{"id":308225,"date":"2026-10-16T21:20:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T21:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/308225\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T21:20:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T21:20:20","slug":"in-2011-taylor-swift-donated-6000-books-to-a-struggling-pennsylvania-library-15-years-later-the-gesture-has-touched-thousands-of-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/308225\/","title":{"rendered":"In 2011, Taylor Swift Donated 6,000 Books to a Struggling Pennsylvania Library. 15 Years Later, the Gesture Has Touched Thousands of People"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n

A $68,000 donation from Taylor Swift in 2011 supplied new books for young readers and teens across every Reading Public Library branch<\/p>\n

Library assistant director Bronwen Gamble told a newspaper that Swift brought a “coolness factor” to reading<\/p>\n

The singer is originally from Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

Taylor Swift<\/a> is well known for her songwriting skills, but the superstar paid forward her love of the written word when she once helped save a struggling public library by donating thousands of books.<\/p>\n

Back in 2011, when Pennsylvania’s Reading Public Library was struggling, now 36-year-old Swift donated 6,000 books to the organization.<\/p>\n

The Reading Eagle<\/a> reported at the time that the brand-new books were geared specifically toward young readers and teens, and altogether worth $68,000. They were divided between all of the library’s branches, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n

Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n

\"Taylor<\/p>\n

Taylor Swift
Credit: Frazer Harrison\/Getty<\/p>\n

The books donated by Swift included a star on the spine and a sticker inside the cover, the outlet noted.<\/p>\n

As the library’s assistant director Bronwen Gamble told the <\/a>Eagle<\/a>: “She adds the coolness factor to reading.”<\/p>\n

Swift grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Reading\/Wyomissing, Penn., before moving to Nashville at age 14.<\/p>\n

Now a 14-time Grammy Award winner, the superstar has shattered records with streaming numbers, album sales and tours, like her Eras Tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She married Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce<\/a> on July 3, 2026, at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!<\/a><\/p>\n

Swift is also a noted philanthropist and often makes donations to fans in need<\/a>, including by helping them pay medical bills or to pay for their education<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Just ahead of their wedding weekend, Swift and Kelce donated a total of $26 million <\/a>to more than a dozen local and national charities, including food banks and children’s hospitals.<\/p>\n

Read the original article on People<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW A $68,000 donation from Taylor Swift in 2011 supplied new books for young readers and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-308225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}