John Gray Park Library

Right in the middle of campus, convenient and comfortable, is the John Gray Park '28 Library. It's the heart of academics at Kent. That's why we call it the Center for Study, Intellectual Life & Learning. Here you'll find academic resources - not just books and digital resources, but helpful, knowledgeable people who are always available to help you, too. We're dedicated to your success.

The Writing Lab is located here, too. And the staff of the library and writing lab are the teachers of the New Student Seminar, so you'll get to know us right away.

You'll find that this is a great place to get work done, with study spaces for every preference: large tables, individual study carrels, easy chairs and group study rooms.

The library has open stacks too, so you have ready access to the 50,000 volumes, 6,000 of which are reference materials. Add to that our digital resources and you have an impressive source of all kinds of information. There's even a room for classes so you can get instruction on doing research for a specific project right here within the library. And if you're looking for something to read for pleasure, check out our young adult and graphic novel collections. English not your first language? No problem - have a look at our current fiction in other languages.

With a subscription to over fifty major online databases, the John Gray Park Library at Kent provides students wireless access to thousands of magazines and scholarly journals, regional, national and international newspapers, reference resources, multimedia content and primary source materials. Our library is a forerunner among private schools in implementing a federated search platform that allows students to search across these databases with the help of a single interface.  Our vast electronic collection is comparable to that of a small college, familiarizing our students with college-level resources that they can incorporate into their research. To help guide students in the research process, our reference librarians conduct frequent instructional sessions and are available for individual assistance.

Thanks for all this has to go to Friends of the Kent School Library, as well as several endowed funds: the Sandy Campbell-Donald Windham Library Fund, the Braxton Book Fund, the Brodie Family Book Fund, the Furness Memorial Fund and the Elser Memorial Fund. There's also the Birthday Book Program, in which parents donate books to the library to honor special occasions.

Library Hours*:
Mon.-Fri: 8 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Sunday: 2 p.m. - 10 p.m.
* Hours are expanded during exams.