A Library Built by Its Community

Before the Doors Opened

Long before readers borrowed books from the Shamokin-Coal Township Public Library, neighbors were working to give it a home. In September 1940, the Shamokin News-Dispatch announced a fundraising drive for October 14 through 25. The Shamokin Library Association had organized that spring, paused its activity during the summer, and was preparing to ask the whole community for help. Its president, the Reverend E. O. Butkofsky, would lead the campaign, with team captains and solicitors gathering contributions.

There was enthusiasm, but not yet a settled location. Several possible sites were under consideration when the newspaper described the coming drive. The appeal asked residents to give according to their means. Bringing a public library into being depended on many small decisions as well as gifts: finding a building, organizing the work, and keeping the effort alive after the campaign ended.

The July 1941 issue of Pennsylvania Library and Museum Notes recorded another step. The Shamokin and Coal Township Library Association had approved building plans on May 1. Cash and pledges from the initial campaign approached $7,000; borough council had appropriated $1,000, and 1,300 people had given at least a dollar. Another drive was planned for spring 1942. The association hoped for Works Progress Administration assistance, although the notice did not say that assistance had been secured.

An Idea That Needed Persistence

Progress did not follow a simple timetable. A May 25, 1949, News-Dispatch editorial welcomed a call for action from Dr. Joseph L. Hackenberg, then acting head of the library association. The editorial described a project that had stretched on for years and urged the selection of officers and directors willing to devote time and energy to it. Its impatience gives a glimpse of how strongly some residents wanted a library—and how difficult it had been to turn that wish into an open door.

A Ribbon and a Week of Visits

That door is visible in a newspaper photograph published September 14, 1953. Mayor Thomas F. Landy stands at the center of the group, cutting the ribbon at Eighth and Water Streets. Books line the shelves behind the officials and library association members. The caption names Janith Ulsh as librarian and Miriam McConnell as association president. After years of appeals and planning, the photograph records people assembled inside the library itself.

The opening had more than one stage. The caption announced that Visitation Week began that afternoon at one o’clock and would continue through the week. Lending was to begin the following Monday, September 21. Visitors could first see the rooms and meet the people responsible for them; borrowing was the next announced step. The distinction gives the ribbon cutting its own place in the library’s history without compressing every opening activity into a single date.

Care for a Familiar Doorway

A smaller photograph published January 4, 1958, shows another kind of community help. The Shamokin and Coal Township Junior Chamber of Commerce had repaired the sign above the library entrance. David Reed, a Jaycees director, is pictured as the improved sign was erected. Its large letters announce a public library plainly. This was not a new building or a grand opening, but practical care for a place that readers already used.

Moving the Books in 1962

By June 1962, the library was preparing to move. McConnell, now identified as president of the board, announced a new location at Independence and Ninth Streets, expected to open around the middle of July. Librarian Mrs. Earl Ginter said the Eighth and Water Streets library would close June 30. Readers received detailed instructions about due books, overdue charges, and returns through the mail chute at the new library. Even moving day had to make room for the needs of people with books at home.

The July 17 News-Dispatch carried the follow-up: the new library had opened the previous afternoon, July 16. Ginter appears at the desk with three young patrons. The initial schedule offered afternoon and evening hours, except on Wednesdays and Sundays, with a normal schedule expected later that month. The children are not named in the caption, but their presence gives the move a human scale: another room, another desk, and readers ready to use them.

The ribbon cutting and the children at the desk belong to the same community effort as the earlier fundraising and the repaired sign. They show a library taking shape through contributions, leadership, routine work, and changing addresses. Its story is not only about the day a building opened. It is also about the people who kept making a public place for books possible.