Books from former OVU library being donated as WVUP works on buildings
Carolyn Flynn, with Hopewell Church of Christ in Washington, W.Va., places books from the former Ohio Valley University library in a box Tuesday. Representatives of Churches of Christ in the region are gathering the books to be distributed to various churches and affiliated groups, with a community giveaway planned in March. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Jordan Smith, minister at the Coshocton Church of Christ, boxes up books in the former Ohio Valley University library Tuesday. Representatives of Churches of Christ in the region are gathering the books to be distributed to various churches and affiliated groups, with a community giveaway planned in March. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Steve Fuchs, minister at the Lubeck Church of Christ, looks over the books on a shelf at the former Ohio Valley University library Tuesday. Representatives of Churches of Christ in the region are gathering the books to be distributed to various churches and affiliated groups, with a community giveaway planned in March. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Boxes of books from the former Ohio Valley University library are stacked in a trailer Tuesday. Representatives of Churches of Christ in the region are gathering the books to be distributed to various churches and affiliated groups, with a community giveaway planned in March. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Records from the former Ohio Valley University’s board of governors – including documents from Northeast Christian Junior College, which merged with Ohio Valley in the early ‘90s – will be retained by Abilene Christian University in Texas, WVU Parkersburg President Torie Jackson said. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Carolyn Flynn, with Hopewell Church of Christ in Washington, W.Va., places books from the former Ohio Valley University library in a box Tuesday. Representatives of Churches of Christ in the region are gathering the books to be distributed to various churches and affiliated groups, with a community giveaway planned in March. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Jordan Smith, minister at the Coshocton Church of Christ, boxes up books in the former Ohio Valley University library Tuesday. Representatives of Churches of Christ in the region are gathering the books to be distributed to various churches and affiliated groups, with a community giveaway planned in March. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Steve Fuchs, minister at the Lubeck Church of Christ, looks over the books on a shelf at the former Ohio Valley University library Tuesday. Representatives of Churches of Christ in the region are gathering the books to be distributed to various churches and affiliated groups, with a community giveaway planned in March. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Boxes of books from the former Ohio Valley University library are stacked in a trailer Tuesday. Representatives of Churches of Christ in the region are gathering the books to be distributed to various churches and affiliated groups, with a community giveaway planned in March. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Records from the former Ohio Valley University’s board of governors – including documents from Northeast Christian Junior College, which merged with Ohio Valley in the early ‘90s – will be retained by Abilene Christian University in Texas, WVU Parkersburg President Torie Jackson said. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
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VIENNA -- More than 70,000 books from the library of the former Ohio Valley University are bound for new homes around the region and beyond.
OVU, a Church of Christ-affiliated school that operated in Wood County for more than 60 years, closed amid financial and academic struggles in 2021.
The West Virginia University at Parkersburg Foundation purchased its properties last year, with plans on transforming the north campus into the WVUP Incubator and Technology Center.
The center will focus on technological degree programs and provide incubator space for businesses. Those plans don't include a library, since there's already one on the main campus, said WVUP President Torie Jackson.
"A lot of the books are religious books, and we don't intend to have a library on this campus," she said.
Instead, the collection from the library on the ground floor of the former Stotts Administration Hall is being donated to area Churches of Christ and affiliated groups. That's something of a full-circle journey since a number of the books were legacy gifts from the collections of ministers who passed away, said Dale Parsley, minister at the Dewey Avenue Church of Christ in St. Marys.
"This library is going to ... benefit so many groups," he said.
Parsley was helping oversee activity Tuesday as ministers and other volunteers were sorting and boxing up the books from the library shelves, as well as the OVU bookstore. Some were picking out books to take themselves, but most of the volumes were being loaded onto a semi trailer donated by R.O. Wetz Transportation in Marietta.
A campus minister from Marshall University was on hand to look through the materials Tuesday and see what he could bring back there. Some books will go to church camps. Others are bound for a school for preachers in Kenya, Parsley said.
Once they've been sorted, a community book giveaway is planned for March in cooperation with Wood County Christian School, Parsley said. Donations to the school will be accepted but there will be no charge for the books, he said.
Among those at the library Tuesday was Sonya Hescht, whose father, Cifton Inman, was one of the founders and an early fundraiser for the school. Hescht attended then-Ohio Valley College and later worked for four or five years as the librarian at the school.
"I'm glad somebody's getting them (the books) that can use them," she said.
The goal is to have the library emptied by Thursday, Parsley said.
Choral music at the school is being sent to a school in Tennessee, while band chairs and music stands will be donated to Williamstown High School.
A number of renovations are going on at the building, Jackson said. Clearing the library and removing the furniture - with usable items being donated to various groups - will allow for a complete assessment on asbestos removal for the building, she said. There are already plans to replace the floor tiles containing the material.