About Us
History
In 1941, Merle Purcell, the county school superintendent established the first library in the Cornelia Public School. Ella Eberhart was the manager over the 349 books and other materials on loan from the state. During the first month of operation, 131 patrons borrowed 366 total items. In 1950, the library's adult collection was moved to a second floor room in City Hall. After retiring in 1956, Mrs. Eberhart was succeeded by Mrs. Bob Ramey, Nan Holbrook, Lucille Dimon, Ruth Daniel, Isabelle Coffee, Glenda Ward Shore, Yvonne Berrong and then in 1967 by Elios Tench. That same year, the library moved to a new building next to City Hall on Larkin Street built largely through efforts of Mayor Hubert Ritchie. At that time, the collection had 11,000 volumes. In 1987 the library moved to its current location at 301 North Main Street with Library Board Chairman W.C. Spruill being instrumental in the the construction of the new, larger building. After Mrs. Tench retired, she was followed by Geri Ingram, Wally Warren and since 2008 has been managed by Annabelle Wiley. Today's library has over 35,000 items for check out with over 4,500 registered users.
Staff
Jana Deaton- Front Office Manager
Rebecca Grizzle-Youth Services Coordinator
Wanda Paige-Circulation Assistant
Nathan Phengdara-Circulation Assistant
Terri Smith- Circulation Assistant
Annabelle Wiley-Branch Manager
Habersham County Library Board
City of Cornelia Representatives
D Higgins
Jessie Owensby
Sandy Borrow
Jessica Herrin
City of Clarkesville Representatives
Kelly Burgess
Peter Willis
Margie Williamson
Habersham County Representatives
Sandy Blake-Secretary
Jennifer Garrett
Patrick Ledford- Chairman
David Cleghorn
Board of Education Representative
Debra Franklin
Donna James