Faith Holmes Hyers (1887-1966)

Professional Contributions

For more than 20 years, (1925-1947), Hyers was the Library Publicist for the Los Angeles Public Library. She wrote extensively including regular columns for the Los Angeles Times. She was active in both the California and American Library Associations ("CLA" and "ALA," respectively); she was the ALA State Chairwoman of the Publicity Committee in 1929 and the California ALA Publications Chairwoman in 1930. In 1936, Hyers spoke at the Publicity Committee Round Table at the ALA annual meeting in Richmond, Virginia. She is known for her enthusiastic support of radio broadcasting by libraries. In her presentation at the Richmond meeting when referring to the program “Looks at Books, via the Radio,” she is quoted as saying, “The library should be the authority on what is best to read and should take its place as the literary advisor on the air.” (American Library Association Bulletin. (1936) p.746)

Background

Hyers was born in Hillsboro, Ohio, and later moved to Chicago where she was a music teacher. She married between 1906 and 1908. She and her husband, Charles, later moved to Los Angeles. Few biographical details of her life are available (see author’s note, below); however, one of her legacies to librarianship continues – her great grandson is a graduate of UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and a reference librarian. Hyers is buried in the Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Writing and Radio Achievements

Hyers wrote The Library and the Radio. In her straightforward and practical style, she recognizes the power of radio and extols the importance of radio for education and the promotion of books and other resources available at the library. She gives advice to librarian broadcasters about voice quality and content preparation as well information about the impact of copyright law on radio programming. She also explained some of the problems that might be encountered from using a mass communications medium such as not having enough copies of a book to meet user requests immediately after a radio broadcast. She was still writing book reviews for the Los Angeles Times in 1963.

More than 100 of her articles are available through the Los Angeles Times Archive including those on the topics of how libraries select and buy books, the library’s information and reference services, book lists and reader advisories for users, genealogical materials for those who want to trace their family trees, telephone directories from all over the United States, and the more than 266 newspapers and 1,000 periodicals in the library’s collections. In a style reminiscent of SamuelGreen, she notes the importance of the user’s need being satisfied, “In every case the inquirer is urged to return to the adviser’s desk and report on whether the books were found in the library and if they proved helpful, so that others might be suggested.” (“Humanizing Book Knowledge,” (1927) p. A4)

In the 1940’s, Hyers represented the Los Angeles Public Library on the Office of the Mayor’s Editorial Board that prepared the annual reports of the City of Los Angeles.

Contributions to Reference Services

There is no documentation that Hyers was either trained as a librarian or that she worked at the Los Angeles Public Library in the Reference Department. That said, much of her writing for the Los Angeles Times and her work with the ALA and the CLA on publicity and radio use in libraries related to making the public aware of the vast reference resources available at libraries. Her articles cover a wide range of reference topics and resources. For this reason, Hyers should be remembered as a woman who brought to the public’s attention the wealth of information accessible for free from the public library and the reference services that would help them find what they need.

Perspective

Hyers’s legacy is her incredible enthusiasm for and commitment to the resources of the Los Angeles Public Library. Her list of accomplishments indicates an extraordinarily engaged and energetic woman. In her time, radio was in its infancy, yet she recognized its potential for informing and inspiring the public, and she pushed librarians to embrace this new technology. (Imagine how she may have reacted to the World Wide Web!)

When few women worked, Hyers was on trains and buses traveling – sometimes across the country – to conferences and meetings. Her writings indicate an articulate woman with humor, a sense of the common person, and a commitment to her institution and profession. One can imagine her walking in downtown Los Angeles, hat at an angle and gloves on her hands, ready, willing and able to let the people know more about the resources and information at the library and to encourage them to use them. She was Faith Holmes Hyers, Library Publicist.

Author’s Note

No photograph or information about Hyers’s education was found. Future researchers may want to check the Los Angeles Public Library institutional records and archives. At this time, such records are not available for searching, however, depending on funding and staffing, these institutional archives may be cataloged and made accessible. The Los Angeles Times included a brief announcement of her death on January 13, 1966; no prominent obituary in the Times could be located. When searching for more information about this woman, researchers should be aware that Hyers used her maiden and married names as her byline.

References

Birth and Death Dates. Retrieved 10/23, 2006, from http://www.cagenweb.com/re/losangeles/AngelesRosedaleCenetery/AngelesRosedaleG.htm

Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery, Los Angeles.

Deaths, Funeral Announcements.(1966, Electronic version. Los Angeles Times, pp. B.15. Retrieved 11/18/2006, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1985) database.

Hyers, F. H. (1939). Music at the Library. Library Journal, 64, 252.

Hyers, F. H. (1938). The Library and the Radio. November 1938: The University of Chicago Press.

Hyers, F. H. (1927, March 20, 1927). Family Trees Unearthed. Electronic version. Los Angeles Times, pp. B5. Retrieved 10/14/2006, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1985) database.

Hyers, F. H. (1926, March 14, 1926). Buying Library Books Real Art. Electronic version. Los Angeles Times, pp. B15. Retrieved 10/14/2006, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1985) database.

Hyers, F. H. (1926, February 7, 1926). Library Rich in Periodicals. Electronic version. Los Angeles Times, pp. B14. Retrieved 10/14/2006, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1985) database.

Hyers, F. H. (1963, December 1, 1963). Artist's Pen Scketches Love of Man, Nature. Electronic version. Los Angeles Times, pp. B17. Retrieved November 18, 2006, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1985) database.

Hyers, F. H. (1928, July 7, 1928). Adult Education. Electronic version. Los Angeles Times, pp. A4. Retrieved 10/14/2006, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1985) database.

Hyers, F. H. (1928, June 7, 1928). The Library Club. Electronic version. Los Angeles Times, pp. A4. Retrieved 10/14/2006, from ProQuest Historical Newpapers Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1985) database.

Hyers, F. H. (1927, April 4, 1927). Humanizing Book Knowledge. Electronic version. Los Angeles Times, pp. A4. Retrieved 10/14/2006, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1985) database.

Hyers, F. H. (1926, September 12, 1926). Library Gives Out Invitation. Electronic version. Los Angeles Times, pp. B2. Retrieved 10/14/2006, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1985) database.

Preer, J. L. (2004). "This Year--Richmond!": The 1936 Meeting of the American Library Association.Electronic version. Libraries & Culture, 39(2), 137-148. Retrieved 10/13/2006, from Project MUSE http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/libraries_and_culture/v039/39.2preer.html database.

OCLC Western Trek. (2005). Brent Singleton, Reference Librarian

California State University, San Bernardino.http://www.oclc.org/western/news/publications/westerntrek/v1n4.pdf

Your City War Work Peace Plans

Los Angeles Year Book, 1945(1945). In Faith Holmes Hyers (Ed.), . 1945: Office of the Mayor, City of Los Angeles.

Maureen Whalen