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diff --git a/bsie/reader/base.py b/bsie/reader/base.py
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+"""The Reader classes return high-level content structures from files.
+
+The Reader fulfills two purposes:
+    First, it brokers between multiple libraries and file formats.
+    Second, it separates multiple aspects of a file into distinct content types.
+
+Part of the bsie module.
+A copy of the license is provided with the project.
+Author: Matthias Baumgartner, 2022
+"""
+# standard imports
+import abc
+import typing
+
+# bsie imports
+from bsie.utils import bsfs
+
+# exports
+__all__: typing.Sequence[str] = (
+    'Reader',
+    )
+
+
+## code ##
+
+class Reader(abc.ABC):
+    """Read and return some content from a file."""
+
+    def __str__(self) -> str:
+        return bsfs.typename(self)
+
+    def __repr__(self) -> str:
+        return f'{bsfs.typename(self)}()'
+
+    def __eq__(self, other: typing.Any) -> bool:
+        return isinstance(other, type(self))
+
+    def __hash__(self) -> int:
+        return hash(type(self))
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def __call__(self, path: str) -> typing.Any:
+        """Return some content of the file at *path*.
+        Raises a `ReaderError` if the reader cannot make sense of the file format.
+        """
+
+## EOF ##