SHORT HISTORY OF ONTARIO LIBRARY BOARDS AND TRUSTEES

I had an opportunity to speak at OLA's most recent Super Conference in Toronto. It was the twenty-fifth anniversary! OLA's restructuring of its various annual meetings and sub-conferences in the mid-1990s has been highly successful for the library community and its trade show, attracting attention from across Canada, not just the province of Ontario.

Anyway, I was speaking at a session designed on "governance" mostly aimed at library trustees but also of some interest to librarians and people interested in libraries as well. I am posting a PDF version of a PowerPoint that I used to talk about a "short history" of Ontario's public library movement, its trustees, legislation, the OLA itself, and some main trends that have absorbed people's attention over the past century. The history of libraries in Ontario does not usually focus on library boards or trusteeship or the OLA's impact but it is well worth examining.

You can visit the session and read through the PDF handout I used at the OLA Super Conference site for the session "The History of Public Libraries and Library Boards in Ontario." My co-presenter was Kerry Badgley, the Past-President of OLA and its President in 2018. Kerry spoke on his current research in these areas, especially the period after the First World War. Or you can play the video here.