History :
Records indicate that by 1934-35 Purvis had a public library. By 1940 the library was in a frame building on Pecan Street , facing the back of the jailhouse.
By 1957 the library was next to the old post office and was a member of the Mississippi Library Commission. In October 1957 the Board of Supervisors passed a one-mill levy to support the county-wide library service. The service included book mobile service.
By 1976 Purvis Library was a member of the Pine Forest Regional Library System, and that year Purvis Library held its first "story hour" with 63 children. Friends of the Library and the Purvis Women's Club sponsored story hours and summer reading programs. Both groups held fund raisers, and donations were accepted for the library. The Friends also offered library service to shut-ins and were responsible for proposing a new library building.
The new building, at the present location at 122 Shelby Speights Drive , had a ground-breaking ceremony in 1977. Lt. Governor Evelyn Gandy was speaker for the grand opening of the new library on April 9, 1978. Fifty percent of the cost was born by the Mississippi Library Commission, one fourth by Lamar County and one fourth by the City of Purvis . In 1994 the library was renovated.
In October of 1997 the Board of Supervisors elected to pull out of the Pine Forest Regional Library System and create the present one-county, four branch public library system, which is headquartered at Purvis and is known as the Lamar County Library System.
