The Best Outside Sculpture - Coshocton Library

     Can you guess what book the boy to the left is reading?  He sits atop a pile of 100 books. Each book carries the title of some of the best books of the last one hundred years. So what book could this young lad be reading?

      This wonderful statue sits in front of the library building in Coshocton, Ohio. Located in eastern central  Ohio Coshocton is about 25 miles north of Zanesville, Ohio. If you have not heard of Coshocton you should make it a stop on your next trip.

Part of the Ohio canal system is located just west of town. A "canal town" of Roscoe invites visitors to wander through it's busy old time shops. But be warned that the bakery there will put a dent in your diet.
     In addition to all the other activities and history of Coshocton they have a library with what I believe is the best outdoor sculpture of any library I have visited.

 The photo to the right was taken from their website and is not the original Carnegie building they occupied from it's opening in 1904. This building is the old Post Office in downtown Coshocton. The library opened in this building in 1974 but it has been refurbished and looks brand new inside.

      In addition to the marvelous statue they have done a splendid work in providing the community with a bright, modern, attractive library. Here are the photos I have from the inside of the library.

Looking toward the entrance - Notice the balcony.
This picture was taken some years ago.

 The above picture is looking one way and the photo to the left is looking the opposite direction. The computers shown above have probably been replaced as the picture is some years old. The library is a light and pleasant place to study or just sit and read. The staff was friendly and helpful. They gladly gave me one of their library cards (not activated)  and my wife purchased one of their library bags.

 To the right is a view from the balcony. The staff said this was once walled off when it was a post office and was used by the post office execs to "peek" at the workers on the main floor.  The library has done a wonderful job with this added space. It is very pleasant to browse the stacks in this balcony area

 The statue in front is not the only place this staff is creative. We saw examples such as the "free month" to the left. Other unique and user friendly ideas are found through out the library.




Here are two views from the balcony. One looking one way and ..well you get the idea.

Now back to that marvelous statue outside. What book did you guess the young boy is reading. Yes!  You got it right. The book is not titled so whatever book you thought of fits. That was part of the design. He is sitting atop 100 books, each one titled. That is part of the interesting story of how this statue came to be. The Coshocton Library of 1904 was the 1000th Carnegie library to be built. In 2004, to celebrate their 100th anniversary, they decided to have this sculpture built.  They wanted to select the best book of each of the last 100 years but had to settle on the best ten books of each decade. (Some years had slim pickings from a literary point of view) Then the genius of this creative staff kicked in. To finance the construction they let citizens who donated $500 select from a list of books. The selected book would be added to the stack and the doners name would be displayed in the library.  I don't know if they also displayed who selected which book. That could be very interesting.

     But moving along, here are some other views of the sculpture.



  There are a few timeless books that did not fit in the last 100 years. A few of them were selected and piled on the base of the statue.  See to the right where my current girlfirend (and wife) is standing. 
(OK Stop looking for two women
in this photo -My wife is my girlfriend!)
There are a few books piled at the bottom of the picture by the base. What do you think these books are? If you go to the Coshocton Library site you will see a list of all 100 books from the last 100 years and also the list of the books on the base of the sculpture. Here is the link you will need to get there. Once on the site look for the place to click on the list of books.

http://coshoctonlibrary.org/green/centennial.php

I hope you have enjoyed this vist to the Coshocton public library.

  Check back in a week or so for more of the interesting libraries I have visited.