Reading Borough Council could not agree to raise the rate necessary to fund a library and as a result in 1875 William Isaac Palmer, of the Huntley & Palmers biscuit firm decided to personally fund the setting up and running of a Free Library in West Street.
[citation needed] While the contents of Reading Free Library were donated by Palmer to the borough, it was decided that a new building was needed.
A new library was included in the plans drawn up in 1879 for an extension to the Reading Town Hall which would also include a new museum (later to become the Museum of Reading).
This new Library opened in October 1882 and soon proved very popular.
[citation needed] In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, responsibility for library services was transferred to Berkshire County Council, which was itself abolished in 1996 as part of a local government reform, and the functions returned to the borough council.