Betty Worley
Lucy Szelengiewicz
Nina Hunt

DUNLAP, Tenn. -- Starting in September, supporters will launch a yearlong celebration of the Sequatchie County Public Library's 50th anniversary.

When the idea was first proposed in 1959, one local official questioned the wisdom of the initial $500 investment, according to local history.

Now more than one-third of the people in Sequatchie County have library cards.

Friends of the Library President Lucy Szelengiewicz and committee member Nina Hunt said 12 monthly programs start Sept. 20 with an open house and birthday celebration kickoff.

"We are going to try to replicate each month one of the things that was a fundamental part of the early library history," said Ms. Hunt, peeling pages back in a scrapbook filled with photos and newspaper articles chronicling the library's events and milestones.

"For example, their first fundraiser was a yard sale," she said.

October's modern version will be "an upscale yard sale" with more appealing items and handcrafts, and possibly some works contributed by local artists, Ms. Szelengiewicz said.

In December, people get a chance to peruse the library's collection of photographs, many of which are from story-telling programs at the library showing children from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, she said.

"It's going to be exciting, lots of stuff to do and lots of participation," she said.

Both women attribute much of the library's success to director Betty Worley, who took the post in 1962 and is Tennessee's longest-serving director. She started working part time under Wanda Long, who was named the first director in 1959.

Ms. Worley saw the library evolve from a single, small room in what was then the Community Building to an operation with 21 computers and facilities that fill the building.

"Our library is just booming, and I don't know that it's anything that we do," said Ms. Worley. "People in Sequatchie County love books and want to read."

The biggest change came when Microsoft head Bill Gates gave out grants to put computers in libraries across the country, she said.

"When we got the first three computers, that was the changing point," she said. "There was no going back."

Tom "Judge" Greer, the only original library board member still alive, said the library had a shaky start.

In a short video documentary produced by the library group, Mr. Greer said he pitched the idea to the County Court in 1959.

"I told them up front that this would require a local appropriation of $500," Mr. Greer said. "One of the justices said, 'Who's going to read a book?'

The fledgling library was a success from the beginning, he said.

"In the first four days, 421 books had been checked out of the library," he said. "Someone was reading."