In the fall of 2010, a neighbor of Blythe , Georgia , contacted The Rural Library Project about helping the town construct a new library.  With a population of 800 people, Blythe is located twenty miles southwest of Augusta , Georgia , in Richmond and Burke Counties .

     In the spring of 2011, The Rural Library Project was invited by the mayor and city council to discuss the process of establishing a library in a small, rural community.  A library committee of community volunteers was formed to proceed with fundraising and the City received a generous donation of library shelving from the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library of Emory University in Atlanta.

     Soon we returned to Blythe with a team of architects to visit and review possible sites for a library and listen to residents discuss the design features they want in their new library.  The general agreement was that the library design should reflect the architectural style of nearby City Hall.  With the help of the Betty and Davis Fitzgerald Foundation, The Rural Library Project awarded a grant to the City of Blythe to develop conceptual drawings for a new public library located on city property next to a new veterans’ memorial park and within walking distance of Blythe Elementary School . 

 
Over 50 residents and neighbors of Blythe attend town hall meeting to br> discuss the design of their future library

 
Daan White, co-founder of The Rural Library Project, presents Mayor Patricia Cole and community volunteers with a grant to develop conceptual plans for the Blythe Public Library

A conceptual plan of the Blythe Public Library

     The fundraising committee in Blythe continues to meet regularly to plan and carry out fundraising activities in the community.  These have included barbecue dinners, a booth at the annual Blythe Fever festival, and mailing out a fundraising appeal. 

     With the accumulation of Special Location Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds and ongoing fundraising activities, the City celebrates the progress of the library project with a groundbreaking ceremony on October 5, 2013