Repository:

Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library

Creator:

Reid, Douglas

Title:

Papers of Douglas Reid

ID:

BHC-MSS 0200

Date [inclusive]:

1956-1977

Physical Description:

1.3 Linear Feet

Language of the Material:

English .

Abstract:

Douglas Reid was one of the longest serving directors of the Bridgeport Public Library, sitting in the post from 1963 to 1965. Prior to taking the position, he worked as a part of the state's Bureau of Library Services, and went on to help run the Southwestern Connecticut Library System. His papers focus on his service to the Bureau and the early days of the System, rather than his day to day running of the Bridgeport Public Library.

One of the longest serving directors of the Bridgeport Public Library, Douglas Reid was born in Canada on September 15, 1920. He served as a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the second World War, and proceeded to gain his Masters in Library and Information Science from McGill University in 1949. He married his wife Mary Bastone in 1960.

Reid was a public library consultant from 1959 to 1963, serving the Connecticut State Education Department's Bureau of Library Services and was also the Assistant Bureau Head. As per notes in the acquisition record, Reid specialized in book selection, censorship, buildings, personnel, and publicity. He set up the bureau's central book collection in East Hartford and then Hartford proper, and also worked on the Governor's Commission on Libraries. He became City Librarian of the Bridgeport Public Library in 1963 and remained in that post until 1985.

Reid was also a part of the board for the Southwestern Connecticut Library System, a group founded in 1971 to connect Fairfield County libraries together and share resources. This meant redirecting telephone calls to difference libraries as appropriate, coordinating interlibrary loans, applying for grants and other funding, and general coordinating in a way not dissimilar to a county library system used in other states. The organization has since disbanded, but the Connecticut Library Consortium fulfills a similar goal.

The collection primarily contains material before and after Reid's tenure as head of the Bridgeport Public Library. Series I, general, contains material relating to his acceptance of the position. Series II relates entirely to his time in the state's Bureau of Library Services, providing valuable insight into how libraries within the state of Connecticut functioned and related to each other – and what professional organizations looked like at the time. Series III deals entirely with the Southwestern Connecticut Library System (SCLS or SWCLS depending on the time period), a library association for Fairfield County libraries meant to connect resources before the days such as organizations as Bibliomation.

Collection features three series as arranged by David Palmquist at time of acquisition. Series I, General, is chronologically arranged. Series II, Bureau of Library Service, is arranged alphabetically by topic. Series III, Southwestern Connecticut Library System is arranged by executive function and then alphabetically by subject.

• Regional library systems
• Library consultants
• Library directors
• State of Connecticut. Department of Education. Bureau of Library Services
• Southwestern Connecticut Library System