Kent Free Library
Encyclopedia
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
located in Kent
Kent, Ohio
Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeastern Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 27,906 at the 2000 United States Census and 28,904 in the 2010 Census...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Opening in 1892, it was originally the result of the first use of an 1892 Ohio law which allowed municipalities under 5,000 to tax residents for library support. In 1903 the library moved to its current location, funded mainly by an $11,500 gift from Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
. It is part of the Portage Library Consortium, which includes the Portage County Library District and Reed Memorial Library in nearby Ravenna
Ravenna, Ohio
* Chris Bangle; automobile designer* Bill Bower, last surviving pilot of the Doolittle Raid* David D. Busch; best-selling author* William Rufus Day; U.S. Supreme Court justice* Calvin Hampton; Classical organist* Robert B...
. It is currently a school district library associated with the Kent City School District. The library has undergone several expansions since 1903, with the latest expansion occurring in 2004-2006. This expansion saw the demolition of the three previous additions and the construction of a large addition and renovation of the original Carnegie building which tripled available space to approximately 55000 square feet (5,109.7 m²). During construction, the library was housed in Kent's University Plaza shopping center
Strip mall
A strip mall is an open-area shopping center where the stores are arranged in a row, with a sidewalk in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a unit and have large parking lots in front...
. The current building and the renovated Carnegie portion opened on 26 September 2006, exactly 103 years since the original library opened in 1903.