BENTON, Tenn. -- Looking for summer reading, Susan McCurry came into the Benton Library on Monday.

She was there only a few minutes and left without a book.

But after losing a bid last year for more county funding, Polk County Library supporters hope a summer reading project in Ducktown and an open house will generate public enthusiasm for the small libraries here and in Ducktown.

The libraries have minimal budgets for books and supplies. The Benton library gets five books a month for young readers and not much else, librarian Wannell Beard said.

Both libraries have computers, but patrons can't use them -- they're sitting in boxes waiting to be installed. That has to wait until a state technician can take time to travel to Polk County.

The Benton library is in a basement room of the Polk County Courthouse.

"When it started here many years ago, it was a community library," Ms. Beard said. She opens the Benton Library three days a week.

Her library patrons are mostly from the immediate Benton area, she said.

Mileage is a factor, Ms. Beard said. People who live near the Georgia line usually go to the Cleveland library. People who live near the McMinn County line go to the Athens library.

"I hardly ever have anybody here from Delano or the lower end (near Georgia)," she said.

The Ducktown library is in the showroom of what was once an auto dealership. It has begun a summer reading program for children, one day a week.

Polk is the only Tennessee county without a full-service library, according to library board Chairwoman Sheppie Dunn. She said the board is planning an open house in Ducktown in July for the community.

Over several years, the local Friends of the Library group raised money in grants and pledges for two libraries, one in Benton and one in the Copperhill area. When the Polk County Commission, struggling with budget issues, did not commit more than the current funding, the group filed a lawsuit.

Circuit Court Judge Mike Sharp ruled last September the group failed to make a claim upon which relief could be granted. He dismissed the lawsuit, and supporters said they would have to return most of the money they had raised.

Jewell Raburn came to the Benton library earlier this week. She usually goes to the Cleveland library, she said.

"They have so much more. We need all the facilities they have," she said. "I know there's a need for them."