Updates on the Remodel of the John McIntire Library

January 6, 2025

Mary Behanna,

ZANESVILLE, OH – The highly anticipated remodel of the John McIntire Library is well under way.

Construction workers from Paul Construction Company have been hard at work, demolishing the old to make way for the new and exciting improvements.

Stacey Russell, the Executive Director of the Muskingum County Library System, said it’s been an interesting experience to see all of the walls and ceilings coming down, but she’s ready for the community to see what they’ve been working on.

“They’re doing a little bit of framing but hopefully in the next week or so they’re going to have a lot more framing going on and putting plumbing in, starting all of that,” Russell said. “We’re still actively fundraising, we’re really, really close to our goal, however we did have to not accept one of the alternates and we would love to be able to fundraise enough money to get the entire project taken care of.”

Kyle Graham, one of the Project Managers, says this project has been very special to him. He said his grandmother served as a board member for the Library when it underwent it’s first remodel.

“Now that I’m in this position it’s actually really cool to have this generation be a part of the community and then really see this thing grow,” Graham explained. “With all of the technology aspects, all of the new undertakings that the Library is doing for the community, adult services and for the kids services, it’s great.”

“One of the things we’re most proud of course, and the board, is keeping as much as we could of this work local,” added Phil Lash another Project Manager. “We have a lot of local contractors working here. They always say for a dollar spent locally that, that dollar will get re-spent 7 times before it leaves the community. So a $1 Million investment actually ends up being $7 Million locally, we love what we’re doing here and trying to keep as much as we can local.”

If you are interested in helping with the Library’s remodel, you can head to their website for more information.