September is library card sign up month nationwide, and the Massillon Public Library is seeking not just new cardholders but new designs for the cards. If you’re a patron of Massillon’s three library branches or live in Stark County, you could design a new card for the public library’s quasquicentennial.
“Our current card design has our old logo,” said Tony Vickers, the library’s technology and marketing manager. “It's an image of one of the pillars in front of our library and has ‘Established 1899.’"
The library has a new logo, and Vickers said it would be ideal for creators to incorporate that in their ideas.
Designs can be submitted at the library website, in person or by email to 125years@masonlibrary.org. Entries should be original artwork. AI-generated art will not be accepted. The public can vote on finalists in October.
“We’re picking one winner for each age group: Kids, teens, adults,” Vickers said. “So, there will be three new designs. You can actually pick whatever design you want when you come and sign up for a new library card. If you still have an old library card, you can also choose to just update it if you want one of the new library cards.”
The Massillon Public Library opened on January 1, 1899, as the McClymonds Public Library. The historic home at Fourth Street and North Avenue Northeast still stands. The library moved to its current home, the former residence of city founder James Duncan, in 1937. Additional locations opened in the 1930s, which today exist as the Belloni Branch in Brewster and Askren Branch in Navarre. A bookmobile was added in 2002.
