Education for School Librarianship Workshop, Jasper Park, Alberta, 1968

Education for School Librarianship in Canada; Proceedings of a Workshop, Jasper Park Lodge, Alberta on Saturday, 8 June 1968. Sponsored by the Canadian School Library Association, Alberta School Library Council, and Saskatchewan Association of School Librarians. Ottawa: Canadian Library Association, 1970. 69 p.

Stylized 1960s media centre classroom

During the affluent 1960s, most new school buildings included a library resource centre, a term that referred to a service focusing on multimedia resources. Renovations and expansions of existing buildings modernized school libraries with enlarged, better equipped centralized spaces and resources. It was era of progress. Schools were employing multimedia resources at both elementary and secondary levels, increasing budgets for printed resources, and improving training for professional, para-professional and clerical staff to provide services to students and teachers. In 1967, the Dominion Bureau of Statistics reported there were 16.3 million books in 5,188 centralized libraries compared to 4.3 million in 1,613 libraries in 1960. During the same period, the proportion of students with libraries almost doubled from 24.6% to 46.9% but there were still 2,794.9 million students without centralized libraries in 1967. Many students found the use of new audio-visual resources and techniques to be more immediate and more effective than books and periodicals. At the same time, educators began to use the terminology ‘learning resource centre’ in place of the school library.

Although there was progress in forming and staffing school libraries and learning resource centres with teacher-librarians (T-Ls), surveys indicate there were insufficient T-Ls who held a BLS or who had taken courses in school librarianship offered by a library school or by provincial departments of education. In 1960, the Dominion Bureau of Statistics reported 155 professional librarians (persons with a library science degree) in schools with 281 trained teachers either with some library qualifications or none. By 1967, the Bureau reported 365 professionals (Ontario did not report) and 1,124 trained teachers. Library educators disagreed on the need for a library degree and provincial departmental courses often were limited to small enrollments and conducted during the summer at irregular intervals. The result was limited library training in schools and a tendency to promote the teaching of library-related content by classroom visits or individual sessions with students.

At the outset of the 1960s, printed materials in school libraries were often regarded as an auxiliary to independent learning rather than a valued asset that directly supported the school curriculum. Classroom visits by high school students to the library were often under the direction of an English teacher and instruction in library skills was limited due to lack of dedicated staffing. Although student instruction in library methods and the promotion of good reading continued to be staples in the broader philosophy of school librarianship, the decade also was a time of innovation. Leonard Freiser, the Chief Librarian for the Toronto Board of Education, established an Education Centre Library to order, catalogue and process resources as well as provide information searches and document delivery for teachers and librarians. He reported more than 25,000 requests were received during one year, 1967. His critics countered that the school library ought to teach students to think critically and provide them with the skills to achieve their own self-directed learning. Beyond the school library, many new ideas infused Canadian education: collaborative student work in activity-based group work, greater attention to mathematics and science, encouragement of new technologies and resources in classrooms, more advanced qualifications for entry into teachers’ colleges or university faculties of education, open space designs for classrooms, and student demands for more practical knowledge reflecting a multicultural society.

In recognition of the need for guidance, the Canadian School Library Association (CSLA) formulated its Standards of Library Service for Canadian Schools in 1967. The standards stressed the need for an effective school library program developed collaboratively, citing three principles: (1) the provision of in-depth materials for learning following curriculum outlines, (2) each pupil should have access to a variety of materials regardless of school enrollment, and (3) each school must provide required learning materials regardless of its size. The librarian’s functions were outlined as building and organizing collections of instructional materials, assisting teachers and pupils to maximize their use of resources, training and directing clerical and student assistants, and using public relations to maintain a vital library program. The CSLA standards applied to schools of varying sizes but were not mandatory. One forceful criticism was the lack of attention to the acquisition, organization, and distribution of media resources because printed holdings were a primary concern. The standards seemed to be a retrospective vision to some professionals. Although the standards encouraged the integration of print and non-print resources, some educators believed specialist training for non-book materials was a reason for separating the school library from the media centre. When the standards were issued, many educationists hoped that every school would have a library and a trained librarian to operate it.

The Jasper Park Workshop on Education for School Librarianship, June 8, 1968

It was in this context that the CSLA examined the state of school library education in collaboration with the Saskatchewan Association of School Librarians and the Alberta School Library Council. This meeting attracted 300 educators and librarians from across Canada. The one-day session aimed to air differing viewpoints on three major issues central to school librarianship and provide attendees with future directions. Given the circumstances of changing school priorities in forming and using libraries, the discussions focused on three topics: (1) the role of the library technician in the school library, (2) the integration of new media in the school library, and (3) the status of the school librarian as a teacher. Several informative background papers describing Canadian programs for educating school librarians (printed with the workshop proceedings) appeared in Moccasin Telegraph, the newsletter of the CSLA, prior to the workshop.

The keynote speaker was Frances Henne, School of Library Service at Columbia University. She was well qualified to speak to the theme issues. As far back as 1945 she had helped formulate standards for the American Library Association (ALA) publication School Libraries for Today and Tomorrow. She was particularly interested in researching and teaching programs for children and young adults in public libraries and schools. Now, in the late 1960s, as she approached retirement, she was closely involved in the development of revised American guidelines, Standards for School Media Programs, to be published later in 1969. In her opening address, Dr. Henne expanded on the new directions that standards were slated to introduce. New ALA terminology, such as media center, media specialist, or instructional materials center, signalled the importance of non-book formats in school programs. The new standards stressed the role of the media specialist in helping students develop competence in listening, viewing, and reading skills. Media specialists should work cooperatively with teachers in designing learning activities that use a variety of formats in classrooms. Nevertheless, she concluded with a spirited message by returning to the library’s time-honoured potential: “That seemingly static space in the architect’s blueprint is alive with its tremendous actuality and potentiality ... To each young person, the responses are manifold, not only in shared, already experienced beliefs, but also in the opening, exciting vistas of the unknown.” (p. 6)

The first panel discussed the role library technicians and support staff might undertake in schools. The emerging classes of library technicians from recently formed community colleges—about 400 graduates—drew the attention of three panelists. There were concerns about their role in media instruction and the possibility that they might displace librarians. June Munro, the Supervisor of Extension Services in the Ontario Provincia1 Library Service, believed there was no doubt about the value of technicians in school libraries, especially in district or regional centres where they could be integrated with other library personnel. Two other panelists noted that school boards were already employing teacher aides in classrooms, and it seemed technicians would fall into a similar category in provincial educational hierarchies. They agreed that school library supervisors should clarify the difference between technical and professional services and notify administrators in their districts.

A variety of instructional media, such as films, videos, audio recordings, slides, and filmstrips, presented opportunities to support educational programs. The second panel addressed problems associated with the purchase, organization, storage, and distribution of these formats. Helen Donaldson, a long-time school librarian and a supervisor for school libraries in East York (Toronto), emphasized the need to have “integration of management and also materials [so] that we can improve the library resource centre service to both pupils and teachers and in this way become a strong educational force in up-grading the quality of the educational program.” (p. 21) Media required a variety of specially trained staff, of which the librarian was only one. Clearly, it seemed media specialists should be working as part of a teaching team in schools. It was felt that media resources should be as accessible as possible and placed in classrooms, laboratories, or special learning centres where they would receive maximum use. A central school library was just one possibility.

The third panel discussed “Teacher and Library Education in School Librarianship: Professional Dualism or Schizophrenia.” Panelists felt the fundamental role of the school librarian should be to work with teachers as team members directly involved in the education of students. But, was teacher training and certification necessary for the school librarian with library school standing? Lawrence Wiedrick, from the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta, who had extensive prior experience as a T-L, held that preparation in both education and librarianship was essential but that the emphasis in the workplace depended on local circumstances. He believed “more graduate programs in school libraries are required because extensive specialization at the undergraduate level is not desirable or usually possible ... programs should be offered by both colleges of education and library schools in order that candidates can choose a specialty within either field.” (p. 31) Another panelist pointed to a more proactive role: “School librarians are part of the educational team. They don’t serve teachers—they work with them as colleagues.” (p. 37) Generally, panelists agreed that the school librarian should be prepared first for professional teaching, which involved certification, and only secondly as a specialist.

The one-day workshop finished late in the afternoon with a summary by Frances Henne. Her thoughts, as before, emphasized that the functions of technicians should be clearly defined, that schools required staff with varying specialties, and that the school librarian could be a teacher closely involved in curriculum planning and the learning process. A systems approach, rather than independent schools, was needed to maximize the use of resources. The school library had a function of its own and therefore should play an essential part in making its voice heard in decisions about library/media administration.

Afterwards: School Librarians and a New Professional Model

The 1968 Jasper workshop was designed to allow educators to hear various opinions about the changing priorities in traditional school library service and the newer instructional media centres that were progressing. No recommendations were brought forward but the general discussions and background papers sharpened participants’ views and suggested options that might be useful. In the following year, June 1969, at the Canadian Library Association (CLA) national meeting in St. John’s, Newfoundland, CSLA arranged to have Jean E. Lowrie, the former President of the American Association of School Libraries (1963–64) and future President of the ALA in 1973–74 speak to school librarians about the role of the administrator in media centres. She was an advocate for school libraries fulfilling an instructional role with all types of media that was responsive and creative to the needs of teachers and students. Yet there was a growing realization that a significant number of Canadian schools were unable to meet the CSLA 1967 standards for personnel or facilities, although many came closer to meeting the collection guidelines.

Elizabeth Gardens Public School library, Burlington, Ontario, c. 1970

In terms of clarifying roles, the CLA approved a statement, “Guidelines for the Training of Library Technicians,” in 1973. In the mid-1970s, the CSLA and the Association for Media and Technology in Education in Canada collaborated on an integrated definition of the role of the school library in providing all types of learning materials. The resulting publication, Resource Services for Canadian Schools (1977), presented national guidelines for resource centre services for the learning resource teacher and T-Ls. This publication superseded the 1967 CSLA standards and provided more guidance on media integration, district services, information access, programming and personnel rather than focusing on measures of materials and their arrangement.

Library education, too, continued to evolve. By the late 1970s, the worthy philosophy that the T-L was a cooperative planner and joint implementer of curriculum was at a youthful stage. As a model, the enhanced role proposed that T-Ls should actively participate with teachers in the planning and implementing of classroom units of study utilizing their knowledge of resources. This fundamental change meant that library skills could be developed in jointly planned and implemented classroom learning exercises. In 1979, the CSLA issued “The Qualifications of School Librarians;” it reflected philosophic educational changes. This statement recommended that a teaching certificate and successful classroom teaching experience were prerequisites for entry into a school library program and that programs should only be offered at the graduate or post-baccalaureate level. Qualified school librarians were tasked with competencies in areas such as professional leadership, acquisition, organization and use of learning resources, instructional design, and production of learning resources.

Although there were pressures on funding for school libraries during a period of decreasing enrollment, economic recession, and inflation in the 1970s, expenditures on books and media remained an integral component of school budgeting. A decade later, in 1979, Statistics Canada reported that school libraries held 49,547,798 books and 5,824,726 non-print audio-visual formats. Growth was slower but continued—in 1967/68 schools had reported holdings of 16 million books (there were no comparable data for non-print materials). Personnel increases were less impressive: in 1967/68 there were 2,975 full-time staff (566 with a library degree); in 1979 there were 5,171 personnel (451 with a library degree). Educational opportunities for T-Ls had led to 3,390 professional positions, i.e., teachers with certificates in school librarianship/media services but no library degree, teachers with courses in school librarianship/media services but without a certificate, teachers without courses in school librarianship/media services, and audiovisual specialists with university degree but no teaching degree or certificate.

A number of factors contributed to the slower growth of a larger national cohort of better trained T-Ls: (1) provincial education regulations did not insist that qualified T-Ls staff school libraries; (2) teachers found it more challenging to enroll in the revised three or four semester MLS programs after library schools eliminated the older two semester BLS program; (3) many T-Ls felt the usual three session program of university faculties of education leading to specialist qualifications in school librarianship should be bolstered with additional courses. Furthermore, individual library school course options tended to emphasize literature and reading for children or young adults as well as general school library administration. The faculties of education provided more specific courses that emphasized the role of T-Ls in media and curriculum development but did not develop comprehensive programs of study about school libraries.

The Jasper workshop occurred just before the significant shift in thinking about the role of the T-L and the school library. The 1980s would prove to be even more challenging than the clarification of roles in the 1970s, which remained to be universally recognized in educational hierarchies. Educational programs were usually planned and approved at various levels by administrators and elected officials who were often unaware of the school library’s potential or what was happening in them, thus perpetuating the subordinate profile of school librarianship in the development of school curricula.

Further Reading

A biography of Frances Henne is available at Wikipedia.

A biography of Jean E. Lowrie is available at Wikipedia.

A national meeting on school librarianship at Edmonton in 1959 is the subject of my earlier blog.

From Sigmund Samuel to the Robarts Library at the University of Toronto, 1954–1973

Over the course of twenty years, in the 1950s and 1960s, libraries at the University of Toronto continued to expand and improve as they became collectively the most extensive university holdings in Canada. The library system, under the leadership of Robert Blackburn, also refined its philosophy concerning the necessity for a centralized research collection that could serve the needs of graduate studies. During this period, the architectural styles of the Modern Movement and new technologies of construction utilizing steel, glass, and concrete also broke with past practices. In 1954, the Sigmund Samuel Library (SSL) was constructed using Queenston limestone adjacent to the original library building with the Samuel family crest above the entrance. The coat of arms in stained glass above the entrance had been granted to the Samuel family by Oliver Cromwell in 1670. When the John P. Robarts Research Library was completed in 1973, the humanities and social science collection was transferred to the new building. The original building became the Science and Medicine Library and host of Canada’s largest academic science and medicine library.

If the sleek rectilinear lines, large airy windows, open main floor plan, and simple functionality of the International Style in architecture exhibited by the SSL comforted people along with Samuel family coat of arms over the doorway, the opposite was true when the massive 14-storey John P. Robarts Research Library with two basement levels opened at 130 St. George Street. At the time, it was about one million sq. ft. in size and the largest academic library building in the world. It could accommodate four thousand users and held just under three million volumes. While its scale was breathtaking, its poured concrete Brutalist style, provincial funding, and original plans for restricted stack access provoked controversy before and after the opening of ‘Fort Book.’

The Sigmund Samuel Library, 1953–54

Sigmund Samuel wing, c.1955

When Toronto’s first standalone Romanesque style University Library opened in 1892, it was designed to seat 200 readers and accommodate 120,000 books. It offered reference for students and lending privileges for faculty. Over decades, it became crowded, and by the late 1920s, the chief librarian, W. Stewart Wallace, planned for an extension; however, depression era financial difficulties and the Second World War halted progress. As collections grew, the smaller college libraries slowly expanded due to limited space in the central library. Finally, in 1951, Sigmund Samuel, a prominent Toronto business leader and philanthropist, promised a donation of $500,000 towards construction of a $3,000,000 extension. Sigmund was the son of Lewis Samuel, a very early Jewish immigrant to Canada from England. Sigmund was born in Toronto in 1867 and the family was quite prominent both in the Jewish community and the city of Toronto. His father, Lewis, was President of the Toronto  Mechanics’ Institute in 1879.

Construction on the new wing began in late 1953. This addition became an attractive five-storey ‘wing’ extension, a popular concept in academic library buildings after WWII. The circulation, reference, and periodicals departments were on the main floor with the humanities and social sciences book stacks in the three basement levels. The acquisitions and cataloguing departments were located on the second above ground floor. When W.S. Wallace decided to retire in spring 1954, the reserve book room inside the SSL was renamed in his honour and Alice Moulton, an experienced circulation librarian, placed in charge. A formal opening took place on November 26, 1954, with Sigmund Samuel and the architect Alvan Mathers of Mathers & Haldenby on hand in recognition of their contributions to the much needed project.

Sigmund Samuel and Alvan
Mathers at the opening

The next day, a colloquium on the future prospects of research libraries was held featuring W.S. Wallace, William Kaye Lamb, and notable librarians from the United States. A pamphlet, The Research Library, reporting the proceedings was published by the Canadian Library Association in 1955. The colloquium stressed the need to organize specialized collections and develop effective systems of nationwide cooperation, especially by the nascent National Library. Generally, students welcomed the new facility. The Varsity (March 9, 1955) reported, “The new library has many popular features: the open-shelf system, the attractive appearance, the good lighting (which incidentally promotes social life, as you can now see the student across the table from you). There is still some dissatisfaction, however — students have been petitioning to have closing time extended from 10.00 to 11.00.” The large windows that allowed ample lighting were particularly popular. The SSL was designed to make about one million volumes available for users. It also became a vital social centre for seminars, talks, receptions, student sales, elections, a faculty reading area, a staff room, and even a small smoking room. The Stewart Wallace Room was organized to hold 20,000 volumes and accommodated 380 users. It was often filled to capacity at critical times for student paper deadlines or examinations. When its open shelves were closed due to $8,000 book theft reported by the Globe and Mail on December 9, 1959 (“Students Petition for Return of Open-Shelf Library”), leaving students to fill in request slips to obtain books, they unsuccessfully petitioned the library to rescind its policy. However, unrest continued until 1961, when they were permitted access if they attended an instructional session.

Sigmund Samuel Library first floor plan

Robert Blackburn’s history, Evolution of the Heart (1989), provides a chapter on the genesis, design phase, and construction of the SSL. Although the extension provided necessary relief for collections and reader space, in fact, after a few years, the new wing itself became crowded. Administrators realized larger quarters would be necessary. The only major campus library built after the SSL was the E.J. Pratt Library at Victoria College, which opened in 1961. It was a plain, two-storey, granite-clad edifice with open stacks and extensive windows allowing students to view attractive landscaping. Consequently, planning for this necessity began in the late 1950s, especially when Claude T. Bissell, a promoter of libraries, became President of the University in 1958. He quickly formed an advisory committee for future library services and buildings chaired by Roland McLaughlin to recommend new directions for the entire university library system.

The McLaughlin Committee report issued in January 1959. It recommended that a policy of centralization of departmental libraries be pursued to coordinate services, that the Library of Congress classification be adopted, that a union catalogue of holdings be established, and that 75,000 sq. ft. be added to the present SSL and another 82,700 square feet erected on the site of the Engineering Building on King’s College Circle. For future expansion, an additional 60,000 sq. ft. would be necessary. With the study completed, another committee was established to report on a new central facility, but not until 1965, with the full support of Claude Bissell, were plans recommended by the committee approved. There was an air of optimism about the project. When Claude Bissell spoke at the annual meeting of the Canadian Library Association held in Toronto in June 1965, he articulated the role of the projected research library: “The profile of the new research library in the university is that of an active scholarly headquarters with a close working relationship between professional supervisors and users. It will be a much more lively, much more heavily populated building than the old library.” His focus was upon the humanities and social sciences and a new library of about 500,000 sq. ft. that the second committee had settled on. In the intervening five years, it was assumed that resources would be moved from the crowded SSL to the new central library. The SSL would continue with a duplicate collection for undergraduates and they would not have direct access to the collections of the new building. During the time the second committee did its work, important issues were raised in a national study by Edwin Williams, Resources of Canadian University Libraries. It reported the need for increased financial support for research collections, especially at the graduate level. Also, the block of land at the corner of St. George and Harbord Streets was chosen as a new site for a grand central library. In 1966, after publication of the Spinks Report on the development of graduate education in Ontario, the Provincial government indicated that it could help finance the research library project. This report recommended that Toronto be designated as the major provincial resource centre and its holdings be available to all faculty and qualified graduate students. As such, the Province should support Toronto’s expansion to assume these new responsibilities.

The John P. Robarts Research Library, 1968–73

 

Robarts Library with the Rare Book wing, 1974

With the University’s acceptance of the 1965 report, serious design planning and preliminary engineering reports began and were finished in early 1967. A triangular building with fourteen levels above ground and two below was proposed. The main service floor was situated on the fourth level with circulation to closed stacks, reference, a public catalogue, and periodicals reading area. Access to two smaller wings, one for rare books and one for the library school, allowed access to these satellite areas. The budget had ballooned to just under $42 million, a phenomenal amount for a Canadian university library devoted to the humanities and social sciences, but the Ontario government authorized $40 million in support, which cleared the way for construction to begin at the end of 1968. In July 1971, the University Board of Governors named the main library in honour of John Parmenter Robarts, the seventeenth Premier of Ontario, 1961–71. The eight-storey 100,000 sq. ft. wing for the School of Library Science was the first completed section of the library complex and was occupied in June 1971. It was renamed the Claude T. Bissell building in 1984, which became the home to the Faculty of Information. The rare book wing, which featured a warm, inviting interior, opened in December 1972 and was named the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library in honour of Thomas Fisher, whose grandsons donated valuable collections of Shakespeare and other authors to the university library. Selected campus collections, staff, and services moved into the Robarts Library during the first part of 1973. The library quietly opened in July. Alice Moulton, who had become head of circulation of the library system in the 1960s, supervised the move of books from the SSL to the new building.

Thomas Fisher Rare Books, c. 1975

The monumental scale of the concrete complex dwarfed previous library quarters and offered the prospect of vastly better quality and quantity of services. But it did not come without controversy. The initial decision to limit access to collections for undergraduates, except for fourth-year students, provoked widespread student protests at a time when the concepts of ‘student power’ and ‘stakeholders’ were prompting student activism. In early March 1972, the University Senate rejected student appeals to allow all students and the public complete access to the building, its services and collections. Shortly afterwards, police removed and arrested 18 people, mainly students, at a sit-in in Simcoe Hall on King’s College Circle, a short distance from the SSL. A lengthy Globe and Mail article on March 13 called attention to the issues: “Brutal tactics claimed: 18 charged as police end sit-in over U of T library.” By the end of March, limited access was struck down: the Senate proposed that all University members would be eligible to use the Robarts Library and apply for entry to the book stacks. In 1972, there were more than 55,000 thousand potential users. Later, when a newly structured Governing Council officially came into being in July 1972 to replace the previous Board of Governors and University Senate, it adopted this principle.

Harsh commentary turned to the monumental design of Robarts, a feature many early century Carnegie libraries had suffered with for decades. Although the use of unpainted concrete in large buildings was not unusual in Canada in this period, the magnitude of Robarts startled many observers. In “Fort Book: It’s 14 storeys of literary intimidation,” an article in the Toronto Star on Sept 28, 1974, the journalist Robert Fulford declared, “the John P. Robarts Research Library is just about the most intimidating building ever devised by the mind of man.” Many people—architects, passersby, and students— hated the library. Nonetheless, Fulford had to admit it worked with the proviso,

But the fact is that since the Robarts opened, library use on campus—borrowing, reading in the library, etc.—has increased almost 100 per cent. This means that the old facilities of the Sigmund Samuel Library were overcrowded, that new facilities were needed, and that to some extent Robarts has filled the need. Students may write nasty articles about it in The Varsity, the student daily, but they use it.

One of the more loquacious student critics of The Varsity was Linda McQuiag, who opined in its pages from time to time. On November 26, 1972 (“Take a Good Look before Books Go”), she reported that the book move from the SSL to Robarts would likely disenfranchise undergrads who would be denied access to resources they previously had. She also raised the issue of the enormous percentage of tax funding by Ontario taxpayers and the use of it by researchers from other universities. Later, she revisited funding issues when she reported in the Globe and Mail on July 10, 1973 (“Robarts Library: lavish but book-poor”) about library budget woes, inflation, and expenditures reductions that might have been trimmed costs during the construction stage, such as posh lounges in the library science wing or the front tower that made the entire structure look like a turkey (or peacock) from the Harbord Street side. Perhaps there was no formal opening of Robarts with ribbon cutting, etc., because of the controversies surrounding the library structure, its use, and its purpose.

From Sigmund Samuel to Robarts

In retrospect, the two libraries reflected the changing fortunes of 20th century Canadian post-secondary education and the growth of Toronto. The SSL was built when universities developed with modest financial revenues and smaller enrollments that denied the bold planning strokes that Robarts ostentatiously displayed. The dramatic expansion of universities and new colleges in the 1960s was due to a vast infusion of federal and provincial funding necessary to meet rapidly increasing student numbers and to develop comprehensive research resources. The Sigmund Samuel and Robarts libraries celebrated the humanities and social sciences, but gradually, the SSL and its aged partner, the University Library of 1892, transitioned to a science and health complex sketchily outlined in the McLaughlin report. Eventually, in 1997, these two libraries were renamed the Gerstein Science Information Centre to denote a large donation from the Frank Gerstein Charitable Foundation. The SSL undergraduate humanities and social sciences materials were integrated into other campus library collections, and the reading areas expanded to accommodate science students and faculty. The Wallace Room continued with study carrels, tables for reading, and computer work stations. The Robarts Library grew in stature and became a world-class research institution.

As the city of Toronto grew from a regional hub to Canada’s metropolitan centre, the Brutalist Style was often evident in public buildings. The striking impression of this style symbolized a utilitarian approach to building, permanence, and a new expressive form for public gatherings. Concrete was a reliable, economical material used in other ambitious contemporary buildings which featured Brutalist elements, such as the York University central Scott Library (opened in 1971), Four Seasons Sheraton Hotel (opened 1972), and the CN Tower (opened 1976). Today, many people still consider the Robarts complex ugly, except for a short time in spring when the blossoms of its cherry trees planted in 2005 are in season.

A University of Toronto celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Robarts is at this link.

My blog on the reports by Edwin Williams and Robert B. Downs is at this link.

A short biography of Alice Moulton is at the Ex Libris Association at this link. 

A biography of Robert H. Blackburn is at the Ex Libris Association at this link.

An Ontario Bookmobile Film The Books Drive On, 1948

The Books Drive On. 16 mm film, colour and sound, 1948. Produced by Jean and Glen Eckmier, photography by Bob Henry and script by Tom Rafferty from CKNX radio.

Ontario libraries were late adopters of motorized bookmobile service. In the 19th century travelling library service by agencies in the UK and USA were innovative extension ideas to reach readers in unserved areas. In Canada, travelling libraries, boxes of books usually shipped to local communities or schools, were introduced first in British Columbia in 1898 by E.O.S, Scholefield, the Provincial Librarian and Archivist. In 1899, McGill University began serving areas in rural Quebec thanks to the sponsorship of Hugh McLennan. The Ontario Department of Education began its service to northern lumber camps in 1901. These systems proved to be so popular that they were expanded and continued for more than half a century before they were discontinued.

Canadian Bookmobiles Arrive on the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts

The first Canadian motorized bookmobiles, which contemporaries often called book vans, book trucks, or libraries-on-wheels, appeared in the Maritimes and British Columbia as early as 1930. In two summers, 1930 and 1931, Acadia University operated two bookmobiles, one in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia and the other in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Each modified book truck carried 1,500 books and visited station stops eight times during the summer. Unfortunately, worsening economic conditions at the outset of the Great Depression forced the termination of this service. In the Fraser Valley, B.C., the Carnegie Corporation sponsored a regional library demonstration commencing in late summer 1930 that included a bookmobile service. It proved to be highly successful under the direction of notable librarians, Helen Gordon Stewart, the director and the assistant, Nora Bateson, who later championed regional services in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island before 1939.

 In Ontario, regional library systems developed slowly on a county basis. The improvement of transportation routes in the 1920s and 1930s provided the opportunity to deliver book collections more easily and rapidly via motorized vehicles. The Ontario Department of Highways financed the growth of a provincial highway network assisted by the Good Roads Association based in municipalities and counties. Major highway construction and secondary roads facilitated commercial truck traffic, inter-city bus lines, and private automobile travel. The formation of county library associations in the 1930s and then county library co-operatives after the Second World War occurred mostly in southwestern Ontario. By 1935, Lambton County trustees introduced a small two-wheeled trailer (‘book van’) with built-in shelving towed by a vehicle. Middlesex County began operating a small cabin-style book trailer carrying 1,200 books in 1940. These were not motorized bookmobiles and wartime rationing on gasoline and rubber halted further progress by county library associations until after 1945.

The Huron County Bookmobile

The Huron County Library Association was formed in 1941. Sixteen participating libraries agreed to pay an annual fee of $25 to share books transported by car on a rotating basis. In 1945, Mrs. Jean Eckmier became the county librarian and her husband, Glen, was hired as her assistant. For a few years they delivered books using their own car, but in 1947, the Huron County Library Cooperative purchased an imported American van adapted to bookmobile standards and nicknamed “Miss Huron” for just over $3000. It was the first driven bookmobile in Ontario, an International Harvester one-ton metro van, a type frequently used to deliver milk and bakery items to homes across North America after WW II. The body was built over the engine, thus giving more room for about 1,000 books. This compact model bookmobile was used to supply each participating library with 100 books on a quarterly rotating basis.

Angus Mowat, the Inspector of Public Libraries for the Ontario Department of Education, rode in the vehicle for two days in September 1947 and made a lengthy report with interesting observations in his notebook (pp. 513–514), which now resides at the D.B. Weldon Library at the Western University. A few of his excerpts follow:

The cab is built over [the] engine, thus allowing extra space in [the] rear. Front doors slide and driver's seat sets forward, giving wide entrance.
Truck is very easily handled and can turn in short space. Headroom 5' 7." Width of floor between shelving 4' 8." Shelves 8' long, six shelves high, house approximately 1000 [books]. Shelving is of wood made locally, and each edge has a 3/4" lip to keep books on. A hinged lip would be better, making it easier to remove the books when in action. Light by day is from the large windshield and windows in [the] rear doors. At night there is only a single dome lamp. Maybe they'll need more.
The general appearance of the vehicle is good. It is pained in a dark green, picked out by a lighter stripe.
Everything about the vehicle gives an impression of solidity and strength. It sides evenly and even though we went off on one or two quite rough detours the books did not offer to budge. I think, however, that dust may prove to be something of a problem. There will be heater and de-froster in winter.
Wherever we went on the two days I was out on exchange the van caused considerable interest, at least among the library people and small boys. In fact, on two occasions the small boys promptly invited themselves aboard and selected some of the books they wanted the librarian to take out.
I was surprised to see how quickly the exchanges were made [deposits and returns of 100 books per library]. The shortest one was 35 minutes and the longest about one hour. This is about twice as quickly as exchanges were made when trays were carried in a passenger automobile.

The Inspector also penned a short article about his ride through the farm fields and small county towns in the November 1947 issue of the Ontario Library Review with an enthusiastic comment, “The librarian didn’t sing, but I did.”

Late in 1947, the county library trustees and county council authorized the production of a 16 mm film featuring the new bookmobile and the work of Jean and Glen Eckmier with a grant from the county council. The energetic couple took charge of the entire production and enlisted the help of Tom Rafferty of the Wingham radio station, CKNX (known as the Farm Station), to compose the script and to provide its commentary. Bob Henry did the colour photography and Wilford T. Cruickshank, a previous library trustee and owner of CKNX, assisted in production. Shooting began in November 1947 and finished several months later in August 1948. During filming, Stanley Beacock, the chief librarian in Lambton County, drove Miss Huron to the Canadian Library Association gathering in Ottawa in June 1948 for a special session on transportation in regional and county work. The Huron bookmobile was one of three prominent exhibits at the conference.

This ‘amateur’ film was not remarkably different from other bookmobile motion pictures that featured visits to readers at stations and small libraries. Still, it had a quality of highlighting the rural features of Huron County—the dusty streets of small hamlets, busy street front stores, livestock, field crops, farm machinery, children, adults and seniors gathering their books, greenery and trees along county roadways, attractive streets of the county seat, Goderich, the sleekly designed bookmobile with its gold trimmed lettering, and the sunset at the end of the day. Libraries were popular throughout Huron and there were five existing Carnegie buildings: Brussels, Clinton, Exeter, Goderich, and Seaforth. Other libraries were located in smaller communities, such as Auburn, Bayfield, Blyth, Dungannon, Hensall, and Kirkton, as well as township schools. During its initial years, the film grew in popularity. The National Film Board contributed $2500 to purchase a negative print. Later, The Books Drive On was advertised for sale in the Library Journal and the Wilson Library Bulletin. By 1951, the film had been exhibited across Canada and the United States and had left a lasting impression of county library work in a rural setting.

County library bookmobiles appeared across rural Ontario during the 1950s: in Simcoe, Lambton, Middlesex, Peel, Kent, and other cooperative systems. These mobile units primarily refreshed collections in small local libraries and schools from a central county headquarters. In urban Ontario the bookmobile provided an extension service and they proved to be successful in cities such as Ottawa, Hamilton, and London. Expanding suburban municipal library boards, such as East York and North York, purchased bookmobiles to reach people directly at designated stops. Through the 1960s and 1970s bookmobiles continued to be popular, although improved branch library services across the province in cities and counties lessened their need to reach people. After 2000, bookmobile service again picked up and today (2025) there are about fifteen bookmobiles in operation across Ontario because it is reasonably economical and reaches many people who find it more convenient to use.

Jean Eckmier and her husband, Glen, remained with the Huron system until their retirement in 1961.

View the 35 minute film The Books Drive On on YouTube at this link.

My blog on the Library on Wheels, the 1945 Fraser Valley bookmobile film, is at this link.

My blog on two later Canadian bookmobile films is at this link.

Canadian School Libraries and Books for Youth Forum at Winnipeg, 1949

School Library Development in Postwar Canada, 1945–50

Attention to school library work and better cooperation between public libraries and schools increased after the Second World War. While many libraries in secondary schools were satisfactory and there were a few outstanding ones, small classroom collections prevailed in elementary schools. For example, at a rural school in Brechin just outside Nanaimo, British Columbia, each classroom featured a small library with books supplied by the Vancouver Island Union Library. Teachers frequently were in charge of these collections, although a few trained teacher-librarians supervised activities in some places. Larger public libraries, such as Toronto and Vancouver, led the way in providing collections for schools to use and promoted their services in children’s libraries or special rooms for teenagers. In the case of Vancouver, elementary schools could borrow recreational books to augment their own collections from a central collection in the public library’s school department. Schools provided library rooms and teacher-librarians, while the public library, under the direction of Isabel McTavish, acquired, catalogued, and distributed the books.

Children reading in a classroom library
Brechin, British Columbia, c.1944

Although the war years had stalled school library development, after the formation of the Canadian Library Association (CLA) in 1946, services for children received more consideration. The Canadian Association of Children’s Librarians (established in 1939) became a constituent section of CLA with the ambitious goal of promoting reading on a national scale. The group established a Book of the Year Award in 1947 to highlight worthy Canadian authors or books published in Canada. Two years later, CLA launched Young Canada’s Book Week in November 1949 to encourage reading for young Canadians. In 1950, a CLA Youth Interest Group to address teenage readers became an official section of CLA.

Because it was commonplace for public libraries to supply schools with reading materials after the war, the idea of  ‘children’ or ‘youth’ was broadly construed. Elementary school children and younger teenagers were often considered collectively following the example of the American Library Association Division of Libraries for Children and Young People established in 1941 for schools, children, and public librarians. By 1940, the Ontario Library Association had already formed two separate official sections: a ‘children’s librarians’ group and a ‘school and intermediate libraries’ group for teachers and librarians engaged in high school work. These sections sometimes worked collaboratively and their members often attended sessions together at the OLA annual conference. Consequently, many school librarians readily adapted the public library concept of promoting ‘good reading’ as the alternative to series books, comics, or poor quality writers.

After the war, the CLA took the lead on the national stage. Most school libraries were often simply collections of books where keener students might find reading materials. Now, school libraries were assuming a workshop or service point role where students and classes could gather to discover resources to enrich their experiences. The new library approach attempted to further research, curriculum enrichment, independent study, and recreational reading. Many librarians felt the best way to discover what young people were reading was to make friends with them and listen carefully. Then, they could find out what they were thinking about, what they were reading, and discuss books more satisfactorily. As part of the CLA 1949 annual meeting in Manitoba, a subsequent two-day forum of ideas was planned to discuss youth services in more detail. The focus was on current practices in school librarianship, not collections or facilities.

The Institute on School Library Work was held on June 24–25 at the Manitoba Legislature under the direction of Amelia Munson, New York Public Library. She was quite experienced in working with youth and an entertaining speaker. She taught at Columbia University on the reading interests of adolescents for almost two decades and inspired a generation of students, such as Louise Riley, who earned her MA in LS at Columbia in 1942 and made children’s work in the Calgary Public Library a model for other libraries in Alberta. Although Munson was nearing the end of her career, she became widely known for her handbook on young adult services, An Ample Field: Books and Young People, published in 1950 by the American Library Association.

The Institute on School Library Work, Winnipeg, June 1949

Cover for Books for Youth

The proceedings and discussions held in four sessions at the Manitoba Legislature were published as Books for Youth: Everyone’s Responsibility; School Library Institute Proceedings, June 24-25, 1949, Winnipeg, Manitoba by the CLA in 1949. Amelia Munson addressed her audience on the subject of the pleasures of reading and the responsibilities of librarians three times:

•  “Growth through Reading”
• “What Books? For Whom?”
• “Who, Me?”

The first general address at the beginning of the meeting revealed her extensive literary background with English and American authors from Shakespeare to Robert Frost. She felt that if a person actively read compelling, cultivated literature that spanned many issues and many periods of time, then the possibility of personal growth surely existed.

If without reservation, with all that is in us, we can associate ourselves with such high matters, with such great comparisons, how can we fail to grow—in understanding, in compassion, in integrity? And it is such a simple matter, really. But we need occasionally to have our attention drawn to it. “Men need in general,” says Dr. Johnson, “not so much to be informed as to be reminded.” That is what I have been trying to do tonight.

Hélène Grenier, the head of the Teachers’ Library for the Montreal Catholic School Commission, closed the opening session by reiterating the critical roles librarians and teachers played in the lives of youngsters. The Director’s address at the second general session the next morning dealt with the demanding challenge of mastering a diverse range of reading interests and readers’ abilities.

When I think of the voracious reading of adolescents, I do not have a picture of a mass of young people steadily and single-mindedly devouring a book, as an army of grasshoppers crunches its way through a wheat field. ... Not all of them are readers, of course, as we think of readers. Some are ‘reluctant’ and some are ‘rebellious,’ but I hesitate to call any of them non-readers. I should prefer to say they are all potential non-readers, unless we do something about it.

Personal and professional responsibility was her focus: “I believe one’s first duty is to be a real person—then, perhaps, a professional one.” She insisted that librarians were important intermediaries between the world of books and reading with students and young persons.

It is for us to see to it that the vital line of communication between the great spirits of the past and the eager, questing spirits of today remains unbroken, it is our function to brush aside the obstacles that confront contemporary readers and give them direct access to the mind and heart of the writer; and it is our obligation, an obligation that rests heavily upon us for we deal with materials “too dear for our possessing,” and yet an obligation that it is a delight to fulfil, to find some way of sharing that richness.

Small discussion groups were formed during this session. Then reports were made when the groups returned to a general assembly. One concern that merited special consideration was the ‘retarded’ reader, today an outdated term which would be replaced in subsequent decades by youngsters experiencing ‘reading disorders’ or ‘reading difficulty.’ Each individual required careful consideration, and by using attractive books or story-telling techniques, and by exploring personal interests, the child might begin to like reading. Discovering the interests of ‘rebellious’ readers was another challenge requiring individual attention. Finally, ‘resourceful’ readers who read widely and were capable of finding information on their own, could be guided to resources beyond the school library and encouraged to expand their reading interest. Finding a young person’s interests and building upon them was the key to a successful relationship with students.

Lyle Evans, the supervisor of school libraries for the Saskatchewan Department of Education, led the third session. She called upon all participants to outline how they organized their collections and how students could be helped to achieve better reading levels and enjoy reading. Teachers and librarians presented a variety of current methods: Story Telling  —  Book Talks   —  Student Helpers   —  Library Clubs   —  Work with Individuals  —  Classroom Libraries   —  Audio-Visual Aids   —  Radio Broadcasts in Schools  —  Picture Collections   —   Exhibits. In the subsequent discussion, films, plays, puppet shows, and collaboration with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation also came under consideration.

The final evening session featured presentations on responsibility in a school setting. Again, Amelia Munson offered inspiration about the merits of reading for young people:

For though changes—revolutionary changes—occur in thinking and in conduct, in science and philosophy, even in human nature, the needs and the satisfaction of the human spirit remains constant. ... There must always be heights for the aspiring spirit; whether they be in Nature, in Art, in Philosophy, in Religion is not of much concern.

Four speakers described their work at this session. Lyle Evans talked about the role of the teacher-librarian in the educational program in relation to the resources of libraries or classroom collections in schools. They might work as instructors but were managers with the difficult goal of developing a love of reading regardless of resource limitations. The role of school principals was also important as well for they chose the school library leaders, designated space(s) for collections, and provided funding within their budgets. District superintendents, such as Herbert McIntosh in Winnipeg, oversaw developments on a broader scale and liaised with educational officials across an entire province. He said schools were tax-supported institutions and the public “should know why a school needs a library and what it does with it.” In conclusion, the role of elected school board trustees was briefly touched on, and questions were raised about library plans for development in the Winnipeg school system.

In the closing appreciation, all members were urged to participate in the forthcoming Young Canada’s Book Week/Semaine du livre pour la jeunesse canadienne, which would be held for the first time. Among the 106 registrants, there were influential leaders in children’s and school library work nationwide. Almost half the participants were from Manitoba, led by Eleanor Boyce, Manitoba Inspector of Schools, and Myrtle Lewis, Manitoba Department of Education Library. A few other prominent names in school library work included Alvine Bélisle (École Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Montreal), Louise Riley (Calgary Public Library), Margaret Fraser (Galt Collegiate Institute), Kathleen Dolan (Sir Adam Beck Collegiate in London), Isabel McTavish (Vancouver Public Library), and Elizabeth Mott (Baron Byng High School in Montreal).

At mid-century, school library work was taking place in ten separate provincial education systems summarized by a 1951 Canadian Education Association report: “The increasing attention which departments of education are giving to school libraries, in the provision of expert advice and recommendations, books, and funds, and the instruction in the use of the library which is being introduced into schools are indications of the recognition of the importance of the library to the school program.” Like their counterparts in public libraries, school libraries sought to impart an appreciation of literature with the added responsibility to instruct students in library methods. It was an optimistic outlook, but at the start of the 1950s and for many years ahead, school librarianship and teacher-librarians continued to be a minority voice in public library-oriented associations and departments of education across the country. During the subsequent decade, library groupings devoted to youth services, children’s work, and school libraries divided librarians’ attention while educational officials, principals, and teachers struggled to cope with increasing enrollments due to the baby boom after 1945. It would be ten years before CLA organized another successful two-day national conference on school librarianship held in Edmonton in 1959.

The Library Service in the Schools Workshop held in Edmonton in 1959 is the subject of my previous blog.

Canadian school library development at mid-century is subject of a previous post.

Two talks by Marshall McLuhan to Ontario librarians in the 1950s is a post at this link.

From Library Work to Library Science: Canadian Librarianship, 1920–1960

Canadian librarianship was formed incrementally and was loosely structured in the first half of the twentieth century when it emerged as a modern professional career. Librarianship coalesced around the broader field of an emerging academic discipline, library science, an expanding range of professional specialties (e.g., children’s librarianship or special library work), increasingly technical aspects related to acquiring and organizing different types of resources and offering readers and other clients assistance and information. For the most part, librarians in various settings sought to develop an intermediary role between their clientele and the world of print. They did so when library science evolved as a university-based discipline grounded in the knowledge and techniques of collecting, organizing, and managing records for public use. In 2019, I examined three significant issues on this topic in an article From Library Work to Library Science in Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research 14 (1), 1–41. It is freely available and provides a more detailed discussion of the issues summarized in this blog: the primacy of a service ethic, the question of acceptable library education and training, and issues surrounding the profession’s female intensity during first-wave feminism before 1960.

After 1920, Canadian librarians benefited from adopting a service philosophy, the evolution of higher educational qualifications, improved workplace methods, and the formation of associations which offered self-improvement and advancement of libraries. The aims of improved service for an expanded reading public, development of bibliographic methods, and connecting people with books were constant goals in the small, female-intensive Canadian library community. Librarians began to position themselves as educated, reliable, and unselfish professionals who fulfilled their users’ information needs. Even though they were employed in various institutional roles with a diverse clientele and administrative structures that made overarching consensus difficult, librarians believed they were achieving standing as a ‘professional librarian’ and reserving for themselves the idea of self-managed careers that suited a variety of employment settings.

Over four decades, Canadian librarianship evolved progressively from elementary library training after WWI to the career-oriented, service-minded librarian underpinned by the academic subject of library science in the early 1960s. The service orientation was tailored to suit the needs of users and communities. Accordingly, librarianship could claim a general societal role of connecting people with resources and information using trusted professional expertise. Canada’s foremost spokesperson for librarians in the first part of the 20th century, George Locke, was confident on this score. In speaking to University of Toronto students in 1932 he declared, “So long as we are a democracy we need intelligence; so long as we need intelligence in the community we need librarians; so we shall need librarians to the end of Time.”

A service profession

A service philosophy was already ingrained in library work by 1920, so its adoption by a growing number of librarians presented no difficulty. In 1919, Mary J.L. Black, chief librarian at Fort William Public Library (now Thunder Bay), prioritized her thoughts about successful contemporary librarianship: (1) the spirit of service, (2) a knowledge of people, (3) a knowledge of books, (4) an acquaintance with library technique and business training. In the same year, Mabel Dunham, chief librarian at Kitchener Public Library, encouraged young female university graduates to display “the splendid spirit of unselfish service for others” in their daily library work. In 1926, Edgar Robinson, Vancouver’s chief librarian, declared, “For freedom of activity and opportunity for expression of individuality through service, library work has no equal.” Three decades later, when the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences (the Massey Commission) considered the state of local Canadian libraries, it recognized that “librarians must know their books and how to care for them; they must also know their community and how to serve it.” Public service became a keynote of librarianship as it emerged slowly as a self-directed profession in Canada before the dramatic social, educational, and cultural changes of the 1960s.

Library Science and professional training 

Education and training were crucial ingredients in the development of Canadian librarianship. McGill University and the University of Toronto established graduate library degree programs in the 1920s and benefited from improved accreditation programs instituted by the American Library Association in the 1930s. By the 1960s, the Canadian Library Association (CLA) confirmed that a graduate with a two-term bachelor’s degree in library science (the BLS) was the standard requirement to gain entry into the profession. At its November meeting in 1959, the CLA Council adopted the following statement concerning a “fully qualified professional librarian:” (1) the equivalent of the BA degree as granted in Canada and (2) proof of library training equivalent to that required for the BLS in Canada or master’s (MLS) in the United States, (3) persons with less training employed in Canada may be limited in professional advancement. Of course, some ambitious students pursued library degrees in prestigious American schools, such as Columbia, which held more extensive collections. After the Carnegie Corporation of New York began funding fellowship grants for library work in 1929, 19 librarians working in Canada received $32,100 between 1931–42 to further their studies outside of Canada. When American library schools began replacing the BLS after 1948 with a one-year master’s degree as the first entry into librarianship, Toronto (1951) and McGill (1956) followed suit, although they required students to first possess a BLS. Throughout this period, library education blended a humanistic public-spirited service and print-oriented stewardship to librarianship centred around a popular slogan: “If you like people, you like books.” 

McGill University Summer Library School Students, Banff, Alberta, 1941

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The discipline of library science provided librarians with a core expertise combined with techniques to manage libraries and assist users that was mostly aligned with humanistic values. Librarians were inclined to interpret ‘scientific’ in the sense of employing orderly practices and managing efficiency in the cause of public service. A nebulous ‘philosophy of librarianship’ often sufficed in place of principled statements on issues such censorship, which was a typically muted subject. Librarianship exhibited a combination of cultural stewardship of printed resources and social service allied with managerial efficiency to serve a variety of clientele. As such, it emerged slowly as a self-directed profession in Canada before the dramatic social, educational, and cultural changes of the 1960s.

A Woman’s Profession

A hallmark of librarianship is its female-intensity. A British woman working at Toronto Public Library in the late 1920s noted the unmistakable gendered landscape of Canadian libraries: 2 men managed a staff of 150 women, although nearly every small town was run by a woman. Gendered perceptions obscured the steady progress libraries and librarians were making during first-wave feminism. Although men were usually chief librarians in major cities, such as Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, and Montreal, almost all public libraries in small cities were headed by women. Two cities, Windsor and Hamilton, were led by women who became presidents of the CLA. The war years helped fortify the idea that women could perform equally as well as men. Accounts of library work by Elizabeth Loosley in 1945 depicting challenges at an air force station, and by Monica Hodges in 1946 describing difficulties in naval libraries, disproved the notion that women could not cope with demanding situations. After the war, women in all sectors of librarianship proved their worth as managers, belying the convention that the highest appointments should be reserved for men. In the 1950s, CLA promoted librarianship as a career for intelligent, active professionals of advanced university standing. Because societal stereotypes shaped librarianship, Roma Harris in Librarianship: The Erosion of a Woman's Profession (1992) argued that the intermediary role centering on the client’s need rather than the expertise of the librarian was not fully appreciated due to female intensity. As well, a case can be made that the small number of librarians hampered efforts to achieve enhanced status as a profession: graduate numbers were perennially low between 1931–65. The 1931 Canadian census reported 1,009 librarians as a separate professional category subdivided into 6 groupings. The 1961 census reported a tripling to 3,460 librarians subdivided by 12 subcategories. Obviously, librarianship was a small field at the outset of the 1960s. Gendered problems, especially the ‘pay gap’ and the ‘glass ceiling,’ remained low-key issues until second-wave feminism surfaced in earnest after the federal government’s Royal Commission on the Status of Women issued its report in December 1970 and societal norms began to change. 

Collective Action 

Before 1920, there were only two provincial library associations: Ontario (1900) and British Columbia (1911). Before the end of WW II,  Québec (1932), the Maritimes (1935), Manitoba (1936), Saskatchewan (1942), and Alberta (1944) formed associations. Smaller groups were also established. Special librarians formed two chapters, one in Montreal (1932) and one in Toronto (1940). Children’s librarians launched their own national association in 1939 and l’Association canadienne des bibliothèques catholiques formed in 1943 (changed to Association canadienne des bibliothécaires de langue française in 1948). These provided the basis for collective action and personal growth. Canada was known to be a country of regional diversity and it was not until the postwar era that a national voice, the CLA, emerged. This association allowed libraries and librarians to clarify and advocate for particular issues, improve individual expertise, form groups to engage in specialist development, recognize commonalities of purpose beyond local and provincial scales, and support the public interest. CLA was a decisive force in creating a National Library in 1953 and promoting librarianship on a national scale. As librarianship became more specialized, CLA created specific sections in the 1950s. Shortly after 1960, two major divisions formed: the Canadian School Library Association (1961) and the Canadian Association of College and University Libraries (1963). The Canadian Association of Law Libraries separated from its American counterpart in 1963. Thereafter, the tendency to create small, specialized or local library bodies accelerated, and national considerations lessened.

Beyond the 1960s

The achievement of status as a minor profession was gradual during the depression and war years, with an upturn in the postwar era. Canadian librarians chose to a pursue informal, flexible professionalization by assuming a service philosophy, elaborating educational standards, establishing standardized workplace methods, and developing collective action by in multiple associations. The postwar era featured economic growth, population increases, more intensive research, and educational and social conditions that warranted the need for libraries to supply published resources and new media. Yet, at the outset of the 1960s, the future, not the current foundation, engaged the attention of library educators, practitioners, and associations. A growing number of library science educators began introducing new subject matter into curricula related to research methods, abstracting, literature searching, and methods of information retrieval. In January 1958, the CLA organized a successful conference on documentation techniques at McGill University. In the following decade, it became evident that the emerging discipline of information science required librarians to consider more specialized ideas and training.

There was less reliance on library tradition, especially relationships with print resources. The characteristics of new media that impacted society, famously condensed to “the medium is the message” by Marshall McLuhan in the mid-1960s, presented challenges to the book-centred knowledge espoused by librarians. Second-wave feminism opposed gender inequality and negative stereotypes, but significant progress in libraries would have to await a sharper focus on disparities by the ‘four-fifths minority’ in the 1970s. As before, the evolution of Canadian librarianship continued professionally with the value of service at the forefront together with newer ideas, such as intellectual freedom, and areas of concern, such as literacy. Issues would become broader, less concerned with the printed formats and their organization and more focused on computer technology. The beginning of the merger of librarianship and the information professional was underway. After 1960, as the core knowledge of librarians began to transition to library and information science, they would adopt new professional values and confront social issues in a more forthright way as the computer era and more assertive feminism took hold.

Mabel Dunham and librarianship as a profession for women is the subject of my previous blog.

My blog post on an early 1936 Canadian library textbook on library science is at this link.

The development of a library profession in Ontario is the subject of my previous blog. 

The  development of post-secondary libraries and librarianship after WW II is the subject of my previous blog.

The Carnegie program to finance Canadian college collections in the 1930s is the subject of my previous blog. 

Two theses on Canadian academic librarieship in the 1940s are the subject of my previous blog.