Joe Knueven, director of the Wilmington Public Library, recently spoke at a Wilmington Rotary Club meeting.

Knueven said he was born and raised in Cincinnati and he received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati and master’s degree of library science from Indiana University. Also, he has worked 25 years in library positions and came to Wilmington in 2018.

Knueven said the Wilmington Public Library was built in 1904 with Carnegie funds. In 1930, the back center addition was built, then in 1997 the two-side wing additions were added.

Clinton County serves three independent libraries – Wilmington, Blanchester and Sabina (which includes New Vienna branch).

Wilmington Library services the following locations: Wilmington, Clinton-Massie (which is staffed) and Port William (which is self-service). Approximately 102,000 items are in those three locations. The library has 23 employees.

Current programs include baby social time, school age programs for kids and teens, adult lectures, and book clubs. The biggest problem age bracket is between 18-35. The library is currently working to develop programs to interest that age bracket.

Many virtual resources: ebook, hoopla, libby, kanopy, newspapers.com, mango language services

Knueven said that the future plans are for: strategic planning, robust marketing, makerspace in Wilmington, events outside of library and partnerships with other organizations.