BELLAIRE -- At an early age, John Kniesner developed a love for libraries which he turned into a life long career of helping to bring people and books together.
Recently, Kniesner retired from his post as the director of the Bellaire Public Library after 24 years of service there and 37 years of total library service.
A native of Cleveland, Kniesner said it started with a trip to the West Park Branch of the Cleveland Public Library his mother had taken him on when he was a kindergarten student.
"I went in there and they said I could get a library card if I could sign my name. Well, I had just learned how to do that in kindergarten," Kniesner said. "I was so thrilled with it I showed it not only to a kid that had also been in my kindergarten, but also perfect strangers as we walked the two blocks back to my house."
As a kid, he continued to utilize the West Park Branch, enrolling in its summer reading program, where he had checked out a book and had to give a little report to the librarian. The children whom proved they'd read the books would get a gold star and if they got 10 stars, they would be invited to a little party at the end of the summer.
As he got a little older, he was able to go that branch library on his own and would ride his bike there.
"It was only two blocks from my house and the fact that there was a candy store across the street only enhanced the circumstances and I just really enjoyed reading," Kniesner said. "Later on the branch librarian there thought that my brother and I seemed to enjoy the library so much that perhaps we'd like to have a tour of the main library downtown."
It was around Christmas and the main librarian gave the boys the tour, introducing them to the employees of the library.
While meeting those employees, one of them helped inspire Kniesner to decide he wanted to one day be a librarian.
"We only talked to him for less than two minutes, but he had a master's degree in English and a master's degree in library science and he wore a white shirt with a tie and his English was impeccable," Kniesner said. "I admired him so much it was right at that moment, I thought to myself that I want to be just like him I want to be a professional librarian. I almost feel it had been guidance by God because this has been such a wonderful career for me."
He continued to further his endeavors and as a student at St. Edward Catholic High School, he started volunteering at the school's library.
"They actually hired me for a short time to do inventory and things like that and I found out that I really enjoyed this library work," he said.
Kniesner then went on to Kent State University and went to library school in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan.
From there, he took a job as a reference librarian at the Metropolitan Library in Columbus, helping people by answering questions, many times in person, sometimes over the phone.
At other times, he would be assigned to a marble hallway where the card catalog was located.
"This one time when I was out there I noticed this really beautiful young woman and she was looking up things in the card catalog and it turns out that she was working right in that main library in a different department," Kniesner said. "She was getting ready to leave that library to become a camp counselor."
Her name is Patty and a going away party was held for her and he was invited.
"She was going to be a counselor at a girls' camp at Hocking Hills and I didn't want that to be the end of it, so I went down to visit her," he said.
Back at the library, a new technology was taking shape with computerization and data banks. The library had received a federal grant to experiment with the New York Time Date Bank.
It was something Kniesner said he got into and was amazed at the amount of information that was available.
He started going around to other libraries and started giving talks on how it worked. That led to a promotion to the what was then a brand new service - the computerized information service. He also had received a merit award for his work as a reference librarian.
An opportunity also arose and Kniesner took an assistant manger's position in the library's audio-visual department.
On the first day of that job, Patty showed up and gave Kniesner a laser-cut wood container to store paper clips something that has come in very handy.
Eventually they got married and had two children. Before the kids, Kniesner said he decided to look for employment elsewhere and there was a position in California.
But Kniesner's father-in-law asked that he not move that far away, so he started looking for a job in Ohio.
It was then when he saw a small ad for an opening at the Bellaire Public Library in 1986.
"When I came here, the staff were friendly and the board of trustees were friendly," Kniesner said. "I had my interview and I was trying to sell myself and the board was trying to sell the community, so we decided to come here. Again, I can't help but think it was under the guidance of a higher power because it's been a wonderful decision and this has been a wonderful place to raise my kids and a wonderful place to be a librarian."
One of the things that made coming to the Bellaire Library easy was the fact that it the library had a great staff and collection of books and materials.
As the director of the Bellaire Public Library, Kniesner has since the building and the services offered change over the years.
One of the things that has he helped start was a "Right to Read Program," held yearly at the library.
It started off with Kniesner going to Rose Hill School and St. John Grade School to read to the students, but has turned into a multi-day celebration at the library involving students from Bellaire, St. John, Shadyside and Powhatan Point.
By having the "Right to Read Week" at the library, it helps to familiarize the students with the building, Kniesner said.
Of course, one of the biggest changes to hit the Bellaire Public Library was it's expansion in 1999, funded by the Mellott Trust.
Before that time, the library was at it's capacity. In fact, adding a new book meant having to remove another book to make room for it.
Then, they had about 38,000 books. Today, there are more than 80,000 books in the library. Plus, as part of the Ohio Public Library Information Network, patrons have access to books from all over the state and databases from all over the world.
"Having access to all of these materials is just so tantalizing for our patrons and for myself too, the choices are just incredible and it's all free," Kniesner said.
The expansion not only allowed for more books but for more services. A children's area was added and is used regularly for story hours.
"Reading some books to kids can be very enjoyable by seeing the kids being responsive to the books that you are reading to them. There are also times when some little kids can almost guess the ending and that's exciting," he said.
A new reading lounge was also incorporated. More computers were added connecting the library to not just the Internet, but also to databases all over the world for use by visitors to the library.
Now that he is retired, Kniesner said he wants to make time to do things he enjoys. Along with reading, he said he wants to be able to ice skate and swim.
Another thing he enjoys is theater.
"It's almost like literature coming to life," Kniesner said.
In fact, the Bellaire Public Library is often used to rehearse and perform plays by the Bellaire Thespians from Bellaire High School.
During one of their recent productions, the Bellaire Thespians told him he was needed down into the community shortly before the start of a play and presented him with an award and made him an honorary Thespian.
"It meant more to me than any possible honor than I could possibly get. I was elated," he said.
It was a career that he said he will look back on with great fondness, describing it like a novel with a great beginning, middle and end that doesn't need more pages.
"I just can't imagine having a more wonderful career than what I've had. I'm thankful for the staff, the community and the board for letting my dream come true," Kniesner said. "This has been a wonderful adventure for me and I feel blessed . . . In so many ways, my life in libraries has been like a storybook and I'm so thankful."
