New book chronicles 100-year history of Dover Public Library

The Times-Reporter
·2 min read
A new book on the history of the Dover Public Library will be released during the Canal Town Book Festival.
A new book on the history of the Dover Public Library will be released during the Canal Town Book Festival.

DOVER ‒ The Dover Public Library is unveiling its book, "Built by Steel: The History of the Dover Public Library," at the Canal Town Book Festival on May 27 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The book was a collaboration of three authors, Tom Adamich, Library Directory Jim Gill and Local History Librarian Kim Jurkovic. Adamich, Gill and Jurkovic have been working together since December doing research, writing and pulling together a large collection of photographs to illustrate the Dover Public Library’s long history in the community.

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The project utilized the Local History Room’s archive of Dover Public Library history along with the microfilmed local newspaper collection to construct a four-chapter book about the library’s history and role in the last 100 years in Dover.

What's in the book

The four chapters are divided by years.

In the first chapter, “Established by Steel,” the book examines the origins of the Dover Public Library with the American Sheet & Tin Plate Co.’s Reading Room. The next chapter, years 1907 to 1953, tells the story of the library’s existence in three different locations.

Chapter 3 takes the reader through the process of building the current library structure, and its growth as an asset to Dover. The final chapter looks at the modern version of the library as the front porch of the community, a place not just for the printed book, but a place to gather, a place to become connected.

The Author Fair of the Canal Town Book Festival is the Tuscarawas Valley’s largest author fair with more than 30 authors, spanning multiple genres. The festival opens with mystery writer Robin Yocum speaking at the Dover Public Library at 6 p.m. on May 26. For more information about the festival, visit canaltownbookfest.org.

Blooms Printing’s Christy Bloom worked with the authors to format and create a colorful book, filled with photographs that illustrate the pivotal role the library has played for the community of Dover.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: New book released on history of Dover Public Library