Here is a quick tip on how to load multiple shapefiles (i.e., point shapefiles) to the R console in one go:

library(maptools)
 
# get all files with the .shp extension from working directory
setwd("D:/GIS_DataBase/GIS_Tirol/Tirol_Verbreitungskarten/Verbreitungs_Daten")
 
shps <- dir(getwd(), "*.shp")
 
# the assign function will take the string representing shp and turn it into a variable
# which holds the spatial points data
for (shp in shps) assign(shp, readShapePoints(shp))
plot(get(shp[1])) # i.e.
# ...done