Glenn F. Miller – Library Director 1970-1995

Glenn F. Miller was born December 5, 1937 in Saginaw, Michigan, 4th of 11 children to Herbert and Evelyn Miller. Miller attended elementary school, junior high and senior high school in Saginaw, Michigan. An avid reader, Miller began clerking in the Saginaw Public Library at age 16. Miller was married to Janice Marie Gase, and they had 3 children, Anne (born in 1964), Thomas E ‘Tom’ (born in 1965), and John J (born in 1966).

ABOVE: Glenn Miller charting growth in October 1974.

In 1958, he began full time work as reference assistant in the Saginaw Public Library while attending college. Miller received his BA in Political Science from University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1962, and his MA in Library Science University of Michigan in 1963. After college, he became the city librarian in Southfield, Michigan with the Wayne County Library System.

In June 1969, Glenn Miller and his family moved to Winter Park, Florida, where he became the Assistant Director of the Orlando Public Library and went on to become Director in November 1970, at the age of 32. Miller served for 25 years as library director, retiring in April 1995.

During his time as director, perhaps one of his biggest accomplishments was a 1980 referendum, when voters approved, by a comfortable margin, the creation of a special library tax district, which gives the library extraordinary security and autonomy, and the issue of $22 million in bond issues for the library expansion, allowing The Orlando Public Library to become officially, the Orange County Library System. The photo above is from the Grand Opening special insert in the Orlando Sentinel, August 6, 1986.

Mr. Miller also began nationally recognized innovations such as drive through pickup windows, books by mail, and the sale of used library books. Glenn Miller served as President for the Florida Library Association in 1978 and was also a member of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, board member of WMFE-TV Channel 24 Public Television, American Library Association, and the Public Library Association and Southeastern Library Association.

ABOVE: Glenn Miller with WMFE-TV Channel 24’s homemade Big Bird costume, circa 1974.

As a member of the board of directors of Orlando’s PBS station – WMFE-TV Channel 24 – Mr. Miller participated in the first Channel 24 Auction broadcast from November 18-23, 1974. The auction site was in an old building at the corner of Colonial and Orange in what is now a parking lot in front of the old Orlando Sentinel building. He seemed to enjoy his new role as an auctioneer, as evidenced in a series of photos taken while he manned the Mayor’s Jewelers board.

ABOVE and BELOW: Auctioneer Glenn Miller at WMFE-TV Channel 24 Auction November 1974.

Glenn Miller retired in March 1995 and staff memorialized some of his favorite expressions, including his references to the average library user he called “Harry Smith.”

After his retirement, Miller wrote a book on library science, “Customer Service & Innovations in Libraries,” published by the Highsmith Press.

Glenn Miller passed away on June 24, 1996 in Knoxville, Tennessee of an apparent heart attack. He was on a vacation trip with his wife. Miller was 58 years old. He was survived by his wife, Janice; daughter, Anne Thompson, Cleveland; sons, John J., Winter Park, Thomas E., Dayton, Ohio; and seven grandchildren.

Read about Mr. Miller’s accomplishments in the Orlando Public Library 50th Anniversary booklet and the 75th Anniversary booklet.

Explore additional photographs and documents below.