Re|imagine

What is Re|imagine?

Re|imagine is our plan to live out our mission and vision in Stark County, creating inviting spaces that inspire and empower all people to pursue creativity and lifelong learning. It is a multi-year plan to renovate our buildings, upgrade our technology, and create more flexible spaces for a wide range of use.

Our Mission

We strengthen the community by advancing literacy, connecting people, and encouraging exploration.

Why is Re|imagine Important to Our Community?

Our community showed their belief and good faith in us by passing a new levy in 2019. As a trusted guide in the community, we are committed to being good stewards of the dollars entrusted to us by our taxpayers. Re|imagine is our commitment to invest in our community by properly caring for our buildings and facilities to serve our patrons with excellence in the 21st Century.

The objectives of this project are:

  • To serve each person who walks through our doors with excellence
  • To create more dynamic, flexible spaces that can adapt to meet the needs in the community
  • To implement technology improvements and library industry best practices to better serve patrons
  • To offer professionally curated materials that meet the needs and interests of patrons living in each community we serve

We are excited to announce the next phase in our Re|imagine project! As good stewards of the funds entrusted to us by the community, we knew that we needed to have an ongoing process of assessing the Library’s facilities as well as evaluating the evolving needs of the communities we serve.

Re|imagine Plain Community Branch

We are so excited to be renovating the Plain Community Branch as part of the Library’s Re|imagine project. In addition to a fresh, new look, your Library will have study rooms, a dedicated teen area, new technology, and much more!

 

Master Planning

In 2022, we worked with consultants from the Kent State University Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative to develop an ongoing, long-term master plan for the Library. We visited each branch, conducted extensive analysis, reviewed data, and met with staff, patrons, and community leaders. We also engaged HBM Architects to evaluate our flagship location, Main Library, downtown Canton. Read more about our Master Planning process. 

We plan to build a new 70,000-square-foot Main Library and a 15,000-square-foot Operations Center on the Main Library campus. We will begin planning and designing the new Main Library and the Operations Center in 2023 and hope to break ground on the Operations Center in 2024. This building will house a portion of the Library’s systemwide services. Building this facility first will provide the least disruption during the construction of the new Main Library, which will begin in 2026.

In 2023 we completed the assessment of the Sandy Valley Branch and surrounding areas to determine how we can better serve the residents of South Central Stark County. The Stark Library Board made the decision to relocate the Sandy Valley Branch to Southgate Shopping Center, in order to provide Library services to a greater number of patrons.

Our Re|imagined Libraries

Lake Community Branch

Sign Up for our eNewsletter

Stay up-to-date with all library news and events by signing up for our eNewsletter.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Back to Top