Thursday, September 3, 2026

An Unsung Hero of Library Automation: Richard W. Boss

Since I revived this blog in 2025, I've written several posts about automation -- the efforts Pennsylvania libraries made to computerize cataloguing, circulation, and other functions. Library directors and staff often figure prominently in these stories, but I am finding that consultants are an important group of unsung heroes. This Spring and Summer, as I was doing site research at various institutions, the name of one consultant and company came up repeatedly: 

Richard W. "Dick" Boss and Information Systems Consultants, Inc. (ISCI). 

At some point, I'd like to delve into the reports that Boss/ISCI produced for Pennsylvania libraries, to better understand any challenges and opportunities that may have been particular to our state. But presently, I'm more curious about who Boss was, how he became interested in computing, and why he turned toward consulting. In other words, I want to know the person behind the work, and consider how technological developments opened up new opportunities for librarians like him. Fortunately, I was able to find some answers after just a few hours of digging. As it turns out, Boss headed several university libraries during the 1970s and he was a prolific writer.

Boss was born in Arnhem, the Netherlands, just before World War II. If I've found the correct immigration record, he came to the United States as child, likely with his parents, in 1948. By the 1950s, the family had made its way to Salt Lake City, Utah, where Boss attended East High School. At that early point in his life, he showed an interest in government and politics: he was in the Debate Club, Junior Statemen, and Latin Club. He went on to the University of Utah where he studied Political Science and worked as an assistant in the library. He must have enjoyed it, because he rose to the position of Stacks Manager, then earned an MLS from the University of Washington. In 1962, he returned to the U of U and became the Order Librarian -- what is known today as an acquisitions librarian. Within a few years, he rose to the position of Assistant (later Associate) Director, where he  was involved in planning and constructing a new library. He established Technical Services as a distinct department, and, significantly, the new building had the capacity for dial-access to online information systems. At roughly the same time, Provost Alfred C. Emery appointed Boss to the university's Computer Advisory Committee, which may have both utilized and enhanced his knowledge of new technologies.

During Boss's time at the U of U, he exhibited an interest in libraries beyond his own. In 1968, he served as the President of the Utah Library Association. That same year, he became Vice-President/President-Elect of the Bibliographical Center for Research (now part of Lyrasis), a large network of libraries in western states. In 1970, he won a Council of Library Resources grant that enabled him to conduct a study on audiovisual services in university libraries. He sent questionnaires to 75 institutions, visited 17, and generally found that AV collections and services were poor. Only 12 of the libraries collected films, slides, or other visuals (though, more often, there were AV centers elsewhere on campus). At the time, most listening facilities focused on music or language learning. An important take-away -- one that may have informed Boss's future work as a consultant -- was that AV equipment was typically poorly maintained, staff often did not have the expertise to fix or even use it, and that libraries typically relied on maintenance contracts with outside companies. All these issues left students highly dissatisfied. 

According to materials in Boss's biographical file at the U of U, it seems that he completed the necessary coursework for a Ph.D. in political science at UW, but departmental issues there discouraged him from completing his thesis. He believed that a doctoral degree was essential for leading an academic library and he considered pursuing a J.D. instead. As it turned out, another opportunity came his way. In 1970, after University of Tennessee Librarian William H. Jesse passed away unexpectedly, Boss applied for the position and was hired to fill it. During his tenure at UT, Boss reorganized existing departments into 3 divisions: administrative, public, and technical services. Pertaining to the technological side that would consume his later career, he created a Systems Department, and the library joined OCLC, which would have been a crucial step for automating cataloging operations. He also served on the Association of Research Libraries' Commission on Access, and the Tennessee State Library and Archives's Library Advisory Council. He retained memberships in the American Library Association and the American Society for Information Science, as well. 

Richard W. Boss ca. 1975, when he was appointed Librarian of Princeton University.
Published in American Libraries, April 1975.

I don't know what moved Boss to seek other job opportunities (UT has significant material within its library records, but I'm not about to visit Knoxville!). In 1975, though, he applied and was selected to lead Princeton University's library system. Initially, he was excited about working at one of the nation's most prestigious institutions, but his brief time at Princeton proved difficult. In Fall 1977, Princeton adopted a computerized circulation system that had been developed by 3M. Like other computerized systems, it saved enormous amount of time for circulation staff. Another attraction of 3M's system, specifically, was that it could handle course reserves readings -- the most heavily used items in most college libraries. Yet, what was promised, wasn't delivered. Costing more than $150,000 (roughly $850,000 in 2026 dollars), the system broke down more than a dozen times per day, had difficulty with title searches, and charged incorrect fines to borrowers. There was a "basic unreliability" about it that neither 3M nor a "special committee" of tech experts from Princeton's computer center could figure out. Fortunately, Princeton's contract with 3M stated that the library did not have to pay until the system was able to run 90% of the time for 30 days straight. But it doesn't seem like the success clock ever started. Problems persisted constantly throughout the academic year, ultimately forcing Boss and his staff to look into other systems and consider returning to manual circulation. Besides this ongoing technological stressor, there were others: there were budgetary struggles; a movement to unionize library staff had failed, leading to demoralization among some employees; and the library was experiencing extensive and costly thefts. Opening up to reporter Steven Bernstein, Boss admitted that he didn't foresee the "resistance" he encountered to the changes he tried to introduce. He announced his impending departure at the end of Fall 1977 semester and he left in June 1978, at the conclusion of the academic year. 

Whatever Boss's disappointments may have been at Princeton, he was able to parlay them into a second career that did enormous good for Pennsylvania libraries. He had provided consulting services for various institutions previously, but it appears that by 1979, he had made consulting his main line of work. He spent at least some of 1978/1979 on a book project, The Library Manager's Guide to Automation (Knowledge Industry Publications, 1979), a succinct, 106-page volume which provided foundational knowledge, described automation possibilities at the time, pointed out the risks, and advised on planning and implementation. In September 1979, Boss also published an important paper in the Journal of Library Automation, "General Trends in the Implementation of Automated Circulation Systems." It certainly wasn't his first publication, but, placed within the official publication of the American Library Association, it reached thousands of ALA members across the country. The article  provided a readable, general overview that non-technical professionals such as myself could understand. It also named leading vendors and library cooperatives, and it described technical and market trends that gave readers glimpse of a future they could plan for. The biographical blurb at the back of the Guide to Automation mentions that Boss had advised more than 30 institutions by that point -- the West Palm Beach Public (FL) Library among them. The article was written from Boston and listed Information Systems Consultants, Inc. as his sole institutional affiliation. So, he had clearly left behind Princeton, both institution and town, by the end of 1979. 

An ad for ISCI published in a consultants' directory in
American Libraries, January 1990.

In the following decades, Boss continued to write how-to materials directed toward practicing administrators and librarians, which was probably a smart move given the limited access to LIS research public libraries had at the time. Understanding that technology adoption involved financing, telecommunications upgrades, space allocation/design, and other issues beyond simply selecting a computer system, he developed titles that could guide libraries through each step:
After Boss became self-employed, his career becomes harder to trace, even in powerful newspaper databases. At some point in the 1980s, he and/or ISCI moved to the Washington, D.C. area, but I haven't found the reasons. What I *do* know, though, is that his business grew substantially during that time. According to biographical information provided within his publications, by 1984 he had provided consultation to more than 100 institutions; by 1990, the number had risen to more than 800. Among the 6 public libraries I've researched so far, I can confirm that he worked with the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges (included Easton Area Public Library, 1982); Harrisburg District Library Center (1985/1986); Lackawanna County Library System (1993); and Cumberland County Library System (1993-1997). Also, when I was searching Newspapers.com for information about automation in Scranton/Lackawanna County, I discovered that he had consulted at Osterhout Free Library in Wilkes-Barre (1996) as well. There were likely more Pennsylvania libraries that he worked with, given that the southern part of the Commonwealth was within easy driving distance from ISCI's base in Washington/Bethesda. 

Judging from the vibe of correspondence within the records of Cumberland County Library System (the largest cache I've found), as well as scattered documents within other Pennsylvania libraries' archives, Boss's work was greatly appreciated. In the 1980s and 1990s, with the development of microcomputers and turnkey integrated library systems, automation became viable in smaller institutions. But the industry's vocabulary and technical specifications could sound like a foreign language, especially to librarians who were more focused on library management and public services. The prospect of investing tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in a system that might turn out to be inefficient, or that would become unsupportable in just a few years' time, was intimidating. The stakes were even higher for library systems that were trying to computerize multiple locations. Thus, someone who understood the lingo, could assess an organization's needs, and help negotiate contracts -- that person was a godsend!

Because the scope of my project focuses on Pennsylvania in the 1950s-1990s, I don't have much reason to follow Boss's career beyond that point. But in the brief time I spent gathering low-hanging fruit for this post, it's worth nothing that I came across significant material in Library Technology Reports (1965-2022), an ALA subscription service that afforded longer writings with more technical details. Not every LTR issue is available digitally -- issues from 2001 to 2022 can be found on the publication's web site, and editions back to 1989 can be searched via ProQuest. Yet, from the limited online searching I did, it's clear Boss was a substantial contributor who kept up with emerging technologies. In ProQuest, I found his reports on automation among book/serials jobbers (March 1989), online public access catalogs (Sept. 1989), operating systems (Mar. 1991), model technology plans for libraries (Jan./Feb. 1998), outsourcing (Sept./Oct. 1998), and security technologies (May/June 1999), to mention some. His works on Digital Imaging (Jan./Feb. 2001), Ergonomics (Nov./Dec. 2001), Library Portals (Nov./Dec. 2002), and RFID (Nov./Dec. 2003) are freely available. ALAIR, ALA's institutional repository, also contains more than 60 pieces that he wrote for PLA Tech Notes, as well as writings or mentions in a variety of other ALA publications. It appears that he actively monitored developments (and helped colleagues make sense of them) right up until he retired in October 2013. His retirement date was a passage that was noted in the "Currents" section of American Libraries.  

If Boss is still living, he would be approaching 90 years old, and if he's able to remember back to the early days of library computerization, I bet he'd have fascinating stories to tell. Me personally, I am most interested in his Pennsylvania experiences, but his entire career is worth a deeper look. As a technical services librarian and department head in the 1960s, he witnessed the beginnings of automation and networks in college libraries, which adopted some technologies decades before most  public libraries did. As a library administrator in the 1970s, he handled the financial, human resource, space planning, and other implications that technology held for entire organizations. Then, in the 1980s and 1990s, he traveled to hundreds of institutions to help them navigate those issues. While it's not for me to write a biography of Richard W. Boss, I think someone should. It's hard for me to imagine someone else who had a more direct impact on the technology-empowered places that libraries became.   
  
For more on the early career of Richard W. Boss:




    
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Friday, August 28, 2026

The Challenges of Responding to Population Shifts: An Example from Easton and Palmer Township

A few weeks ago, I met up with another professor on campus and our conversation touched upon our current research projects. She has young children and is an avid public library user, so she leaned in as I described my work. 

After a few minutes, she said, "I've got a question for you. It's something that's always bugged me. I live in one of the biggest townships in my county, but we don't have our own library. It's weird! Boroughs and townships that are much smaller than ours have libraries, but we don't. Why is that?"

I explained that some public libraries have "service areas" comprised of several municipalities, so, at least in theory, her location might be covered by the county headquarters library, a library in a neighboring borough or township, or a bookmobile service. I also explained that, in Pennsylvania, there has never been state legislation that has *required* municipalities to provide libraries. Libraries grew to the extent that county and local governments were willing to allocate funds and other types of support, and residents were able to provide charitable contributions and voluntary labor. Even when local officials were motivated by federal initiatives such as the Library Services and Construction Act, or Pennsylvania's state aid program, much hinged on local "oompf," which some communities had, and others communities didn't. 

Although my colleague was satisfied enough with my answer, I am not. In the Harrisburg region, there are several townships with more than 25,000 residents -- namely Susquehanna and Swatara Townships in Dauphin County, and Hampden Township in Cumberland County -- that don't have their own libraries. I'm not interested in second-guessing the decisions of county library systems and local governments, but I *do* want to know if there have been any aspects of federal or state policy that could have discouraged library development in newly-settled or growing areas. So I have started to look for cases where desired libraries or branches struggled to come to fruition, to see what those stories can tell me. 

One fascinating example I recently found is in Palmer Township, near the city of Easton in Northampton County. Easton Area Public Library (EAPL) is one of the institutions participating in my study, and its Palmer Branch opened in 1986 after one heck of a fight. 

For much of its history, Palmer Township was a rural area. However, after the development of I-78 and more housing, Palmer's population surged with transplants from other parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. Home to just 2,500 people in 1940, it grew to more than 12,600 residents by 1970. Over the same period, Easton's population declined from about 33,500 to about 29,000.   

During the mid-late 20th century, the Easton Area School District (EASD) was a major funder of the library, and when the school system grew to encompass surrounding municipalities, the library was asked to extend privileges to residents in the wider area. Pertaining to Palmer, in 1958, at the request of EASD, EAPL started to provide service to Palmer residents along with others in Lower Mount Bethel and Reigelsville. At the time, this largely meant that children and adults could obtain borrower's cards and visit the library on Church Street in Easton. A few years later, EAPL was designated as a District Library Center by the state and it began to receive additional funds to provide service to libraries and customers beyond the city's boundaries. In the mid-1960s, following up on recommendations made by the local branch of the Pennsylvania Economic League, either EAPL or EASD obtained a bookmobile that mainly or exclusively served area schools. The details are vague, but as far as I can tell, the bookmobile had ended by the mid-1970s. So, most township residents who wanted library services still traveled to downtown Easton. 

In 1977, when Quentin de Streel became EAPL's Director, he quickly recognized a need for rethinking the library's approach to the townships. Within months of his arrival, he authored a report, "Expansion of Public Library Services in the Easton Area," which alerted EAPL's board to declining circulation statistics, especially of children's materials. De Streel largely attributed this to demographic changes and to urban renewal projects that were not drawing suburbanites back into the city. He found that EAPL was "badly underused" by Palmer residents, even though the middle-class families with young children that tended to live in Palmer were typically the "mainstays" of public libraries. Rather than a bricks-and-mortar building or a bookmobile, de Streel preferred a mobile unit so that library services could move with population shifts. Thus, when he learned of an unneeded trailer that had been used as a library in another county's demonstration project, he asked the State Library if it could be given to EAPL to establish a branch. He also reached out to Palmer Township's supervisors, who agreed to place the mobile unit on township-owned land and pay for utilities. EAPL proposed to supply reading material and use reserve funds to staff the Palmer branch for 20 hours per week. The library also planned to tap federal work programs such as CETA for additional help.

The state authorized EAPL to take possession of the mobile unit, and the Palmer Branch opened in July 1978. Measuring 14 x 45 feet and located on Division Street and Mine Lane Road, the used aluminum-sided trailer wasn't pleasing to every resident who lived nearby. But de Streel was excited about expanding EAPL's services and he continued to monitor usage patterns. In 1980, he collaborated with Seth Beers, a local Eagle Scout, to conduct a survey of Palmer residents. They found out that more than 30% were using the trailer library, and there seemed to be strong support for increasing the branch's size. Non-users were generally folks who didn't know about it. Once they learned about it, they often became patrons. 

Judging from news reports, it appears that the idea for a new, larger, permanent Palmer branch became a realistic possibility after Carl Weller, a retiring business owner, donated 27 acres of land to the township for the purpose of building a municipal complex. At roughly the same time, Palmer's Business, Industrial, and Professional Association (BIP), grew interested in raising funds for a library. Most township supervisors, especially chair H. Robert Daws, who also served on BIP's board of directors, were supportive. At the same time, EAPL's 7-member board included 5 residents of Palmer Township, and board president Charles Montgomery, himself a Palmer resident, was interested in an enlarged branch. For his part, de Streel was willing to apply for a Library Services and Construction Act building grant and LSCA collection development grants to help make it happen. In April 1982, the parties met to discuss possibilities, and although various attendees stressed to news reporters that no commitments were made, plans seemed quite advanced. 

There was a significant problem, though:

Official representatives from the Easton Area School District, EAPL's primary funder, were not at the table. 

Because the same people sometimes served on both the EAPL and EASD boards, perhaps EAPL leaders that assumed school leaders were in the loop. Unfortunately, as efforts for Palmer's new branch moved forward, Dorothy Gollub, Mildred Kovar, and other school board members grew increasingly frustrated over being excluded from conversations and decisions. For more than a year, they raised financial and legal concerns. A recurrent one was the extent to which an enlarged Palmer branch could draw resources away from EAPL's Church Street location. Library officials' claims that the planned 6,000 sq. ft. branch could be operated with the same staffing and funds that had supported a 600 sq. ft. trailer begged disbelief, and EASD board members didn't feel they were in a position to bail anyone out. Just the year before (FY 1982/1983), the school district had absorbed an increase in the library's funding by making cuts in other areas. Thus, in December 1982, Superintendent of Schools Frances J. Rhodes had directed all "interagencies" (the library, the vocational-technical school, the community college, etc.) to cut costs for the upcoming (1983/1984) year. Citing the Pennsylvania School Code, EASD's board also noted that the school system was already providing EAPL about 2.47 mil in operating funds and in-kind support, and the law stated that it could spend no more than 3 mil. Given the ongoing recession and the volatility of population numbers in the Easton Area, the school board was reluctant to increase taxes anyway. Though Gollub was known for her passion for high quality education, she was also noted for her "close questioning of expenses" (see her obituary). If library extension was needed -- a concern Gollub seemed willing to entertain -- she was more interested in opening the Easton Area High School's library at night, because it was a more centralized location and because it wouldn't cost as much to operate. 

Besides the financial issues. the school board raised other objections. Unsaid, but likely on the minds of some, was the fact that heavy public investments had been made in the main library in the not-too-distant past. In 1968, as part of gearing up for its new role as a District Library Center, EAPL had constructed a half-million-dollar addition which doubled its size. Notably, the expansion was funded partly through an LSCA grant and partly through a bond issue from the school system. Thus, unsurprisingly, school board members believed that the main library was sufficient to serve all the  surrounding townships as well as city dwellers. A related concern was distributing tax revenues fairly and providing equitable library services across the several municipalities in the Easton area. School board members worried that building a new branch in Palmer could elicit similar requests from other townships -- not an unfounded concern, since the library board had occasionally discussed developing a branch in Forks Township. 

Tensions between EAPL and EASD escalated when de Streel, the library's trustees, BIP, and Palmer Township officials continued to proceed despite the school system's concerns. At least part of EAPL leaders' motivation was a sense of urgency in obtaining the LSCA building grant, because Title II hadn't been funded in years, and money had only just become available because the Reagan administration was interested in addressing the ongoing recession by funding initiatives that put idle construction workers and other laborers back to work. However, reading in between the lines and considering conflicts I've encountered when researching other libraries, I would also say that at least part of the dispute may have also stemmed from differing understandings of the relationship between nonprofit libraries, which are governed by independent boards, and the local governments and school systems which fund the libraries. Judging from EAPL's board minutes, there were at least some library leaders who seemed to feel that EASD had no right to interfere with the Palmer project, as long as the library stayed within its budget. Some school board members clearly saw the matter differently.

By October 1983, EAPL had been notified that it would receive a $280,000 LSCA grant. Also, BIP's fundraising drive, led by Charles Roseberry, had raised more than $300,000, covering the necessary match in local funds. Palmer Township supervisors also stood ready to pay construction costs that BIP money did not cover -- roughly $250,000, according to news reports. But it remained unsettled where ongoing support of the branch would come from, especially if operating costs rose or additional needs emerged. That December, EAPL received a contract from the state and negotiated a lease agreement with the township, which would own the building and lease its use to the library. After sharing copies of these agreements with their attorney, Ellwood Malos, the school board was especially concerned about stipulations that the library would provide "adequate staffing and books" in a "normal capacity" for the next 50 years. Such terminology was subject to interpretation and might expose the library or school system to a lawsuit if Palmer residents or leaders became dissatisfied with library services. EASD board members were also concerned about EAPL serving as a mere pass-through for funds that would be entirely controlled by Palmer Township, and that the township supervisors were choosing the architect and contractor for the building project without EASD's input. While not explicitly stated in any of the documents I've found, I surmise this was a concern because the school system often handled the library's building maintenance and repairs. In other words, they had a significant interest in the quality of the branch's construction and features that could make it easier or harder to service. Nevertheless, EAPL proceeded to sign with Palmer Township authorities.

In Winter 1983 and Spring 1984, EASD's board reacted with increasing severity, largely, it seems, to get the attention of EAPL and Palmer Township leaders. For example, in November 1983, the school board tried to quash the project by sending a resolution to the State Library and a long list of state officials which denounced the library's plans. After that didn't seem to phase anyone, the school board directed attorney Malos to investigate the legal ramifications of cutting financial support of the library and of ending the relationship with EAPL altogether. As shown in the long list of articles I've cited below, both sides did battle in Easton's newspaper, with library and Palmer officials volleying optimistic quotes about the branch's progress for each time that the school board aired objections. I can't speak for any library or school officials, but to me, sometimes comments felt dismissive at best, or delivered with a shit-eating grin at worst. If I were in either side's shoes, it would have maddened me, too.

With the dawn of a new year, school leaders had had enough. In January 1984, EASD's board voted 7-2 to cut the library's budget by more than 50%. Although they officially cited the need to fund renovations at the high school, and the rising costs of school staff and fringe benefits generally, the move was widely believed to be retaliatory. Various entities stepped forward, urging both sides to mend fences. The editor of the Easton Express pointed out legitimate concerns and called out unhelpful behavior of both parties and urged them to come back to the table. The Two Rivers Area Commerce Council (TRACC, now the Easton Area Chamber of Commerce) offered mediation and a neutral meeting ground. Easton's City Council also got into the fray, voting 4-0 in favor of a resolution to oppose the construction of the Palmer Branch, while also objecting to EASD's sharp cut of the library's funding. Because the city provided minimal if any financial support, council's words carried few real consequences, but they registered wider community concerns about the erosion of Easton's services and about Easton residents being punished because of a township problem. Local people also attended school board meetings to urge the district not to gut the library. News reporters noted that decreases to EAPL's budget could trigger a cascade of cuts in its state aid, which could have catastrophic consequences. 

It is unknown exactly what the greatest conciliatory influence on each side was. But fortunately, EAPL and EASD found a solution. Somewhere along the way, school board member Richard Streeter proposed a written agreement stating that EAPL be allowed to spend the same proportion of its budget on Palmer as it had spent previously, with a proviso that if the library's board spent any more than that, EASD would curtail funds. W. John Daub, a member of EAPL's board, wrote to board president Charles Montgomery, urging him to accept these terms, and it seems Montgomery and any other holdouts on the library side relented. Further, it appears that the library made additional concessions. Speaking to the school system's concern about building maintenance and repairs, money for such projects would be held in a separate account which library leaders had no control over. Also, EAPL changed its rules for board composition to ensure better representation of all the localities that the library served. 

When it submitted its 1984/1985 budget request to the school, EAPL did not include any increase and it cut various costs so that it could cope with level funding. To the surprise of some and the relief of all, the EASD board approved the library's entire budget request and included some additional funds for  repairs, rather than sticking to the devasting cut it had initially ordered. Still, both sides seemed to want to have a final say, with EAPL board president Charles Montgomery conveying that "continued restriction over several years may severely damage the library." When voting to approve EAPL's budget, Dorothy Gollub and the school committee reminded the library "not to spend a larger percentage of its budget on the Palmer Branch than it has been doing." But, fortunately, groundbreaking ceremonies proceeded with no further public disputes. The new building was opened to the public two years later, on May 19, 1986. With a shelving capacity of 7,000-8,000 volumes, it was open the same hours as the mobile unit had been: Monday-Thursday afternoons and evenings, and 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. 

EAPL Director Quentin de Streel and the Parker branch library under construction.
Published in the Allentown Morning Call, January 16, 1986.

Although EASD's threat to sever its relationship with EAPL represents the most dramatic point in the dispute over the Palmer Branch, the new library continued to face challenges. Unable to turn to the school system for help, de Streel and his staff sought LSCA collection development grants for materials that many librarians today would consider standard fare -- children's books and reference materials. EAPL board minutes also show that trustee Judy Brunswick frequently voiced concerns about Palmer's support, especially urging colleagues to hire a second person to help with heavy circulation traffic and to improve safety for the solo person who staffed Palmer at night. The rest of board agreed to expand hours through a small increase in funding, but just as crucial, it seems, were contributions from BIP, the Palmer Lions Club, the Palmer Kiwanis, and other donors. Fortunately, in 1987, EAPL's new board president, J. Michael Dowd, was able to convince the school district to end the "cap" on Palmer library expenditures. Although he mentioned that use of the Palmer branch had increased "almost exponential[ly]," he also noted that the proportional representation of city, township, and school officials on EAPL's board had prevented inordinate resources from flowing to Palmer. He also pointed out that EASD didn't require similar stipulations of other interagency partners it funded. It seems that these reasonable arguments won the day, and I didn't uncover much (if any) controversy over the Palmer branch after that. 

Reflecting on this long and complex story, it's easy to get swept away by personalities and dramatic clashes. Also, given that the most visible supporters of the Palmer Branch were male, and most of the vocal critics were female, I could lean into sociological topics such as gender. But that's not where I want to focus. Since most of the people involved in the Palmer dispute have passed away, I won't be able to interview them, and thus I will never be able to fully know their motivations or describe events that may have happened behind the scenes. I am disinclined to dig up or publicize "dirt" on libraries or the people involved with them, anyway.

One thing I observed in this episode, though, is that the State Library was surprisingly low-key when conflict erupted. Its employees refused to speak to the press, no substantive correspondence from SLP survives in EAPL's or EASD's board meeting minutes, and I found nothing substantial from the state pertaining to Palmer in EAPL's administrative files. This is a sharp contrast from voluminous material I've found regarding earlier federal/state-funded projects in Altoona and Meadville. It leads me to wonder whether there were changes in personnel or policy on SLP's side during the 1980s, especially after the retirement of State Librarian Ernest Doerschuk, that precipitated a change in how the state interacted with district library centers and other public libraries. More than ever, I am feeling the consequences of a decision that I made early-on during my sabbatical, when I had to shift my attention away from my present project to revise and resubmit 2 papers from a previous study that I had hoped would be finalized before I went on leave. I "lost" about 4 weeks of research time, and since I live close to Harrisburg, I decided to postpone my research at the State Library in favor of visiting Easton and other public libraries that aren't as accessible to me during the normal academic year. It was the right choice in terms of logistics, but before I visit additional cities, I need a clearer understanding of how the state's approach evolved over time. 

Examining the early history of EAPL's Palmer Branch didn't provide me with hoped-for insights about SLP or federal/state policy, but it did remind me of some important dynamics in library development in smaller Pennsylvania communities. Going into my present project, where federal and state aid programs loom large, Palmer's story is an important reminder of the sway that private donors and political connections continue to have. Because of the close relationship between BIP and some of Palmer Township's supervisors, and the support of an ambitious library director, the concerns of a larger city and EAPL's most important funder were dismissed, apparently without steep consequences. Palmer branch advocates made some compromises, but, for the most part, it seems they got the facility they aimed for. 

I am also reminded that library politics have nuance. Given the resurgence of the culture wars and recent, library-averse executive and legislative actions, many of today's librarians may be inclined to view Republicans warily. However, looking at the backgrounds of key players in the Easton/Palmer Township story, ones sees a fissure between Republicans like H. Robert Daws, the Palmer township supervisor who was very willing to find public funds for library expansion, versus more fiscally conservative ones like Mildred Kovar, an EASD board member who opposed the Palmer project even though she lived in the township. If we look beyond stereotypes and consider the unique human beings involved, richer understandings can result.  

While learning about this episode, I also observed some notable examples of geographic rivalry that were rooted in, or amplified by, socioeconomic change. In news coverage of the conflict between the library and the school board, a recurrent theme on Easton's side was that an enlarged Palmer Branch was being built, and would be furnished and staffed, at Easton's and other communities' expense. Along the way, some expressed fear that Palmer would eventually become the main library for the Easton area. There were even charges -- not entirely unfounded -- that the township was using the library project to gain a large meeting room that the township should have developed separately. The causes of such anxieties may lie outside libraries, but libraries can be lightning rods for them. Moving forward, I need to pay all the more attention to economic and psychological trends in the regions I'm studying. 

For more about Easton Area Public Library's Palmer Branch:

  • "Arguments Center on Four Issues," The Express [Easton, PA], October 25, 1983, B1.
  • Daub, W. John, letter to Charles Montgomery, January 6, 1984. Copy available in Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, vol. 1983/1984. 
  • Dowd, J. Michael, letter to William Moloney, June 10, 1987. Copy available in Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, vol. 1986/1987.
  • de Streel, Quentin, Director's Reports [monthly], February 1978, April 1980, September 1983, October 1983, January 1984, May 1984, October 1987, December 1988, June 1991, and July/August 1991. Copies available in Board of Directors Meeting Minutes.
  • de Streel, Quentin, Director's Reports [annual], 1979/1980, 1983/1984, and 1985/1986.
  • Easton Area Public Library, "Application for Mobile Unit." Copy available in Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, vol. 1976-1979.
  • Easton Area Public Library, Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, November 12, 1957; October 26, 1965; May 24, 1966; December 7, 1970; February 8, 1972; June 13, 1978; October 12, 1982; November 9, 1982; May 10, 1983; June 14, 1983; November 8, 1983; December 13, 1983; December 20, 1983; January 10, 1984;  January 23, 1984, June 9, 1987; September 8, 1987; and October 13, 1987.
  • Easton Area School Board, "Board Position for TRACC," n.d., Copy available in Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, vol. 1983/1984. 
  • Easton Area School Board, Meeting Minutes, October 24, 1983 and November 29, 1983.
  • "Easton Library Will Receive Federal Money for Branch," The Express [Easton, PA], October 19, 1983, B4.
  • Easton City Council, Resolution 18-84, February 22, 1984. Copy available in Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, vol. 1983/1984. 
  • Elwell, Gay, "Easton Voices Disapproval of Library Plan," The Morning Call [Allentown, PA], January 26, 1984, B1, B4. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/280341035. 
  • Fuller, Charles W., letter to Easton Area Public Library Board of Directors, February 10, 1984. Copy available in Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, vol. 1983/1984. 
  • Grandinetti, Deborah, "Elegant Library Emerges in Time, The Express [Easton, PA], March 7, 1986, B1.
  • "Library Branch Will Take Giant Step Into New Facility," The Morning Call [Allentown, PA], January 16, 1986.
  • Kenna, Eileen, "Board Reasserts Stand on Library Talks," The Express [Easton, PA], December 13, 1983, B1, B3.
  • Kenna, Eileen, "Despite Controversy, Palmer Branch Library Plans Progress," The Express [Easton, PA], October 26, 1983, B4.
  • Kenna, Eileen, "Despite Criticism, Palmer Paves Way for New Library in Spring," The Express [Easton, PA], July 7, 1983, B1.
  • Kenna, Eileen, "Palmer Library Still a Controversy," The Express [Easton, PA], December 14, 1983, B3.
  • Kenna, Eileen, "Plans Progress for Library Branch in Palmer Township,"  The Express [Easton, PA], October 26, 1983, B9. 
  • Malos, Elwood, esq., letter to Judith N. Foust, Library Development Division, State Library of Pennsylvania, January 5, 1984. Copy available in Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, vol. 1983/1984.
  • Malos, Elwood, esq., memorandum to Easton Area School Board, June 15, 1983. Copy available in EAPL Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, 1983/1984. 
  • Malos, Elwood, esq., memorandum to Easton Area School Board, October 5, 1983. Copy available in EAPL Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, 1983/1984. 
  • Malos, Elwood, esq., memorandum to Easton Area School Board, October 20, 1983. Copy available in EAPL Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, 1983/1984. 
  • Mathias, Madeleine, "Benefactor Built Empire from One Gun," The Morning Call [Allentown, PA], December 17, 1999, B1. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/docview/392920807. 
  • Montgomery, Charles, letter to Dorothy Gollub, February 27, 1984. Copy available in Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, vol. 1983/1984.
  • Morris Knowles, Inc., Palmer Township, Northampton County, Penna.: Comprehensive General Plan (Easton, PA: 1963). Copy available in EAPL Marx Room, H 711.4 P173M2.
  • Moyer, Jane S., Librarian's Reports [monthly], December 14, 1965 and November 14, 1967.
  • Neddenian, Maryanne, "500 Tour New Palmer Branch of Easton Library," The Morning Call [Allentown, PA], May 19, 1986, B7. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/276449651. 
  • Nixon, Joe, "Delay Sought for Library Plan," The Morning Call [Allentown, PA], November 10, 1982, B1. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/282946128/.
  • Nixon, Joe, "Easton Library Objects," The Morning Call [Allentown, PA], March 13, 1984, B4. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/280336134/.
  • Nixon, Joe, "Easton Library Panel Happy With Funding from School District," The Morning Call [Allentown, PA], April 11, 1984, B9. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/275916017/. 
  • Nixon, Joe, "Easton Library Submits Budget to School Board," The Morning Call [Allentown, PA], March 12, 1984, B1. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/280312960.
  • Nixon, Joe, "Palmer Becomes Trustee of Library Branch Project," The Morning Call [Allentown, PA], December 6, 1983, B1, B4. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/280320148.
  • Nixon, Joe, "Palmer Officials See No Need to Increase Taxes in '84 Budget," The Morning Call [Allentown, PA], November 22, 1983, B1, B4. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/280327948. 
  • Nixon, Joe, "Palmer to Give Land and Utilities for New Library," The Morning Call [Allentown, PA], September 29, 1982, B3. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/282490878.
  • "Palmer Branch Library Fund Campaign Begins,"  The Express [Easton, PA], December 14, 1982, B1.
  • "Palmer Twp. Gets Branch of Library," The Express [Easton, PA], June 20, 1978, 19.
  • Pennsylvania Economy League, Lehigh Valley Branch, The Easton Public Library: A Survey, (Bethlehem, PA: 1955). Copy available in the Marx Room, 027.474 P415e.
  • Ratner, Andrew, "Easton City Council Opposes Cut in Aid for Library," The Express [Easton, PA], February 22, 1984.
  • Ratner, Andrew, "Palmer Business Officials, Leaders, Discuss Possible Library," The Express [Easton, PA], April 27, 1982, B1.
  • Ratner, Andrew, "Who'll Attend Palmer Library Session?," The Express [Easton, PA], February 8, 1983, A5.
  • Ratner, Andy, "Library Director Expects Project To Go On," The Express [Easton, PA], November 30, 1983, A3.
  • Reeve, Jean, "Library Plans Branch in Palmer Twp.," The Express [Easton, PA], February 11, 1978, 15.
  • Regan, Margaret, "Balance in Library Board Proposed," The Express [Easton, PA], November 15, 1983, B3.
  • Regan, Margaret, "Easton Board Eyes Cutting Library Funds," The Express [Easton, PA], October 11, 1983, A1, A2.
  • Regan, Margaret, "Easton School Board Opposes Palmer Library," The Express [Easton, PA], September 28, 1982, B1.
  • Regan, Margaret, "Full Library Funding--Plus--Is Pledged," The Express [Easton, PA], April 10, 1984, B1, B4.
  • Regan, Margaret, "Library Directors Get Terms of Pa. Grant for New Branch," The Express [Easton, PA], December 21, 1983, B1.
  • Regan, Margaret, "Palmer Twp. Library Remains a Sore Spot," The Express [Easton, PA], October 12, 1983, B1, B3.
  • Regan, Margaret, "School Board Gets Views on Library Cutoff," The Express [Easton, PA], October 23, 1984, B1, B3.
  • Regan, Margaret, "School Board Orders Library Cutback," The Express [Easton, PA], January 24, 1984, A1, A2.
  • Regan, Margaret, "School Board Will Oppose Library Plan," The Express [Easton, PA], November 30, 1983, A1, A2.
  • Rhodes, Frances J., letter to Quentin deStreel, December 3, 1983. Copy available in Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, vol. 1982/1983.
  • Rice, Lauri, "Palmer Library Branch Attracts Lots of Readers," The Morning Call [Allentown, PA], December 11, 1986, B15. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/276612179/.
  • Rice, Lauri, "Palmer Library Branch Prepares for New Home," The Morning Call [Allentown, PA], January 16, 1986. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/276686112.
  • "School Board's Concern for the Library is Genuine" [editorial], The Express [Easton, PA], December 4, 1983, A4.
  • "Taking Shape," The Express [Easton, PA], August 20, 1985, B1.
  • Yunginger, Didi, "Temporary Library Site Arouses Ire," The Express [Easton, PA], May 2, 1978, 15, 19.



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Sunday, August 16, 2026

Librarians, Please Keep This: The Value of Easton's (and Other Libraries') Newsletters

This weekend, I returned to the Easton Area Public Library to finish using its board minutes and annual reports. Although these non-public records usually reside in back-offices, I also scoured the library's catalog and browsed its local history collection to see if there were other valuable materials hidden in plain sight. Sure enough, I uncovered a gem: a long run of Ex Libris, EAPL's newsletter.


Over the past 20 years, I have undertaken deep research in dozens of libraries, and in my experience, near-complete caches of institutional newsletters are surprisingly rare, especially in mid- and small-sized libraries. Promotional publications are often short-lived victims of their own success, cultivating so much business that staff soon run out of energy to generate fresh material. Also, printed giveaways are one of the first expenses to be cut when libraries are facing budget crunches. Even among libraries that have the wherewithal to keep newsletters going, few seem to keep archival copies -- because the information in goes stale so quickly, or seems too commonplace or granular. But it's precisely that type of datedness, everydayness, and detail that is invaluable to historians like me. 

EAPL's Ex Libris started in 1972 and lasted until at least through the 2010s. The earliest editions are missing, but starting in 1974, someone tucked them away regularly. It took me a couple of hours to comb through every issue, but it was well worth the effort. I found details about early interlibrary loan procedures (1970s), emerging concerns like unattended children (1980s), and the local impact of changes to the state aid program (2000s) that I hadn't found elsewhere. After I copied all the articles that pertained to my research, I pulled out the issue from exactly 50 years ago: August 1976. Then, I fished out copies at subsequent 5-year intervals and I laid them side by side: July/August 1981, Fall 1986, Fall 1991, September 1996, September 2001, and so-on. Comparing them reveals some interesting things. 

The pages of Ex Libris provide plenty of nostalgia for those who enjoy pop culture. The August 1976 issue, for example, mentioned a sewing pattern collection -- a valuable public service in an era when some women still made or altered their own clothes. Also, staff in the Marx Room, which continues to house the Easton flag and other Revolutionary War items, put out a call for donations relating to the recent Bicentennial Celebration. In the back pages of the issue, the events calendar featured some film showings that are still timely, such as Curious George Rides a Bike (remade just a few years ago), as well as more obscure ones like Automania 2000, a short which was nominated for an Academy Award in the 1960s and nobody accept diehard film buffs seem to know about. 

Ex Libris, Fall 1976, pages 1-2.
Note the blurbs about the Bicentennial and EAPL's sewing pattern collection,
as well as the hand-drawn masthead and illustrations.

Jumping ahead 2 decades to the September 1996 and September 2001 issues, one can see how EAPL and the larger Easton community were enthralled with electronic databases, the Internet, and other information/communication technologies that were emerging at the time. Although techies and academics had access to them years earlier, the broader public began using them in the mid-late 1990s when lower costs and user-friendly software made them more accessible. Thus, in the September 1996 issue, the library's how-to workshops on FirstSearch (now more widely known as WorldCat) and "Internet Basics" were front-page news. Further in, a wrap-up about the annual Summer Reading Program thanked several video rental companies -- notably Blockbuster and West Coast Video -- that provided gift certificates as prizes for participating children. Similarly, page one of the September 2001 issue heralded the debut of Horizon, which replaced the library's obsolete Galaxy system. Unlike the earlier catalog, Horizon allowed customers to check holdings at Allentown and Bethlehem public libraries as well as Easton's, and it enabled customers to view their own borrowing records. The final page of the issue had a blurb about Power Library, a suite of state-funded databases EAPL had gained access to just a couple years earlier.   

The September 1996 and September 2001 issues of Ex Libris,
when technological advancements were frequent, front-page news.

If you ask today's librarians what their newsletters contain, many would probably say "oh, we do that type of thing on social media now." But among those who still produce newsletters, most would describe theirs as similar to Ex Libris: a desktop publication of 2, 4, or 8 pages that mentions opening hours, holiday closures, new books and AV, upcoming events, and fundraisers. But in addition to that, 1980s issues of Ex Libris show an interesting deviation which speaks to a distinct time in Pennsylvania library history. 

Since the 1960s, EAPL has served as the District Library Center for eastern Northampton County and Monroe County. As such, it receives extra funding from the Commonwealth to enhance library service across its district. In the early years, DLCs provided direct training in librarianship for smaller libraries, which were often staffed by non-degreed employees or volunteers. Not long after this was formally articulated as an expectation in the first Minimum Standards and Guidelines for District Library Centers Receiving State Aid (1978), Ex Libris started to morph from a patron-facing to a librarian-facing publication. For example, the July/August 1981 issue contained a paragraph about Chase's Calendar of Events, an annual reference book that listed both standard holidays (think: July 4th, Independence Day) and unusual-but-fun reasons to celebrate throughout the year (such as July 15th, National Ice Cream Day). Although Chase's could be helpful a pre-Internet reference desk, it was especially useful to librarians doing public programming and book displays -- something that libraries large and small were involved with. The same issue also contained a "District News" section which mentioned state policies, upcoming professional development activities, and one paragraph of news from each of the institutions in Easton's district. Over the next few years, this inward focus of Ex Libris became even more pronounced. In the Fall 1986 issue, for example, the calendar of events listed district meetings, trainings offered by the State Library, the dates of the Pennsylvania Library Association conference, and deadlines for reports -- nothing of interest to library patrons. The rest of the issue was comprised of a page of news from each district library. 

The cover and first page of the Fall 1986 issue of Ex Libris. Edited by Lynn Moses, the District Consultant, the publication focused on news for librarians in the Easton District. 

Fortunately, by the 1990s, staffing conditions in Pennsylvania's libraries had improved substantially and professional development opportunities proliferated to an extent that DLCs no longer took such a heavy hand in educating colleagues. Perhaps for that reason, EAPL's newsletter reverted to its earlier, more typical purpose and format, as shown in the 1996 and 2001 examples above. But it's also interesting to observe other changes to Ex Libris's layout and format. Indicative of the desktop publishing technologies of the times, and librarians' competencies in using them, there was an evolution from typewritten text and hand-drawn illustrations -- see the August 1976 issue above -- to the inclusion of additional fonts and the use of print and digital clip art -- see the Fall 1986 and September 2001 covers. In later issues, photographs became common as well.  

Perhaps the most important reason Ex Libris is so valuable, though, is because it gave voice to employees who were briefly if ever mentioned in board minutes or other sources. For example, issues from the early 1990s contained several articles by June Andel, a late-career Audiovisual Librarian who was shepherding EAPL's transition from vinyl records to CDs, and 16mm films to VHS to digital formats. At the time, Ex Libris was a by-librarians-for-librarians publication, so her writings typically focused on workaday matters such as audio and picture quality, format durability, public performance rights, and collection strategies. However, in a 1992 piece she was more reflective and personal, offering something that's as close as I'll ever be able to get to an oral history interview. There, she provided some life-story that isn't available in her obituary. She also conveyed a sense of wonder about the technological changes she had witnessed first-hand. She wrote:

In the early 1950s, I was statistician at Allstate Insurance Company's Manhattan Office when they installed the mainframe computer -- the first monthly reports printed out all in 9's. I have enjoyed watching computer-telecommunications technologies develop since those halting early steps -- develop more rapidly and dramatically than even the futurists of those days had imagined. Even in the specific field of audiovisual media, it has been amazing to watch long-playing records replaced by compact discs and to contemplate the demise of of 16mm film in favor of VHS videotape. While the challenge of the Audiovisual Librarian remains to provide material to today's patrons in the format they need in the present, one must keep an eye on the technological horizon for new possibilities. Probably the next major audiovisual software development will be laser videodiscs, considered a new standard of excellence for home entertainment. Players which sold for $2,500 in 1985 are now available for as little as $500 ... With this to look forward to, the CD-Rom databases already available, and the automation project right around the corner for the Easton District Center, I will have to come back from my retirement for visits to this forthcoming "library of the future" about which I have been reading ever since I was in Library School.

Like Andel, I feel graced to have lived through the transition from analog to digital media, though my reasons are a little different from hers. One of the ironies of historical research is that, sometimes, older stuff is more accessible than the recent stuff. While many libraries generate newsy content on the web and through social media, long-term preservation and future access isn't assured, and material from just a few years ago can be challenging to find. For example, while EAPL's site links to its Newsletter, past issues don't seem to be available there. The Internet Archive/Wayback Machine has only captured a few editions back to 2021. As a practicing librarian, I'm loathe to tell busy colleagues how they should spend their time, but if I could whisper something in their ears, I'd say "print it out." Or, at least, "save a copy." I hope future historians are able to tap something that is as rich as Ex Libris. 
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Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Knowing Better and Doing Better: Searching for Librarians of Color in PaLA Bulletin (and Beyond)

This week, I lifted a beverage to myself as I cracked open the 1990 volume of PaLA's Bulletin. I was in a celebratory mood because I have been hand-searching the Bulletin, as time permits, for more than 6 months, and the 1990s is the last full decade I need to view for my project. After taking a long sip, I rubbed my eyes and settled in for an hour of skimming and copying.

I was especially hoping to find information about technological developments -- a key theme of the 1990s. About halfway through the volume, though, something very different caught my eye. In the July/August issue, there was an interview with Lydia Scott, an African-American librarian who was the Head of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Wylie Avenue branch. Ms. Scott had earned her BA and her MLS from the University of Pittsburgh in the early 1970s, then worked as a children's librarian and storyteller for CLP's Inner City Service, a mobile outreach program that focused on the Hill District. In 1982, she was transferred to Wylie and became its head. Thus, by the time Karl Helicher interviewed her for the Bulletin, she'd been working as a librarian in Pittsburgh for at least 15 years. She had a wealth of knowledge to convey. Although much of the interview focused on practical strategies for working in Black communities, 2 things she said struck me. In describing the importance of self-esteem, she mentioned that "it is extremely important to young people and children to know that great men and women preceded them and overcame obstacles that seemed impossible." Later, in answering a question about successful outreach, she emphasized the importance of *commitment* -- how commitment matters more than budgets or specific tactics. 

Although Ms. Scott probably wasn't intending to speak to an academic researcher like me, I took her words as a call to conscience. She reminded me of something I haven't been doing well, that I need to do better: I need to seek out librarians of color and ensure that their stories are included in my work. 

One of the things I am most proud about Made Free, my previous book about the early history of Pennsylvania's libraries, is how I tried to be geographically inclusive. I drove every single mile of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, I-80, I-81, I-79, and I-99 in order to visit various regions of the Commonwealth and I conducted research in more than 30 communities. I deliberately went to rural county seats like Gettysburg, Montrose, and Warren, as well as larger cities like Erie, Reading, and Scranton. Another way I tried to make Made Free more inclusive was that I not only utilized libraries' institutional archives, but I also tapped the records of the Pennsylvania Federation of Women's Clubs, the Pennsylvania State Grange, and the Pennsylvania Y.M.C.A. as well other "non-library" entities whose organizational records were available at the Pennsylvania State Archives. In other words, I not only told libraries' stories from the perspective of librarians, but also from the viewpoints of social service organizations and community activists that are often given short-shrift by library historians.

In order to achieve these types of inclusion, though, I made some significant trade-offs. By 2007, when I started the research that ultimately produced Made Free, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh had already been the subjects of various studies. I also knew that those cities are home to robust graduate programs in library science. So I believed they had already been "covered," or would eventually be covered, by other scholars. Thus I relied on published material, dissertations/theses, and the libraries' annual reports rather than doing site visits and consulting primary sources. Also, within the large Pennsylvania cities that I *did* visit, I concentrated on central libraries and I rarely, if ever, used branch records. While shorter visits enabled me to work with more institutions, it skewed my writing away from the vibrant ethnic communities that neighborhood branches serve most closely. My efforts to incorporate non-library organizations into my work was limited in scope as well. I included state-, county-, and local-level women's clubs, farmers' associations, and Y's -- the organizations which had publicly supported library movements in Pennsylvania -- and I assumed they represented "everyone," or "most of everyone." 

A consequence of these choices was that I largely failed to uncover stories about librarians of color; branches and outreach programs serving culturally/racially diverse neighborhoods; or book collections that people established for themselves outside of organizations that were established by (and largely for) white people. Taking Black communities as an example, my work didn't pick up library activity and other booksharing that had been going on in Philadelphia since at least the 1830s -- see the Philadelphia Library Company of Colored Persons, for example -- nor did I amplify the activities of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Wylie Avenue Branch, where Lydia Scott and other Black library employees had worked. Wylie's voluminous records are accessible in the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's institutional archives, and I could have used them if I'd visited the area. 

When I began my current project, which is a kind of sequel to Made Free and focuses on Pennsylvania libraries during the 1940s-2000s, I started with my usual approach -- finding existing books/dissertations/articles and reaching out to public libraries all over the state to locate large collections of primary sources. That remains necessary for the type of "statewide" book I intend to write. But disappointingly, I am finding that material generated by or about Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American librarians and library users remains elusive.  That's part of the reason why the 1990 interview with Lydia Scott was so special.

Within back issues of PaLA's Bulletin, Black library workers are relatively more visible than Hispanic, Asian, and Native ones. This isn't surprising, because, after people of white European descent, people of African descent comprise the largest number in Pennsylvania's general population, both historically and presently. In PaLA's Bulletin, the most valuable material I have found so far is a small cluster of articles published in the late 1960s. This was a time when Civil Rights Movements were highly visible across the country; librarian/activist E. J. Josey was encouraging Black librarians to make their voices heard within the American Library Association; and both federal grant programs and professional publications were turning the profession's eyes toward more inclusive politics and to underserved constituents. In 1967, Charles R. Peguese, who was then an adult services librarian at the Columbia Avenue branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia, published a Bulletin article that detailed his outreach efforts in the northern part of the city. He emphasized the importance of participating in neighborhood events and offering programs on "non-book" topics such as food stamps and medical assistance. Based on Mr. Peguese's subsequent appearances within the Bulletin, it could be argued that he became one of the most prominent African-Americans in Pennsylvania library circles, as he went on to serve for 14 years within the State Library's Bureau of Library Development.  Due at least in part to this role, and other voluntary positions he pursued at the national level, his name and photo show up in other Bulletin issues.

Charles R. Peguese honored in the September 1988 issue of PaLA Bulletin
for his service at the State Library of Pennsylvania 

Another Black librarian who appears within the Bulletin, especially in conference photos, is Elizabeth E.  McCombs, pictured below. As of September 1971, when a personnel notice about her appeared in the Bulletin, she had recently been appointed to lead Inner City Services for the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh after having served as Head of its Wylie Avenue Branch for a number of years. I haven't encountered any writings of hers in PaLA's Bulletin, but within the May 1969 Bulletin of the Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of English, she published a withering critique of NCTE's bibliographies, which failed to include titles about or relevant to Black children. Bringing passion, statistics, and a plethora of recommended titles to the table, she called on the state and national associations to improve professional tools that they were producing, to be more useful to teachers in contemporary classrooms. Ms. McCombs went on to teach in the library education program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  

Kathryn Oller, Elizabeth McCombs, Joseph J. Falgione, and Joan K. Diana at PaLA's 1972 conference. Image courtesy of the PaLA Archives and the State Library of Pennsylvania.

In the late 1960s, at least 2 other Black librarians published substantial articles in the Bulletin. Jessie M. Birtha, a book selection specialist at the Free Library of Philadelphia, wrote a collection development-oriented piece that staunchly criticized Helen Bannerman's Little Black Sambo, Sara Cone Bryant's Epaminondas, and other so-called "classics" that some librarians were still promoting. Mrs. Birtha then introduced readers to Augusta Braxton Baker, Charlemae Hill Rollins, and other expert bibliographers/promoters of African American literature. She also explained how to evaluate contemporary works in terms of their approach, writing style, language, characterization, illustrations, and bias. She eventually headed FLP's Nicetown Tioga Library and served on the American Library Association's John Newbery Medal (children's book award) committee. Another Black librarian in Pennsylvania who went on to prominence was Augusta A. Clark, who had been a young adult librarian at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Having recently left the profession, she published an insightful article about how the demeanor of white librarians and their lack of commitment to inner-city constituents was failing Black children. Later known as "Gussie" Clark, she became a pathbreaking city councilor, focused particularly on educational issues.

Jessie Birtha at her 100th birthday celebration.
Photograph by Abdul R. Sulayman, published in the Philadelphia Tribune, February 14, 2020.  


Even though my research has uncovered some useful publications, I need to do a lot more to identify and include people of color in my work. So far, my best teacher has been my colleague Michele Fenton, who works for Indiana's State Library. I first connected with Ms. Fenton about 15 years ago when I was the editor of the newsletter of ALA's Library History Round Table. and she shared a manuscript she'd written about an African American branch within the Evansville (Indiana) Public Library. Her work pointed out the existence of segregated library services in Midwestern states and the importance of branch libraries in the educational, recreational, and social lives of African Americans. When I read her article back then, I absorbed its content -- the existence of segregated libraries in the North was news to me -- but unfortunately, I didn't think enough about what Ms. Fenton's work could teach me methodologically. Only last year, as I collaborated with her on a bibliography for a forthcoming book, Black Women in Librarianship: Voices from the African Diaspora, did I begin to ponder over our different approaches to finding biographical information. I had offered to tap  databases that she did not have access to at the Indiana State Library, and while my efforts added dozens of items to our list, I saw how Ms. Fenton's approach embodied the self-esteem, personal networking, and commitment that Lydia Scott and other Black librarians in Pennsylvania spoke of. Ms. Fenton's contributions to the bibliography were clearly the result of many years of service to the Black Caucus of ALA, collaborating with and reaching out to colleagues, following up on others' suggestions, starting a blog, Little Known Black Librarian Facts, and generally becoming a hub for information about Black librarians. Through these means, Ms. Fenton uncovered innumerable biographies, narratives, and stories that I would never have found using my typical methods.

For tracking down Black librarians, library employees, and activities, one idea my collaboration with Ms. Fenton gave me is to join, or at least reach out to, organizations for librarians of color. When I was the editor of Libraries: Culture, History, and Society, I became a member of ALA's Black Caucus, REFORMA, APALA, and AILA so that I could share CFPs with other members. I definitely need to tap those groups again when I begin to collect oral histories for my project. Also, I recently found out about the Pennsylvania Black Librarians Caucus; when the time comes, I want to reach out to PBLC and similar associations that focus on other demographics.

Another strategy inspired by Ms. Fenton is to check for news coverage in the Philadelphia Tribune, a Black newspaper I have access to via Penn State's ProQuest subscriptions. A quick search for article titles that include "librarian" or "librarians" turned up 58 items published between 1945 and 2010 that I should definitely sift through. A broader search for those words within full-text generated nearly 2,000 additional leads. Similar strategies for the Pittsburgh Courier, another Black paper available through ProQuest, yielded more 900 articles. I'd like to find out whether there are papers that focus on Pennsylvania's Hispanic, Asian, and Native communities, too. This being said, perhaps there are ways to comb through the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and other larger-circulation city papers. Perhaps I could look for obituaries that mention both "library" words, as well as the names of particular branches -- like the Cecil B. Moore Library (formerly Columbia Avenue Branch) in North Philadelphia, the Lucian E Blackwell West Philadelphia Regional Library, and the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - Hill District (formerly Wylie Branch), which have served large Black communities. I could also look for obituaries that mention attendance at historically-black or minority-serving colleges and universities, membership in A.M.E. and other churches, or contributions to civic organizations like the NAACP. Hopefully, I can evolve parallel, thorough strategies for Hispanic, Asian, and Native librarians in Pennsylvania as well.

In the 5 years since I published Made Free, I *know* a bit more about inclusive research methods, but Lydia Scott's words remind me that I need to roll up my sleeves and *do* something. One of my favorite literary quotes, attributed to Maya Angelou, is "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." I don't have all the answers on how to ensure that my work is culturally and racially inclusive, but I definitely have some starting points. Quick, web-based searches for Ms. Scott didn't uncover an obituary or much other information, so perhaps when I reach the interview stage of my project she'll be the first person I'll try to track down in other ways.

Articles cited:
  • "Appointments: Elizabeth McCombs," PLA Bulletin, September 1971, 296,.
  • Birtha, Jessie M., "The Portrayal of the Black in Children's Literature," PLA Bulletin, July 1969, 187-197. 
  • Clark, Augusta A., "A Black Parent Looks at Service from a Large Urban Library System," PLA Bulletin, November 1969, 321-323.
  • "Lydia Scott: Serving the African-American Community," PLA Bulletin, July/August 1990, 6-7.
  • McCombs, Elizabeth, "Books to Encompass an Expanding Society, PCTE Bulletin, May 1969, 10-15. ERIC, https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED041920. 
  • Peguese, Charles R., "Public Library Service to the Inner City," PLA Bulletin, November 1967, 115-119.



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