Public Library Boards in Postwar Ontario by Lorne and Karen Bruce (2012)


Cover for Public Library Boards in Postwar Ontario
Karen and I have just reissued a revised and enlarged edition of our older Public Library Boards in Postwar Ontario, 1945-1985. It was originally published in 1988 as an occasional paper by the University of Dalhousie School of Library and Information Science. Long out of print. But now it is back in print with updated information for the original text and references, plus a new chapter to continue the story from 1985 to just before 2010. Most of the original text has been retained.

Contemporary library boards in Ontario are mostly administrative entities, but this was not always the case. Local government today is very different from the pre-1945 era. Over the years, accountability has trumped representation (a political concept) in local government and provincial statutes controlling local agencies. The municipal government has overtaken many local bodies—clearly, elected local officials in larger government entities created after the 1960s in restructuring exercises now hold powerful positions relative to other community agencies. But councils are by no means absolute. Local representative agencies, such as Ontario library boards, still hold relevant positions in local decision making and continue to exist under separate provincial legislation (for public libraries dating to 1882). These boards, commissions, and advisory councils retain some influence over public services.

The transformative period for Ontario library boards was no doubt framed by the remarkable growth and development of local government after 1945. By 1985, with the enactment of new library legislation, the issue of accountability for non-elective library boards was mostly resolved. Since that time, trustees and boards have accepted new roles and power relationships alongside municipal councils. But the original sense of community representation still remains a strong element in thinking about library operations and administration.

You can read this new edition at the following link on the Internet Archive. The contents for the new version of Public Library Boards follows:

1. Introduction
2. Library Boards Prior to 1945
3. Political Representation and Responsibility
4. Influence, Power and Authority of Local Boards
5. Intergovernmental Planning for Public Libraries
6. Professionalism in Library Administration
7. Trusteeship, the Internet, and the Digital Library
8.Conclusion
Tables


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