raiser is scheduled for Aug. 16 at the former National Guard armory in Warrior.

The building will be renovated to become the North Jefferson-Blount Regional Library.

Rather than just serving Warrior, the new library will serve all citizens in north Jefferson and west Blount counties.

The North Jefferson-Blount Public Library Foundation has done the majority of the work in getting a new facility for the library. The nine-member foundation, with members from Hayden, Morris and Warrior, started working on the project four years ago.

Currently located at 10 1st Street, the tiny Warrior Public Library is overflowing.

The foundation, headed up by Jackie Wesson, has secured a $50,000 planning grant to help cover architectural costs. Foundation members Anne Jolly and Linda Taylor wrote the grant and are applying for additional grants.

Head librarian Faye Pugh said the 1,800-square-foot library contains more than 26,000 books, not counting all of the books that are checked out. She said the building could not hold all of the books if they were checked in.

Pugh said she is “ecstatic” about the new site for the library.

“This has been a lifelong dream ever since I started at the library,” Pugh said. “I’m just so thankful there is finally a group of people willing to work together long enough to see the project through.”

The Warrior Public library moved to its current site in 1983, moving from across the street in what everyone in Warrior calls the “old pawn shop.”

Pugh was working for the library on a temporary and a volunteer basis at the time, helping move the library to First Street. She has worked full-time for the library since 1985.

The new library will be about 14,000 square feet and will feature wireless Internet, expanded library programs, improved resources and technology, comfortable seating areas and even a coffee shop, according to library foundation literature.

The library fund-raising festival will feature crafts, drawings, prizes, food and a silent auction.

Items in the silent auction include decorator cakes, Lumineers (teeth veneers), Lasik surgery and more.

The library foundation is seeking additional donations for the silent auction, which will start at noon and end at 2 p.m.

The festival is scheduled for Aug. 16, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Warrior armory.

To donate items for the silent auction or for more information about the fund-raising festival, call Linda Taylor at 647-3506 or Anne Jolly at 590-4909.