Tennessee State Library & Archives — Local services in Nashville-Davidson

This is an incredible structure that has been in the makings for several years. Their older structure near the Capitol was needing to be upgraded, and so building a new building that was bigger with a more advanced technology focus was a great move. It is truly amazing to have a vast library of the most important Tennessee documents, books, and knowledge.

Chuck Sherrill, our Tennessee state librarian, gave an excellent behind the scenes tour of the activities that go on behind the scenes that is not available for public access. He showed us the department where they digitize maps, historical documents, and even newspapers. He took us to an area where all damaged, torn, or crumpled documents go to be chemically and physically altered to restore them. We went to their -30° walk-in freezer that instantly freezes items without causing any condensation build up, instantly killing any bacteria that could be present and providing the most effective and safe sanitation. You never realize how cold a freezer like that is until you go in one. Finally, the pièce de résistance, is their technology used in their cataloging and storing facility. This massive warehouse stores hundreds of thousands of documents within a football field length and 5 story tall structure. Similar to an Amazon warehouse, robots control retrieving documents and sending them down to the library for people to read. Getting to see this machine work was a real treat, as you can’t fathom the size of their collection without seeing this room.

For those who love Tennessee history, this is the place you...

I dropped by yesterday with my husband and young son. We walked the lobby and started walking towards the restrooms as we told our son fun facts about the state of Tennessee, like that the state dog was our beloved family dog. My son has autism so he loves fun facts! Suddenly we heard someone loudly scolding us that we turned around and the female employee at the desk was yelling from afar very rudely that we couldn’t be in that area of the State Library that this was not a Public Library belittling us as if we didn’t read the Obnoxiously large name at the front of the building. We decided to leave but she just continued to scold us as we walked towards the exit.. as if we are children. If she didn’t want us to go in that area she should have told us as we walked into the building but she didn’t even welcome us or as a matter of fact …didn’t even acknowledge us when we walked in. As much as we love to come here for my son we will not...

The old man working the counter wouldn't let us study because we weren't doing genealogy research. My buddy and I are on leave and just needed two hours somewhere besides some loud coffee shop to study. I understand there are other libraries around town but this one was the closest and honestly seemed most inspiring. Please either update your policy to allow people to study or educate your staff to ensure they are aware that they should allow others to utilize...