What increases a community’s potential? Encourages it to grow? Creates meaningful lives for its members? In many ways, the answer is simply access to resources that embrace a variety of perspectives and inspire individual growth and connection through all phases of life.
That’s why equal access is one of our key values.
Visiting our locations (either in person or virtually) with a Stark Library card opens the door to carefully selected materials that are inclusive, forward-thinking, and as diverse and unique as the communities we serve.
The importance of offering access to diverse collections is an ongoing conversation among library staff, community members, professional organizations, authors, and publishers. Access to diverse collections encourages self-determination and growth for unique individuals who are seen, valued, and reflected in their surroundings. While many voices add to these discussions, browsing library shelves and buildings is a very personal experience. You may be visiting to seek a fresh perspective, dive into a specific resource to accomplish a goal, or stopping by to connect with family and friends in a place where you know you are always welcome and free – to explore, discover, learn, and be.
Whatever the reason for your visit to Stark Library, we invite you into a community space with materials selected and displayed to meet your cultural, informational, and recreational needs. Every community has unique and valuable elements of diversity to explore and celebrate. To encourage continued growth, we recently participated in several assessments of the diversity of our collections, as a snapshot of our catalog at a “moment-in-time” and as an ongoing evaluation of its development and impact on the community. We will continue to assess how our collections are used by the community and build on them so we can continue to reliably meet your needs.
The Library is a place where we can all learn and grow in our understanding of one another. So whatever spark you seek when you enter our doors, you’ll find access on our shelves and in our services – to information, stories, songs, and images that welcome you to share in the infinitely valuable breadth of the human experience.
