MISSION
Lower Merion Libraries: always ready to inspire and empower our community. We bring you the world!
LMLS Core Values are Engagement, Exploration, and Excellence. The purpose and values guide the mission to support the information, educational, recreational, and cultural needs of groups and individuals of all ages:
The Lower Merion Library System – 6 libraries providing great service.
The Lower Merion Library System (LMLS) is a dynamic group of six libraries located just west of Philadelphia. The System serves approximately 60,000 residents of Lower Merion Township and offers reciprocal borrowing to neighboring residents through the ACCESS Pennsylvania program. LMLS is an active participant in interlibrary loan and other cooperative projects among libraries in the state.
LMLS patrons can borrow books, large print books, magazines, CDs, Books on CD, and DVDs, all free of charge, Each library also provides public access to the Internet, Microsoft Office and a number of electronic resources. Many of these electronic resources can be accessed from home through the LMLS web site.
LMLS’s greatest asset is an outstanding staff.
LMLS is justly proud of its courteous, helpful and highly qualified staff who bring a wide range of educational backgrounds and interests to their jobs. Our 15 professional librarians hold Masters Degrees in library and information services. Their undergraduate majors include Art, Elementary Education, English, History, Human Biology, Painting, Psychology, Religion, and Sociology. Part-time and full-time departmental staff are equally qualified, versatile and customer service oriented.
History of the Lower Merion Library System
The Lower Merion Library System (LMLS) is made up of six libraries that all began because members of their communities felt that a library was an essential community resource. Five of the libraries formed the Lower Merion Library Association in 1935, qualifying for access to funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The name was changed to the Lower Merion Library System in 1994 to convey the idea of six distinct entities – Belmont Hills joined the group in 1961 – working together to achieve common goals. An outstanding staff of professionals, and community commitment, ensure that LMLS consistently ranks among the top libraries in the country.
Ardmore Free Library, the first library established in Lower Merion Township, was started in 1899 by the Women’s Club of Ardmore with six dollars and 300 books in a rented room of the Merion Title and Trust Building. In 1917 Ardmore Library was built as an addition to the women’s clubhouse, where it still stands today. As Ardmore grew, additional space was needed and, in 1924, Charles Ludington, Vice President of Curtis Publishing Company, funded a new wing in honor of his wife. In 1995-96 a Community Development Block Grant funded a new children’s room and multipurpose program room within the original library structure. The 1922 Clevenger Fountain, with a bronze sculpture by Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, was renovated by Ardmore Rotary in 2001. The library building underwent extensive renovations in 2015, which included the addition of an elevator to improve access to the children's room and balcony loft.
The Women’s Club of Bala Cynwyd founded the Bala Cynwyd Memorial Library in 1915, located in the Union Hall Fire House, with $200 and just over 1,000 donated books. The library’s first building was dedicated in 1927 in memory of those who served in World War I. The building that currently houses the library was built by the Township and dedicated in 1974, when it received national public attention as a combined school/public library project. The building was expanded in 1999 and again in 2012. The 2012 expansion added over 5,700 square feet, with a beautiful new entrance, and transformation of the layout of the library’s collections, staff work spaces and public spaces. The renovations also included a geothermal heating system.
In 1935 three women from Belmont Hills opened the West Manayunk Free Library in St. Andrews Chapel. Originally a branch of Bala Cynwyd Library, it became independent in 1941, taking the name Bird Memorial Library in memory Anne Warren Jackson Bird, the wife of rector Benjamin Newcomer Bird. As circulation grew, the library moved to larger quarters several times. In 1969 the Belmont Hills Library was opened at its current location. Community contributions, an allocation from the Township Board of Commissioners and a Commonwealth grant funded construction. The library underwent an expansion and complete renovation in 2018, adding a much-needed meeting room, a second entrance, and a patio.
The beautiful two-story stone building that now houses the Gladwyne Free Library was erected in 1921 by the Episcopal Diocese as Gladwyne Community Hall. In 1931, Maud and Stuart Bell established a community library in one room of Gladwyne Hall, soliciting donations of the library’s first books. Six months later, with a private donation and a $600 per year contribution from the Township Commissioners, the library was able to buy supplies and a few new books. In 1951, the building was transferred to the Library’s Board of Trustees. With private donations, the building has been renovated several times (1966, 1976, 1987, 1992). On its second floor, the library houses the 1700 volume Pennsylvania Collection, important to the study of local and state history. The library reopened in March 2017 following its most recent renovation, which added an elevator, significantly improving accessibility, maintaining its status as ‘the heart of the village.’
The first library in Bryn Mawr was founded in 1916, in two rooms of the old public school with 20 books and two dozen chairs. Two moves later, in 1926, Charles H. Ludington erected a new building in memory of his late wife, Ethel Saltus Ludington, a fervent believer in the free library movement. Funds were raised through public subscription for three subsequent expansions (1954, 1967, 1985), encircling the original building. Ludington was most recently expanded in 2012 and offers a fully accessible building. Ludington serves as the main reference library of the Lower Merion Library System. It is the largest system library.
In 1929, an enterprising group of women from the Penn Wynne community founded the library with seven dollars and 35 books. The library was officially incorporated in 1932 and the current building on Overbrook Parkway opened in 1949. A new wing, doubling the library’s size, was built in 1960 with a gift from The Kathleen H. & Martin M. Decker Foundation and substantial community contributions. In 1989, the library celebrated its 60th Anniversary with the completion of extensive renovations and dedication of a new wing. The library underwent a complete renovation and expansion in 2015, reopening in March 2016, with 1,608 additional square feet, floor to ceiling windows around the perimeter and new skylights adding bright sunlight. The library now has a handicapped accessible meeting room, a greatly expanded children’s room and more seating and workspace.