Louis J. Heizmann

The Reading Public Library, located in Reading, Pennsylvania, has a long history beginning in 1763 when a subscription library was started. The war interrupted service but, when a German library was started in 1803, several men decided that an English Library was needed. This was the beginning of the Reading Library Company, a shareholders group that exists today. In the late 1890s, the shareholders turned the library property and books to the city of Reading for a free library; in exchange, the Company was to appoint 5 members of the 15 member library board, which is done faithfully every year. Louis Heizmann, a library trustee as well as a member of the Company, wrote this book with history up to 1928 to highlight the achievements of the early founders and librarians through good and bad times, the conflicts, the lack of money and other things. The library had various locations in the city until it was able to purchase a building at 5th and Franklin Streets. The building is no longer there; instead there is a Carnegie Library, built before World War I. The branch libraries also were begun in this period.

The book lists presidents of the Reading Library Company, the Board of Trustees of the Library and the Librarian. (It is interesting to note that the early librarians were local residents and not trained in library science. In 1925, the board decided to hire a library school graduate to run the library and that requirement has been in place ever since.) The book also has an extensive index and photographs of the library building as it appeared in about 1970 as well as 2 photos of the previous building (Odd Fellows Hall which was later called Library Hall). There is a short bibliography although nothing is footnoted in the text. It became evident that most of the material was obtained from Reading Library Company, Reading Library and Reading Public Library board minutes along with archival files at the Historical Society of Berks County, where Mr. Heizmann was president for many years.

There are notable inconsistencies in the text, incorrect dates and wrong names. For example: Richmond L. Jones, probably the most influential president and shareholder, was sometimes called Richard Jones. Librarians listed in the text have different dates of service from the list at the back of the book. For the casual reader, these mistakes do not detract from the story itself.

In the late 1980s, Chet Hagan updated the book and republished it, bringing the history up to 1988. The library is still providing service to the citizens of the city and the county (as the district center); however the county commissioners now elect five trustees, the city five and the Company the other five. The Reading Library (or Reading Library Company) meets once a year in November to elect a new trustee for a five year term, decide on new shareholders (no longer the “old-boy” network of the past but open to interested men and women), collect dues if needed for the treasury and receive reports as to the status of the library in the past year.… (más)