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need for more space, the next decade involved many improvements to the individual buildings. In 1977 the Mary Willis
Library opened an annex, creating an additional 4,459 square feet of space. In 1980 the McDuffie County Library moved to the newly renovated U.S. Post Office. In 1985 the Green County Library constructed a new building with 8,600 square feet of space. In 1987 the Thomson-McDuffie County Library replaced the old county library, granting 13,500 square feet.
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The Mary Willis
Library was the first free public library in the state of Georgia when it opened in 1889. The free library was a revolutionary concept in a day when all the state's earlier libraries charged users a subscription fee. The library was founded the previous year by Dr. Francis T. Willis
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By 1974, with the incorporation of McDuffie County, the library system voted to shorten its name to its current form and create a Wilkes County
Library Board in order to oversee the daily operations of their newly grown library system. With an increase in interest for the library, and an ever-growing
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In 1969 the
Taliaferro and Wilkes County libraries began the first iteration of a library system in the region. By 1989 the library moved from the original Holden building to a newly constructed brick building a half block away. The increase in space allowed for the creation of meeting rooms as well
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in 1867, left the library as a gift to his hometown and its citizens. Dr. Willis donated his own private collection of books, plus fifteen thousand dollars for the library's construction, two thousand dollars to purchase furnishings and more books, and another ten thousand dollars as an endowment
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The first libraries to lay the groundwork for what would become the
Bartram Trail Regional Library System were the Mary Willis Library and the Taliaferro County Library. In 1967 these two individual libraries signed a contractual agreement to form what was known as the Wilkes-Taliaferro Regional
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that serves 300 member libraries covering 146 counties of
Georgia. Any resident in a PINES supported library system has access to the system's collection of 11 million books. The library is also serviced by GALILEO, a program of the University System of Georgia which stands for "GeorgiA LIbrary
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In addition to its current collection of library materials, the Mary Willis
Library owns a large and invaluable collection of Wilkes County and other greater Georgia history, including books published by local authors, family memorabilia, and Washington newspapers. The library was added to the
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In 1974 the
Thomson Community Library joined the Bartram Trail Regional Library System. By 1980 in need of more space it moved to the old U.S. Post Office, but by 1987 required yet another building to house its growing collection. A new building was constructed at 338 Main Street in
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passes through the current communities that are part of the library system. While
Bartram was in east Georgia he is recorded to have stayed in the present-day communities of Mary Willis, Taliaferro, and Thomson-McDuffie during his expeditions for his
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The first building that served as the
Talioferro County Library was created in 1916 by businessman John Holden "for use of the 'Ladies of Crawfordville." Upon Holden's death in 1936, the ownership of the library turned over to the town of
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The Thomson-McDuffie County Library was first constructed in 1937, and was originally known as the Thomson Community Library. Like the Taliferro Library, the Thomson library was kept and housed by the Woman's Club in McDuffie County.
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The last county to construct a new building was Taliaferro County, which opened its new library in 1989. Two years later another addition was made to the Mary Willis Library to add more space for book stacks and meeting rooms.
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LEarning Online". This program offers residents in supported libraries access to over 100 databases indexing thousands of periodicals and scholarly journals. It also boasts over 10,000 journal titles in full text.
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whose prominence in the area resulted from his four-year journey in the late 1700s through many of the southern colonies as he identified and discovered various flora and fauna. Also named after him, the
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The Thomson-McDuffie County Library serves McDuffie County in Northeast Georgia, a land area of 256 square miles and a population estimated by the office of planning and budgets to be 22,209.
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The Mary Willis Library serves Wilkes County in Northeast Georgia, a land area of 470 square miles and a population estimated by the office of planning and budgets to be 10,560.
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The Taliaferro County Library serves a land area of 195.5 square miles and a population estimated by the office of planning and budgets to be 1,921.
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and renamed the Thomson-McDuffie County Library to acknowledge the help the City of Thomson provided for the library's operation.
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joined the system and lengthened the name to the Wilkes-Taliaferro-Greene Regional System.
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In 1992 Greene County withdrew from the Bartram Trail Regional Library System to join the
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in memory of his daughter, Mary. Dr. Willis, a local by birth who had moved to
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as the addition of computer capabilities into the present day.
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431:"A Current Look at Georgia Public Libraries and GPLS 2020"
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Library System. Three years into this agreement, in 1970,
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Entrance to the Mary Willis Library annex (added in 1989)
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William Bartram Trail, for which the library is named
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724:County library systems in Georgia (U.S. state)
320:National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
52:Wilkes, McDuffie, Taliaferro counties, Georgia
391:Augusta-Richmond County Public Library System
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197:, United States. The central library is the
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385:Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library System
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729:Public libraries in Georgia (U.S. state)
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367:Library systems in neighboring counties
237:The namesake of the library system is
685:Bartram Trail Regional Library System
655:Bartram Trail Regional Library System
625:Bartram Trail Regional Library System
171:Bartram Trail Regional Library System
19:Bartram Trail Regional Library System
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462:National Register of Historic Places
207:National Register of Historic Places
281:Uncle Remus Regional Library System
681:"Thomson-McDuffie Library History"
336:and was reassigned to public use.
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205:. This location is listed on the
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397:Jefferson County Library System
347:Thomson-McDuffie County Library
181:system serving the counties of
601:The Historical Marker Database
403:Azalea Regional Library System
373:Athens Regional Library System
218:Georgia Public Library Service
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621:"Mary Willis Library History"
253:Elements of Botany Engravings
651:"Talioferro Library History"
379:Elbert County Public Library
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458:"Georgia - Wilkes County".
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327:Taliaferro County Library
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605:Retrieved April 4, 2017.
577:"Timeline - About BTRLS"
466:Retrieved April 4, 2017.
241:, a well-known American
157:33.735493°N 82.738050°W
39:The Mary Willis Library
597:"Mary Willis Library".
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212:BTRLS is a member of
162:33.735493; -82.738050
387:to the east and west
132:http://www.btrl.net/
306:Mary Willis Library
292:Mary Willis Library
216:, a program of the
199:Mary Willis Library
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313:Richmond, Virginia
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522:"GALILEO - About"
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115:Other information
99:Population served
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477:"PINES - About"
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405:to the west
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91:Circulation
57:Established
718:Categories
410:References
243:naturalist
191:Taliaferro
148:82°44′17″W
145:33°44′08″N
73:Collection
287:Branches
225:Namesake
187:McDuffie
120:Director
65:Branches
49:Location
690:4 April
660:4 April
630:4 April
582:4 April
552:4 April
527:4 April
506:4 April
482:4 April
440:13 July
358:Thomson
259:History
195:Georgia
177:) is a
128:Website
107:Members
316:fund.
189:, and
183:Wilkes
501:(PDF)
434:(PDF)
214:PINES
175:BTRLS
692:2017
662:2017
632:2017
584:2017
554:2017
529:2017
508:2017
484:2017
442:2021
169:The
78:Size
60:1974
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
