The Akron-Summit County Public Library (ASCPL) strives to include materials to cover the widest range of subjects and viewpoints consistent with the interests and needs of the community within budgetary and space constraints. The collection reflects diverse political, religious, and socioeconomic views and contains representative materials for a variety of abilities, races, ethnicities, sexualities, and gender identities. The inclusion of an item in the collection in no way represents an endorsement by ASCPL of any idea, policy or theory contained in that item.
While the Library Board of Trustees has the responsibility to establish policies for the selection of materials, the responsibility for materials selection ultimately rests with the Executive Director. The direct selection of materials is delegated to the Collection Development Department and other professional staff who are determined to be qualified due to their education, experience, job classification and training.
The Library collection serves as a central reference and referral source for the community with a broad range of circulating and non-circulating materials for adults, children, and teens. Digital resources are available at all Library locations and via remote access when possible.
Materials are selected in a variety of formats to address the needs of current and potential users regardless of ability, age, educational level, gender, nationality, political affiliation, race, religion, sexuality, or socioeconomic status.
In acquiring materials, the overall value of each item, as a whole, determines whether it is added to the collection.
The Library shall apply one or more of the following selection criteria when evaluating materials:
When considering digital materials, some collections and databases are provided through the State of Ohio. Additionally, some digital collections purchased by the Library are provided “as is” from the vendor. For these types of resources, ASCPL professionals do not select individual titles. The value of the resource, as a whole, is a prime consideration for its addition to the collection.
The inclusion of independently or self-published materials is based on the merits of the work and must meet the criteria for selection set forth in this policy. Works by local authors, defined as current or former residents of Summit County, and works that have regional interest may receive special consideration.
The Library’s collection is inclusive and represents multiple viewpoints of issues as far as availability of materials, budget and space allow. Selection of materials use the criteria stated in this policy. The gender, nationality, political views, race, religion or sexuality of an author or creator; offensive language; depictions or descriptions of violence or sexually explicit activity; controversial content of an item; or endorsement or disapproval by an individual or group in the community does not cause an item automatically to be included or excluded from the collection.
There may be materials that a customer may find objectionable. Conversely, material that a customer feels is important may not be in the collection. In either event, the Library has procedures to request the inclusion or request the reconsideration of materials.
The responsibility for monitoring an individual child's listening, reading, and viewing habits rests with their parent or guardian. Selection of materials for the entire library collection is not restricted by the possibility that children may obtain materials that their parents or guardians consider inappropriate.
Although the Library provides customers with access to the Internet, it is the responsibility of the customer to use good judgment when considering which resources to use. Internet content is not evaluated as part of the Collection Development Policy.
The Akron-Summit County Public Library accepts donations of materials with the explicit understanding that the item may be retained or disposed of at the discretion of the Library. No monetary appraisal is made of donated materials. The Library will give the donor a written acknowledgment recording the quantity of items. Materials that are not added to the Library's collection will be forwarded to the appropriate Friends of the Library organization where they may be sold, donated to another organization, or discarded.
Donations of large collections which fall into subject categories or areas not previously developed by the Library will receive careful study. Considerations for acceptance include the cost implications, maintenance, growth of the specific collection and relevance to the overall mission of the Library.
Donations of materials sponsored by commercial or special interest groups will be carefully evaluated to ensure that they conform to the selection criteria set forth in this policy.
When the Library receives a monetary donation for the purchase of materials, the Collection Development staff will select appropriate titles using the Principles of Material Selection listed in this document.
It is the routine practice of the Library to evaluate materials for withdrawal based on a variety of criteria including age, condition, accuracy, and demand. The responsibility for weeding is shared among branch, division, Mobile Services and Collection Development staff.
Withdrawn materials may be considered for replacement. Others may be updated with more timely materials on the subject. The same principles used for original selection will be applied to replacements.
The Library affirms its commitment to interlibrary cooperation. In some cases, the most satisfactory service to a library customer is retrieval of materials via an interlibrary loan, or by referral to another library or community agency. In all cases, the staff of the Library shall offer available resource sharing options in order to meet the informational needs of the customer.
Respecting the right of each person to have the freedom to read, view and listen is central to what public libraries provide for the community. It should be a rare occurrence that material would be removed based on an objection to its content.
Library customers who live in the ASCPL service area as defined by the State Library of Ohio, may use the following procedure to request the removal of material they find objectionable. A separate Request for Reconsideration Form must be submitted for each library title. There is a limit of two Reconsideration Requests per ASCPL customer (or organization they represent) per year.
The customer should first express their concerns to the manager of the ASCPL location where they encountered the material. That manager may be able to convey reasons it is included in the collection. If the customer is dissatisfied with the explanation, the next step is for the customer to discuss it with the Collection Development Coordinator. At this point, the customer may ask for a Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials form and return the completed form to:
Collection Development Coordinator
Akron-Summit County Public Library
60 S. High Street
Akron, Ohio 44326-0001
Upon receipt of the completed form, the Executive Director will convene an ad hoc Library Materials Reconsideration Committee. The committee will include the Collection Development Coordinator and other appropriate Library personnel with subject or age level expertise. Members of the committee will receive a copy of the form as completed by the customer and a copy of the title under reconsideration. The committee will
While an item is under reconsideration, it will remain on the shelves. The Executive Director will consider the committee’s report and inform the customer, in writing, of the Executive Director’s decision about the material.
If the customer is not satisfied with the decision of the Executive Director, the customer may submit, within fourteen days after the decision is sent, a written appeal to the Board of Trustees of the Akron-Summit County Public Library. The appeal should be in the form of a letter addressed to:
President, Board of Trustees
Akron-Summit County Public Library
60 South High Street
Akron, Ohio 44326-0001
Attention: Request for Reconsideration
The Board will review the Executive Director’s decision to determine whether it is consistent with the Collection Development Policy. The Board will reverse the decision of the Executive Director only if it finds that the decision was clearly inconsistent with the Collection Development Policy.
The Executive Director will inform the customer, in writing, of the results of the Board’s review. Decisions by the Board to deny an appeal are final and there will be no further reconsideration of the material for five years.
Adopted October 31, 2024
ASCPL Board of Trustees
Akron-Summit County Public Library is committed to providing a website that is accessible to all members of the community. We are actively working to improve website accessibility and usability on an ongoing basis.
The Akron-Summit County Public Library integrates accessibility into our procurement processes, internal policies, and staff training. We support an inclusive environment through the following measures:
The Akron-Summit County Public Library has adopted the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1, Level AA as its digital accessibility standard. These guidelines were developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and describe best practices for making web content more accessible to individuals with disabilities. The library is working to fully conform with these guidelines to make its website and digital offerings accessible to everyone.
Although we aim for full compliance, some parts of the website may not yet fully meet these standards. We are actively identifying and addressing accessibility issues and are continually implementing solutions to improve accessibility and usability for everyone.
Our website provides accessibility tools from EqualWeb. EqualWeb's automatic accessibility tool implements the following measures to our website:
While the widget can support many users, it may not meet all accessibility needs or fully address every barrier. We recognize that true accessibility is achieved through robust underlying code. We are committed to remediating our core website structure to ensure compatibility with native assistive technologies like screen readers and keyboard-only navigation.
Some areas of our website may include content provided by third-party providers. While we encourage vendors and partners to provide accessible content, we cannot guarantee the accessibility of third-party materials that are not fully under our control.
The Issue: Many of our older digitized items (such as historical photographs and scanned manuscripts) lack descriptive alternative text or OCR (Optical Character Recognition).
The Reason: These items were digitized using legacy technology prior to current accessibility standards.
The Workaround: If you need a description or transcription of a specific historical document, please email
The Issue: Some older PDF documents, particularly archival reports or complex forms, may not be fully optimized for screen reader navigation (missing tags or incorrect reading order).
The Reason: Converting high volumes of legacy PDFs is an ongoing manual process.
The Workaround: We can provide the information in a different format (such as a Word document or physical print) upon request.
The Issue: Some aspects of our search catalog and certain research databases provided by external vendors may not fully support keyboard-only navigation or may have low color contrast.
The Reason: These platforms are developed by third-party vendors. We are actively advocating for improvements and reviewing VPATs (Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates) during our procurement process.
The Workaround: Our reference librarians are available via phone at 330.643.9000 to assist with searches and resource retrieval.
The Issue: Some older video recordings on our website or social media may lack synchronized closed captioning or audio descriptions.
The Reason: These were produced before current captioning workflows were implemented.
The Workaround: We are working to caption new content. If you need a transcript for an older video, please let us know.
Accessibility is an ongoing effort. We regularly review our website using automated tools and manual testing. As part of our commitment, we will assess new content, monitor accessibility issues, address barriers as they are identified, and make updates to improve accessibility and provide an inclusive digital experience.
If you experience difficulty accessing any part of our website, please let us know so we can assist you and work to resolve the issue.
When contacting us, please include:
We aim to respond to accessibility feedback and requests for assistance in a timely manner.
Three Sealed Bids will be received for each of the three roof projects no later than 9:00 a.m. local time on Wednesday, March 18, 2026 for the Tallmadge Roof Replacement, Thursday, March 19, 2026 for the Ellet Roof Replacement Project, Friday, March 20, 2026 for the Nordonia Hills Roof Replacement Project, and each roof project bid will be opened publicly at the ASCPL Main Branch room 2B by The Fiscal Officer of the Akron-Summit County Public Library (ASCPL) for the:
Tallmadge Library Roof Replacement
90 Community Road,
Tallmadge, OH 44278
Ellet Library Roof Replacement
2470 E, Market Street,
Akron, OH 44312
Nordonia Hills Library Roof Replacement
9458 Olde Eight Road
Northfield, OH 44067
This project includes furnishing and/or installing all labor, equipment, materials and incidentals required to perform all the work outlined in the project manual. This is to include, but is not limited to, replacing the roof systems, roof decks, all sheet metal components, masonry repairs, window/door replacement, razing screens, painting steel, attic ventilation, EIFS replacement, as designed for the three branches.
Opinion of probable construction cost for the Tallmadge roof project is $3,273,963.
Opinion of probable construction cost for the Ellet roof project is $1,485,000.
Opinion of probable construction cost for the Nordonia Hills roof project is $1,430,000.
The design team consists of:
Mechanical Engineer
Scheeser Buckley Mayfield (SBM), 1540 Corporate Woods Pkwy, Uniontown, OH 44685
Building Exterior Consultant
Construction Resources, Inc., 33900 Station Street, Solon, OH 44139
Structural Engineer
Makarich Structural Engineering, LLC, PO Box 1389, Willoughby, OH 44096
Bids for the above-described work must be submitted on forms (or copies thereof) furnished with the bid documents and in accordance with the plans and specifications, dated December 2025, authored by Construction Resources, Inc., 33900 Station Street, Solon, OH 44139, Telephone (440) 248-9800. Copies of said plans and specifications may be obtained by bidders or other interested parties for a $150.00 non- refundable fee, made payable to Construction Resources, Inc. The plans and specifications may be reserved for pick-up at the pre-bid meeting or picked up at the office of Construction Resources, Inc.
A Mandatory Prebid Meeting will be at the Akron-Summit County Public Library Tallmadge Library located at 90 Community Road, Tallmadge, OH 44278, on Monday, March 9 at 8:00 a.m. local time. All attendees shall meet at the Tallmadge Library Entrance. The prebid meeting will continue by also visiting the Ellet Library and the Nordonia Hills Library during the prebid meeting.
Bids shall be addressed to Michelle Scarpitti, Fiscal Officer of the Akron-Summit County Public Library. All sealed bids shall be clearly marked on the outside of the envelope “ASCPL Tallmadge Library Roof Project”, or “Ellet Library Roof Project”, or “Nordonia Hills Roof Project” as is appropriate for the bid being made. Bids received after the time designated in this advertisement will be returned unopened.
Bids must be delivered to the Welcome Desk at the High Street Entrance of the Akron-Summit County Public Library, located at 60 South High Street Akron, OH 44326.
All questions concerning the project shall be directed by email to Brian Smole of Construction Resources, Inc.:
The Akron-Summit County Public Library reserves the right to reject any and all bids, and any part or parts of any bid, and also the right to waive any informalities in the bid. The Akron-Summit County Public Library has a right to hold bids for up to sixty (60) days.
The Akron-Summit County Public Library is soliciting Statements of Qualifications (SOQs) from qualified independent building exterior consulting firms to provide comprehensive design services for the Main Library Roof Replacement Project located at 60 South High Street, Akron, Ohio 44326.
The project involves the replacement of low-sloped roof systems and associated wall and skylight repairs above the roofline. Services to be provided include site assessment, design development, construction documents, bidding assistance, and construction administration.
Interested firms may obtain the full RFQ following this link on the Library’s website or by contacting:
Peter Schantz
Director of Facilities
Akron-Summit County Public Library
Statements of Qualifications must be submitted electronically in PDF format no later than December 2, 2025 at 12:00pm (Noon) to
The subject line of the email shall read: “RFQ – Akron-Summit County Public Library Roof Replacement.”
The Library reserves the right to accept or reject any or all submissions and to waive any informalities in the process.
1. Has a budget been established for the project?
ANSWER- YES A PRELIMINARY BUDGET HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED
2. Has a schedule been established for the project?
ANSWER- WE ANTICIPATE COMPLETING THE PROJECT OVER THE NEXT 2 YEARS
3. Is there an opportunity to visit the building?
ANSWER- YES, THAT CAN BE ARRANGED
4. Are there any previous assessment reports available for review?
ANSWER- WE HAVE ROOF CONDITION REPORTS. THESE WILL BE SHARED WITH THE SELECTED FIRM.
5. Could they provide a description (or original drawings) for the building, particularly regarding the structure and building envelope?
ANSWERS-
a. What is the existing roof system? TPO
b. How old is the roof? THE ROOF WAS INSTALLED IN 2004
c. Are there known drain/plumbing issues? NONE AT THIS TIME
d. The RFQ mentioned leaks at rooftop walls… what are they constructed of? BRICK AND CMU
6. The description for CA indicates “periodic site visits” and “daily onsite field observation and reports”. What is the intent for the CA work?
ANSWER- CA SERVICES ARE TO ENSURE CONTRACTOR ADHERANCE TO PLANS AND SPECS. PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCE AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING THIS OVERSIGHT.
The Akron-Summit County Public Library posts all current public bids and requests for qualifications on this page for qualified vendors and professional design services.
NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS FOR DESIGN PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
The Akron-Summit County Public Library Board of Trustees is accepting qualifications from design professionals to provide design services for the Library Branches Roof Replacements Project. The Project is anticipated to include roof replacements to the Tallmadge Library Branch, Ellet Library Branch, and Nordonia Hills Library Branch. Interested firms may request an RFQ from Andrew Rockey, Facilities Project Specialist, at
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60 South High Street
Akron, Ohio 44326
330.643.9000
