ASHLAND — The storytelling room in the Ashland Public Library may be refitted into a multipurpose Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) room courtesy of a recently awarded $62,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Education.
The library is still working on plans for the room but it may include a 3D printer, a Cricut machine, or a Glowforge for patrons to use, library director Heather Miller said.
“We’re looking for a room that we can use like multifunction. So one minute it may be a craft room, the next minute it might be a robotics room,” Miller said. “We’re looking to have different programs that can be centered on this room that would go across all ages.”
There is no timeline for when the room will be complete and the library has two years to spend its money.
“It’s not something that’s going to be instantaneous,” Miller added.
The money for Ashland’s STEAM room will come from the Ohio Department of Education’s Future Forward Ohio program which uses federal funds “to help students recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to its website.
Future Forward Ohio’s cash comes from Federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds that Congress approved during the COVID-19 pandemic.
