Helen A Ganser

Helen A. Ganser received her certification from Drexel Institute’s library program, now Drexel University, and became the first librarian at Millersville State Normal School in 1911 at the age of 19. Her starting salary including board was $600 dollars a year the equivalent of only $14,000 a year today. Ganser developed Millersville’s library science program ten years later and was the institution’s only professional librarian until 1921. She participated in many professional organizations including the American Library Association and the Pennsylvanian State Education Association. She served as the president of the Pennsylvania Library Association from 1944-1945. Ganser retired after 41 years of service in 1952. To honor her long and invaluable service to the University the campus library was named the Helen. A Ganser library in 1967. In 2013 while the newly reconstructed library was renamed the Francine G. McNairy Library and Learning Center the tower of the library still bears Helen A. Ganser’s namesake.