Library History Today Blog

Project Progress: A Study of Canadian Public Libraries . Prepared for the Canadian Library Association and its division the Canadian Association of Public Libraries by Urban Dimensions Group Inc. Toronto, Canada. Ottawa: Canadian Library Association, January 1981. 120 p., ill. Issued in French as: Projet progrès .    My review first appeared with shorter text in Canadian Public Administration vol. 26, no. 2 (June 1983): 315-316 as follows. . . . . . In 1979 the Toronto-based Urban Dimensions Group Inc. was commissioned by the Canadian Library Association to study problems confronting public libraries in Canada. The group’s report, Project Progress, identifies a number of issues affecting libraries in a national context, and offers practical data as well as recommendations to respond to these challenges. Implicit in this survey is a muted call to action. Yet, in the introduction, the CLA Steering Committee members offer a guarded forecast: “the future is before us.” There ar...

For a quarter of century, from the mid-1930s to 1960, Elizabeth Dafoe was a central figure in the development of the University of Manitoba library in Winnipeg. No less important was her influence in Manitoba and at the national level. Her efforts were noteworthy and resulted in her selection to represent western Canadian and academic interests in the wartime Canadian Library Council which led to the successful formation of the Canadian Library Association in 1946. Dafoe’s pan-Canadian interests included the formation of regional libraries, a topic she promoted in wartime publications, and the creation of a National Library in Ottawa. She argued for its establishment in the May 1944 issue of Food for Thought , which is the subject of another of my blogs at this link . She advocated for legal deposit laws and better organizational systems to support serious students. She was President of the Canadian Library Association in 1948-49. From 1953-1960, she was a member of the National Librar...

In the course of thirty years Mary Saxe raised the Westmount Public Library, situated in a park setting, into prominence in the province of Quebec and Canada. She introduced an open shelf system for users in 1917, opened a separate Children’s Room in 1911, and a Reference Room in 1914. The library was connected with a beautiful conservatory, the Palm Room, in 1927. When she retired, the library had a staff of six assistants and an annual circulation of more than 100,000 books. Saxe was active in the cultural life of Montréal through her membership in the Women’s Art Society of Montreal, the Dickens Fellowship, the Canadian Authors Association, Montreal Art Association, Business and Professional Women’s Club, and Canadian Women’s Club. She wrote a book for children, “Our Little Quebec Cousin,” and contributed columns to the Montreal Gazette. She also authored a few one-act plays, such as “All is Discovered,” “Just a Tip,” and “Rainbows” that were performed theatrically. Mary Sollace S...