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California Library Hall of Fame

W. Elmo Reavis

W. Elmo Reavis (1877-1959) established the Pacific Library Binding Company in Los Angeles in 1912 to focus solely on bookbinding for libraries. Over the years, the Pacific Library Binding Company (CLA member #333) provided bookbinding services for a number of public, academic, and special libraries in California.

In addition to focusing on the binding needs of libraries, Mr. Reavis taught bookbinding classes at the Los Angeles Public Library Training School (1913-1932) and the Riverside Library Service School (1914-1922). It was important to Reavis that librarians understood bookbinding so they could make informed choices about what sort of binding, lettering, etc. they needed in order to maximize their binding budget.

W. Elmo Reavis shared bookbinding information with librarians on a larger scale with Bindery Talk, a monthly magazine he started in May1912. The masthead explained the magazine’s mission- to disseminate information about the suitable binding and proper care of books with articles and discussions of interest to librarians, amateur bookbinders, teachers of manual training, and bibliophiles. The magazine, in search of more subscribers, paused with the November - December 1913 issue but was revived as Pacific Bindery Talk in March 1931 with increased contributors and lasted another ten years. In addition to a series of "Bookbinding for Librarians” articles, topics included summaries of CLA meetings, the effects of the Depression on libraries, how to critique a poorly bound book, and profiles of library workers. The publication is an incredible resource for researching the history of California libraries and librarians.

Additionally, Mr. Reavis proactively sought to improve library binding. He patented several pieces of bookbinding machinery that were used universally, most notably a book sewing machine manufactured by the Oversewing Machine Company, a company that he co-founded to manufacture bookbinding machinery in 1918. As a member of CLA’s Bookbinding Committee, the Library Binders Committee of the Employing Bookbinders of America, a board member of both the Book Manufacturer’s Institute and its offspring, the Library Binding Institute, Reavis was instrumental in the standardization of library binding.

The contributions of W. Elmo Reavis to quality bookbinding for the California library community, his success in teaching California librarians and library workers the craft of bookbinding, his dedication to the national standardization of library binding, the engineering of bookbinding machinery, and his establishment of a magazine focused on information of interest to California library workers, are reasons for the induction of W. Elmo Reavis to the California Library Association Hall of Fame.