Youngstown library to celebrate 200th birthday of founding father
YOUNGSTOWN — The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County will celebrate the life and legacy of Reuben McMillan on his 200th birthday with a Facebook Live event at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Dr. David Ritchie, president of the library board of trustees; Aimee Fifarek, library executive director; Tim Bresnahan, library trustee; and Deborah Liptak, library development director, will speak at the event.
McMillan was born in Canfield on Oct. 7, 1820. He was a school superintendent and one of the library's founding fathers.
The PLYMC was officially incorporated as the Youngstown Library Association on Oct. 27, 1880. The name was changed to the Reuben McMillan Free Library Association on March 5, 1898, to honor McMillan, who died June 23 of that year. His name is etched in limestone on the face of the Main Library, 305 Wick Ave.
McMillan's vision was to make books and library materials available to all people in the community, not just to students in the schools. This vision helped lay the foundation for the Mahoning County library system still in existence today, a news release states.
A video detailing McMillan's life will be available on the library's website Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the library announced that it will help its customers enter 2021 with a "clean slate," as a campaign to eliminate overdue fees will begin in December.
Fees for overdue materials will be waived, but costs for materials that are not returned will still be charged.
"Most of our patrons are very conscientious about returning their materials. It was one of the most frequent questions we received while our book drops were closed early in the pandemic," Fifarek said. "It's important to us to get materials into people's hands — and equally important to get those materials back so that they can be enjoyed by other patrons."
This story was originally published October 6, 2020 at 4:45 AM with the headline "Youngstown library to celebrate 200th birthday of founding father."