The Boyertown Community Library is one of my favorite places in Boyertown.

First, I should say that when I was a kid, we didn't have a library in town. My grandmother would take all the grandkids to the bookmobile when it stopped. It used to stop on North Reading Avenue at the Boyertown Post Office (The post office then moved to Washington Street) and then in the parking lot of St. John's Lutheran Church.

I loved the bookmobile. A library on wheels! I'd be so excited when it was library day. We'd take our old books and walk up town. I remember climbing the big steps to get in. I think the floor was covered with a dark blue carpet. I'd go right to the little kids books. They has some kind of a step stool I'd sit on to start looking through the books I picked. (The bookmobile still runs, but doesn't stop in Boyertown since we have a library.)

Then when we were older we got books from the school libraries, even during the summer.

The Boyertown Community Library began as a Girl Scout project in November 1989. I would have been at college then. I do remember hearing people talking about it questioning why Boyertown even needed a library, since we had the school libraries. My thought was "Cool! Our own library!"

About 1991 the library moved from their first home at 10 South Chestnut Street to 3 East Philadelphia Avenue. That was where I first visited the library. I came home from college and started working in Boyertown in July 1993. Soon after that I went in and signed up for my first Berks County library card. (The library is part of the Berks County Public Libraries, so the card is good at any library in Berks County, and with BCPL participating in Access PA, you have access to books at any participating school, public or university library in PA).

3 East Philadelphia Avenue is a very, very narrow space, but very long. I remember winding through shelves that were very close together. If there were other people in the library, you had to squeeze past each other. And the book selection was very limited because they didn't have the space for more books. But still, I went in often to get new books to read.

In 1996 the library bought its own building at 29 East Philadelphia Avenue. I'm one of the many who remember that building as Haring’s Shoe Store. I remember going there with my grandmother when she needed to buy shoes. I remember old Mr. Haring as being a friendly guy. It was an old-fashioned shoe store where they measured your feet, brought the shoes to you and then put them on your feet to try on.

According to an article in The Boyertown Times on April 17, 1975, the Harings (Raymond and Kathryn) celebrated the 20th anniversary of the store. The article said it's been the only shore store in town for 18 years. They bought the business in 1955 from George Greenawald. According to Mr. Haring's obituary, he died Feb. 1, 1994. He retired in 1982 after operating the store 27 years.

I stopped working at The Boyertown Times in 1998, so I don't remember clearly the library buying 31 East Philadelphia Avenue in 2000 and opening The Biesecker Children’s Wing. With driving to work in King of Prussia, I didn't visit the library as much as I used to. I do remember going in when they were doing rennovations and knocking holes in the walls between the buildings to make walkways to connect the two old buildings.

The library's history says that building at 31 East Philadelphia Avenue used to be Sands Sporting Goods. I only remember Sands being at the corner of East Philadelphia Aveue and Chestnut Street, so maybe I never when into it at the old location.

As a member of the Kiwanis Club of the Boyertown Area, I did volunteer and for a short time lead the Saturday Story Corner at the library, so I was in periodically on Saturday mornings to read.

I still volunteer as a reader for Saturday storytimes, and I'm active with the libary in other volunteering ways. But the reason the library is my favorite place is because it's one of my kids favorite places. For about three years we went to Friday storytime almost every week. Now that school and preschool interfere we don't get to storytimes during the week.

My kids love going to the library to pick books and videos. I usually make a rule of 2 books per kid (that's 6 books to read in a week), but they always find another one they HAVE to have, so I give in and get more. And they love picking their own kids VHS or DVD video to watch for the week. They each get to pick 1 (and that I can firmly say 1 because there's a limit of 3 per card).

The summer reading program one of the kids favorite things to do in summer (besides the pool, of course)! They willingly read 5 new books a week so they can fill in the form and get a token for a prize. Insted of me having to pest them to keep reading over the summer, they pest me to read "one more book" to fill in more slips! It's great. Last summer we read more than 100 books. Now, remember my youngest is 3 so some of those 100 are board books-but I don't count the easiest books for my older two.

The Boyertown Area School District requires the kids read 10 books over the course of the school year, and they have a suggested list. They can start over the summer. By the first day of school my son had read his minimum 10 (including non-fiction), and then some (like 90+).

So, if you're ever in town (even on a Saturday morning) stop in and get a library card. They're FREE! Just show your driver's license. (Read the library's blog)

The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history. Author: Carl Rowan