Remembering the journey of the John McIntire Library’s remodel

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The John McIntire Library, the central location of the Muskingum County Library System, officially re-opened yesterday. So let’s take a look at what’s new and how we got here.

After 18 months and approximately $9.8 million dollars, the John McIntire Library has seen it’s largest remodel in over 33 years. According to the library’s marketing and community relations manager, Sean Fennell, planning a remodel on this scale required careful thought and a lot of community input.

“Right at the end of 2020, we began thinking about what libraries look like in, you know, this kind of modern world and that’s when we began working with all of our community members to understand really what people need or are looking for in library service,” Fennell said. “So we had a whole bunch of community campaign surveys and community meetings and feedback sessions at every single one of our locations to make sure that our strategic plan was aligned first, so that then we could understand what people actually wanted from a library post 2020.”

The Muskingum County Library System’s board strategically set aside around $6 million over the years in preparations for this project. According to Fennell, it was the support of the the community that helped cross that financial finish line.

“I believe we funded over 40% of the project through individuals, and you know, foundations as well,” Fennell said. “So, we were able to really maximize the dollars that the board set aside to allow us to create this brand-new space.”

One of the notable contributions from a foundation in the community was from the Zanesville Canal and Manufacturing Company. The organization was originally founded by the library’s namesake and contributed $650,000 to the project. Another major contribution came from the J.W. and M.H Straker Charitable Foundation, which contributed $2 million dollars.

The John McIntire Library closed its doors on Nov. 2, 2024. During that time, they operated out of the Carnegie wing which was affectionately called the Mini-Mac, until it too had to close in January of this year to finish the renovation. Now that the ribbon is cut and the library is back to business as usual, Fennell shares what he is looking forward to most about working in the redesigned space.

“We really wanted to get people back into our building,” Fennell said. “That’s what we missed the most, is seeing our community here, using our spaces, talking to us. We missed our community, we want to see everybody back at the library.”

Some of the renovation highlights include the re-imagined children’s space on the lower floor with interactive and creative set pieces, a teen’s space that includes opportunities to game, publicly available meeting spaces, and the makerspace. That last one includes 3-D printers, a sewing machine, and even an audio recording studio.

“There’s so many things to talk about because the building really has been completely re-imagined. So the John McIntire that your were use to before, it really is going to be an incredibly different fresh space,” Fennell said.