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Kent Free Library

Coordinates: 41°09′12″N 81°21′41″W / 41.1534°N 81.3613°W / 41.1534; -81.3613
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Kent Free Library
Front side facing West Main Street, 2009
Map
41°09′12″N 81°21′41″W / 41.1534°N 81.3613°W / 41.1534; -81.3613
Location312 West Main Street
Kent, Ohio 44240
United States
Established1892
Collection
Size166,407 (2021)[1]
Access and use
Circulation533,077 (2021)[1]
Population served34,257 (2021)[1]
Members35,782 (2019)
Other information
Budget$2.5 million (2019)[1]
DirectorStacey Richardson
Employees25 (2019)
Websitekentfreelibrary.org
Original Carnegie portion of the library, which opened in 1903.

The Kent Free Library is a public library located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The oldest part of its current building is a Carnegie library that opened in 1903. The library is part of the Portage Library Consortium, which includes the Portage County Library District and Reed Memorial Library in nearby Ravenna, and is a school district library associated with the Kent City School District.

Kent Free Library was established in 1892 as the first use of an 1892 Ohio law that allowed municipalities under 5,000 residents to tax residents for library support. Initially, the library was housed in a downtown Kent business block. Pittsburgh steel industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie offered the then-village of Kent $11,500 for construction of a permanent home for the library in 1901, contingent on a suitable location and voter approval of a tax levy for maintenance. Kent voters approved the measure and town namesake Marvin Kent donated the land, a lot at the southwest corner of West Main and South River Streets. The library opened at its new location on September 26, 1903.

Since 1903, the library has undergone several expansions, with the latest expansion occurring in 2004–2006. During the 2004–2006 expansion, the three previous additions to the original Carnegie library were demolished and a new three-story addition was built in their places while the original Carnegie library was renovated and restored. The addition tripled available space by adding approximately 55,000 square feet (5,100 m2) to the original Carnegie building. During construction, the library was temporarily housed in Kent's University Plaza shopping center. The current building and the renovated Carnegie portion opened on September 26, 2006, exactly 103 years after the Carnegie library first opened.[2][3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Kent Free Library". Libraries.org. Library Technology Guides. March 19, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  2. ^ Wroten, Bryan (2006-09-25). "Kent Free Library opens tomorrow". KentNewsNet.com. Kent State University Student Media. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  3. ^ Getrost, Christina (1993). A History of the Kent Free Library, Kent, Ohio 1958-1992. Kent, Ohio, USA: Kent State University. pp. 7–8.
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