The Berwyn Public Library History Project
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The Berwyn Public Library History Project |
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Before Berwyn Before there was a City of Berwyn, there was a Berwyn Library. By the time Berwyn residents voted in 1901 to separate from the Township of Cicero and become a township in their own right, the Berwyn Lending Library was already seven years old. |
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The 1920s The desire for a Berwyn library refused to die, and in 1921, a time when the city was growing rapidly, the Berwyn Woman’s Club raised $100 to start a library for children. |
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The 1930s In those dark Depression times, the library became a valued source of recreation and information, and branch libraries were seen as a way to serve patrons in all parts of the city. By 1930, the Berwyn Library had given up its quarters in the old real estate building and had spread to three locations: |
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The 1940s The City Hall branch meant the Library now had room enough to rent out meeting space to others, and in January 1940 the Berwyn Recreation Commission rented space at the North Branch for $25 per month. |
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The 1950s Tight budgets continued into the next decade. The total library budget for 1950 was only $32,541. But although library salaries may have seemed stingy, employees enjoyed other perks. Minutes of the April 1950 Board meeting reflect generous vacation schedules including four weeks of vacation after three years of service; three weeks after one year; and one day for each month under one year. |
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The 1960s Unlike the ballot of two years earlier, when each building was posed as a separate question, the 1960 proposal appeared as a single issue. And this time around, the referendum received wide support not only from the new Friends of the Berwyn Library, formed in February 1960, but also from numerous community organizations and individual residents. |
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The 1970s The South Branch was remodeled, and the Children's Department moved to the basement. Thus, additional space was gained not only for children's materials but for adult collections as well. |
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The 1980s The decade of the 1980s opened with a Berwyn Library Board full of bright hopes for improved services, especially at the Central Branch in City Hall. The Suburban Library System's Yacko study was followed by a second SLS study, summarized at the January 1981 meeting of the Berwyn Library Board. |
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The 1990s As the decade turned, library patronage soared. The library was packed with people every available day and night. Between 1990 and 1991, the number of library card holders grew 10 percent. Borrowing increased by 28,000, and reference questions by 10,500. |
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The 2000s After 34 years in the library field, 26 of them devoted to the Berwyn Public Library, Mrs. Lofgren retired on June 29, 2001 . As library director for her last five years of service, she had guided Board and staff to fulfillment of the long-held dream of a single, centralized facility. |
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The EPILOGUE "The library as the hushed center of reading and research and contemplation has changed. Libraries are being viewed as community services — information paths that patrons want to follow through books and computers, programming and entertainment." |
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