Library History Today Blog: January 2026

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Early Toronto Libraries, 1810–1830: Toronto Library and York Subscription Library

The Town of York was founded in 1793 by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe as the capital of Upper Canada. York replaced Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake), the capital from 1791-93. The town was an established frontier trading site with indigenous people and possessed a good harbour for transport and farmland that attracted settlers. About 1,000 people—settlers, traders, officials, and soldiers—populated the settlement in 1800. With increasing growth over the next quarter century, York became the centre of Ontario government, business, and cultural life. It was renamed Toronto in 1830 in recognition of its indigenous roots and incorporated as a small city in 1834 with a population of about 9,000.

Books and the value of literacy in a colonial setting were important elements in cultural life that were fostered by the Upper Canadian elite—Loyalists, government and church officials, wealthy merchants and investors, and emerging career professionals such as lawyers and doctors. Jointly, this conservative network of Upper Canadian men sought to control political, economic, religious, educational, and judicial power and became known as the Family Compact. These prominent citizens, who often possessed substantial personal libraries, also formed voluntary associations for various purposes, one being a ‘public library’ by subscription. Books and libraries were recognized as important sources of knowledge, entertainment, and inspiration for ideas, both personal and public. The development of private and professional collections by prominent men, such as Bishop John Strachan, who acquired an important collection of 18th-century English and Scottish religious and political thought, influenced the direction of education and civic life. Personal books were often lent between friends: after the death of David Burns, a Scottish-born surgeon and Clerk of the Crown, his estate administrator advertised in the Upper Canada Gazette on June 7, 1806, for a return of missing books from the deceased’s library, works such as Plutarch’s Lives, and volumes by Voltaire, Pope, and Swift. Beyond York, another admirable collection belonged to Robert Addison, an Anglican minister, who brought with him 1,300 sixteenth and seventeenth century books to Niagara in 1792. He supported the formation of the first subscription library in Upper Canada, the Niagara Library, established on June 8, 1800, “to diffuse knowledge” for a small group of forty-one residents. Citizens in Toronto would soon follow suit.

Subscription libraries, originating in the United States and Britain, were important social institutions in the 18th and 19th centuries. Robert Gourlay, the Scottish-born reformer who ran afoul of the Family Compact, noted the development of small libraries in his Statistical account of Upper Canada in 1822: He remarked that, “Books are procured in considerable numbers. In addition to those with which particular persons and families are supplied, social libraries are introduced in various places; and subscribers at a small expence thus enjoy the benefit of many more volumes than they could individually afford to purchase.” The collective aspect offered a cost-effective way to access a greater number of books and enabled community engagement beyond personal means.

Although funding for many subscription libraries was inconsistent, they did offer the opportunity to support the growth of collections of value accessible to local residents. Over time, these libraries increasingly expanded beyond elitist circles, and they could be said to have democratized access to knowledge, information, pleasurable reading, and civic engagement. The two Toronto libraries highlight this aspect because our knowledge of both groups clearly indicates an evolution from elite membership to members of the general public. These two libraries aimed for useful knowledge by balancing recreational reading with educational resources. As well, the Toronto libraries may be considered one part of the ‘public sphere’ where residents could meet beyond their own homes at a particular place, to read, discuss ideas, engage in civic dialogue, and advance self-knowledge. Notably, it became possible to expand literacy among subscribers of modest means. As such, they helped foster the idea of creating public libraries in localities.

The Toronto Library, 1810–1813

Sketch, Roberton’s Landmarks of Toronto

The Toronto Library was a private subscription library formally established on December 9, 1810, following preliminary meetings. It was located in Elmsley House at the southwest corner of King Street West and Simcoe Street. This residence was originally built in 1798 for Chief Justice and Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, John Elmsley, and served as Government House from 1815 to 1841. The library’s prominent members included Thomas Scott, Alexander Wood, George D’Arcy Boulton, William Dummer Powell, the Treasurer William Allan, and its Librarian William Chewett, later John Macdonell.
■ Thomas Scott was Chief Justice, 1806–16.
■ William Allan was a banker, businessman and politician who negotiated the terms of surrender when York was captured by American forces in 1813.
■ William Dummer Powell was a Loyalist lawyer, judge and significant political figure in the Family Compact and became Chief Justice from 1816–25.
■ George D’Arcy Boulton was a lawyer, judge and political figure who was appointed Solicitor General in 1804.
■ Alexander Wood was a businessman, militia officer, magistrate (appointed in 1800), and office holder who became a leading merchant in York.
■ William Chewett was a surveyor, office holder, justice of the peace, and militia officer.

These men formed the nucleus of a small group whose members are otherwise unknown. However, their literary tastes may be gauged from a 1810 letter requesting orders for the library in February 1811. This list was published in 1956 by the historian and Ontario Archivist (1950–63), George W. Spragge, who located it in Civil Secretary’s Letter Books, Upper Canada, held in Ottawa (RG 7 G-16-C). This letter was a list of books transmitted to the Rev. Mr. Walker of London, England, to be sent to the Toronto Library, February 1, 1810.

At a meeting of the directors of the Toronto Library, held the 17th January, 1810, it was agreed that the following books, or as many of them shall cost £100 Sterling shall be purchased in London, and Imported for the Library, by the Treasurer.

Johnson's Dictionary,
Rapins History of England,
Doctor Henry's History of Great Britain,
Robertsons Works,
Laings History of Scotland
Lelands Do. of Ireland,
Biographia Britannica,
Robins Ancient History,
Russells Do. and Modern Do,
Annual Register for 1809
Blairs Lectures
Johnson's Works
Spectator, Guardian, and Tatler
The Mirror and Lounger
The Looker on
Payley's Moral Philosophy
Blair's Sermons
Sherlock's Sermons
The Bishop of London's Lectures
Fordyce's Sermons to Young Men & Women
Milton's Poetical Works
Thomson's Poems
Goldsmith's Works
Smollets Works
Fieldings Works
Drydens Works
Popes Works
Swifts Works
Sully's Memoirs
The Gentlemans Magazine beginning 1800, 20 volumes
Plutarchs Lives, By Langhorn
Middletons Life of Cicero
Monthly Review for 1809
Fergusons Roman Republic
Gibbon's Roman Empire
Gillies Green
Volneys Travels thro' Syria & Egypt
Lady Mary Wortley Montagues Letters
Burrow's Travels in China.
Blagdens Modern discoveries
Johnson and Stephen's Shakespeare
(signed) / MACDONNELL, Secy.

The list of potential acquisitions demonstrates a broad interest in reading. Items were chosen because they could be mutually beneficial to the membership. Requests tended to focus on a range of subject areas: history, poetry, travel, biography, philosophy, religion, magazines, and novels.

For two years, the affairs of the library were published in the York Gazette:
June 29, 1811: a notice of meeting to be held in the library room of the Elmsley House by J. Macdonell, Secretary.
August 1811: notices during the summer for subscribers to pay the $4.00 annual fee which had been posted earlier in January (e.g., August 31, 1811).
January 1, 1812: notice to subscribers of the annual meeting of the Toronto Library to be held at 12 o’clock on January 10th.

Despite a promising beginning, the growth of the Toronto Library was abruptly halted during the War of 1812. When American forces occupied and set fire to York in April 1813, Elmsley House was vandalized and its collection of books looted. However, later, in November 1813, Isaac Chauncey (the Commander of the American naval fleet) returned two cases of books, apologizing to Judge Scott or Judge Powell and the library directors in a letter dated November 14, 1813. Edith G. Firth, librarian in charge of the Toronto Public Library Canadiana rare books and manuscripts, reprinted his note of regret in The Town of York, 1793-1815 (Toronto, 1962):

I beg you Sir to assure the Trustees of the Toronto Library that it has been a source of great mortification to myself and Officers that so useful an institution should not have been deemed Sacred by every person under our command—you however Sir must be aware, that it is not always in the power of Officers with the best disposition to controul [sic] those placed under them Situated as they were at York.

Although some books were returned, after a temporary hiatus, it appears a brief revival was attempted. A notice from the librarian, William Chewett, in the York Gazette on June 17, 1815, advised of a meeting to be held on July 3 and noted “any Subscriber or any other person or persons having any of the Books belonging to the Library, are requested to deliver them to the Subscriber immediately.” However, on October 14, 1815, another notice in the Gazette signed by Thomas Scott, President, announced that a meeting would be held on October 17 in the Church in York to consider the disposal of “such Books as are now remaining of that Library.” The library venture had ended.

Nevertheless, at some point. William Allan, the former treasurer, came into possession of some books returned by Isaac Chauncey and kept them for nine years, until 1822. On September 11th of that year, William Allan wrote to the Chief Justice Powell. Allan suggested the books were “an encumbrance to me but they are most likely [suffering] injury from being so long [and] as there is now four of the Gentlemen here out of Five who were chosen Directors at the Original meeting — [I] must beg that some determination may be made respecting them [the books] either to have them sold by Auction (as many of the volumes are now wanting) — or otherwise that I may be freed from any longer charge.” Later, on September 19, the Chief Justice replied that Allan should advertise in the Upper Canada Gazette to hold a meeting of subscribers and former directors to decide the issue. Both these letters, held by the Toronto Public Library, were reprinted in 1954 by Florence Murray, a former TPL librarian and, at that time, a library school professor at the University of Toronto.

Apparently, the meeting decided to auction the books in Allan’s possession: a notice in the Upper Canada Gazette on December 12, 1822, announced a sale of “several volumes of Books, in best order, that formerly belonged to the Toronto Library in this town.” There may have been suspicions that further books, perhaps those in circulation that were absent from the library when the American attack force arrived, were still in use, for, a year later, in December 1823, notices in Upper Canada Gazette appeared and continued into March 1824. These postings offered a handsome reward —“full value will be given, and no questions asked”—for missing volumes of the Toronto Library believed to be at large and formerly belonging to the Toronto Library, namely,

Goldsmith’s Works (1806 ed.)
Smollett’s History of England (1791)
Fielding’s Works (1806)
Ferguson’s History of the Roman Republic (1805)
Henry’s History of Great Britain (1805)
Gibbons’ History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1807)

Charles Fothergill authored the notice and likely became the owner of the incomplete sets he wished to restore. He was the King’s Printer and Gazette editor, and, at various times, a businessman, journalist, politician, naturalist, publisher, and politician. In 1831, he was one of the founders of the York Literary and Philosophical Society, established to promote Literature and Science. His success in obtaining the missing volumes is unknown, and he does not feature in any new library ventures in York.

The York Subscription Library, 1827–31

A few years later, a small group formed York’s second short-lived subscription library. On April 26, 1827, a short note appeared in the Colonial Advocate on a meeting held in Thomas Appleton’s school room on April 20th to form a “public library on liberal principles” that “all classes might enjoy the benefit of it.” The notice advised that another meeting would be held on April 30th to develop this plan in more detail. A subsequent Advocate report informed readers that Peter Paterson was appointed library chair with John Fenton as secretary. After opening remarks by Rev. William Ryerson, Rev. Stewart and Messrs. Appleton, Henderson, and Fenton, the following resolutions were adopted:
1) the desirability of forming a public library.
2) the name of the institution to be the York General Subscription Library.
3) A subscription of 10 shillings be paid, and subsequently a further subscription of 5 shillings a year be paid on a semi-annual basis by each member.
4) the secretary to enroll members as follows:
Mr. Harris, Rev. William Ryerson, Rev. Alexander Stewart, Dr. [James] McCague, J[ohn] Carey, P[eter] Patterson, T[homas] Appleton, R[obert] Meighan, J. Sanderson, E[dward] Henderson, B.W. Smith, J[ohn] Fenton, J. Caldwell, J. Roddy, W. Moore, J[ames]. Leslie, T. Elliott, J. Lackie, J. Armstrong, J. Lawrence, and R. Patch.
5) A committee be formed to draw up a constitution and rules with membership of Rev. Harris and Ryerson, John Fenton, Peter Paterson, and Dr. McCague.
6) subscriptions to be paid at McPhall’s bookbinder, Mr. Lesslie’s store, Patterson’s store, or to members of the committee.

In the same issue, William Lyon Mackenzie enthusiastically endorsed the scheme and pledged to become a subscriber and to present twenty to thirty volumes to the new library; but, thereafter, he grew silent about his own participation in its activities. Mackenzie was an enthusiastic proponent for all types of libraries, but he did not make further reference to the York Library even though the membership of the library was distinctly different from the select group that formed the Family Compact:
■ Rev. William Ryerson was a Methodist minister and brother of Egerton Ryerson.
■ Rev. Alexander Stewart was a Baptist minister and former teacher in York.
■ Dr. James McCague practiced medicine in York.
■ Thomas Appleton was a schoolmaster at the York Common School.
■ Robert Meighan was a merchant.
■ John Carey was a publisher and printer.
■ William Moore operated a drugstore.
■ John Fenton was a school teacher, an Anglican parish clerk, and a police clerk.
■ James Lesslie was a merchant, publisher, reform politician and later became one of the founders of the Toronto Mechanics’ Institute in 1830. He was a lifelong friend with Mackenzie.

Later in the summer of 1827, on August 22 and 30, the Advocate outlined progress made by the committee members. At their meeting, held earlier in the summer on July 2, the following resolutions were passed unanimously:
1. That a number of subscription papers be printed, and that the committee use their best endeavours to procure subscribers.
2. That the president, treasurer, and secretary, do their utmost to procure the books already proposed, viz.—
Dr. Clarkes tract on the use and abuse of Tobacco; Lord Chesterfield’s Letters to his Son; Evangelical Magazine by Jones; Goldsmith’s Works; British Methodist Magazine, 2 copies new series; Rollin’s Ancient History; Mosheim’s Church History; Watts on the Mind, Watts Logic; Reid on the Mind; Bishop of Landaff’s answer to T. Paine; Thornton Abbey; Locke on Toleration; and the works of the Author of Waverly.
3. That there be transferable tickets procured by the committee.
4. That Mr. Edward Henderson be librarian for the first year, and that he keep the books at his house; also that every Monday from 3 to 9 o’clock P.M. be the time for giving out and receiving books.
5. That a proper bookcase be procured for the use of the institution.
6. That the rules of the society be printed.
N.B.—A meeting of the subscribers will be held on Monday,, the 3rd day of September, at seven in the evening, in [Thomas] Appleton’s school room.
John Fenton, Secretary
Edith Firth reprinted this report in the Colonial Advocate concerning the organization of the York Subscription Library issued on August 23, 1827, in the Town of York, 1815–1834 (Toronto, 1966).

Despite this promising start, there was little news about the library until over a year later, on Thursday, December 4, 1828, when a notice signed by the President, Peter Paterson, of the quarterly meeting of York Subscription Library was announced for 7 o’clock Tuesday [Dec. 10th] 1828 at Thomas Appleton’s school. More than two years later, an Advocate notice in April 1831, announced a meeting for subscribers on Wednesday, April 27, at Thomas Appleton’s school for “starting afresh or discontinuing the Institution” and warns of forfeiture of claims by persons who do not come forward and pay their dues by Peter Paterson, President.

After this public statement, the York Library was dissolved, perhaps because previously on December 24, 1830, a small group of men met at the Masonic Hall on Colborne Street near Church Street to organize a Mechanics’ Institute for York. The Institute’s most active founders were Joseph Bates, a watchmaker from England, and James Lesslie. Once established, the Institute was housed in a rented space on the second floor of the Masonic Hall. When it opened in 1830, the Institute’s library comprised 1,300 volumes. The primary aim of mechanics’ institutes was to provide adult education for working-class members, including lending libraries, and they had broader educational goals and social appeal. In Upper Canada and Ontario, they immediately garnered legislative grants for their activities, a public funding advantage subscription libraries seldom enjoyed at this time.

Thursday, January 01, 2026

Radio Broadcasts by Canadian Libraries before 1945

Canada was a pioneer in the development of radio. As early as May 1920, the Montreal station XWA (later CFCF) went on the air delivering a short concert broadcast to an audience as far away as Ottawa. Listeners initially utilized crystal sets, simple radio receivers. Eventually, these devices were superseded by many types of vacuum tube receivers that became standard for consumers to purchase as less expensive tabletop models by the 1930s.

Even so, Canadian audiences were limited in scope to major cities before the electrification of rural areas.For most of the 1920s, there were few Canadian stations and radio enthusiasts along the southern border, especially in Ontario, who often listened to American stations, such as KDKA in Pittsburgh, which began operating at the end of 1920. This station offered library storytelling for children, such as popular short fairy tales and animal stories.

The Golden Age of Radio and Libraries

In 2008, at the Ontario Library Association Super Conference, I presented a paper on the early broadcasts by Canadian libraries and librarians spanning the era of old-time radio from the 1920s to the ascendancy of television in the 1950s. It is mostly an overlooked subject in library history, but it has some parallels with the challenges presented by the advent of movies, television, and later, the Internet, Web 2.0, and social networking. Radio presented an opportunity to reach a mass audience beyond local registered users because it entered people’s homes from all cultures and educational backgrounds across a broader geographic region. The British Columbia Department of Education was a leader in school radio program broadcasting: it began a regular series of radio programs for schools in March 1938 in cooperation with the new CBC station in Vancouver, CBR.

At first, libraries began participating with local stations operated by newspapers and other commercial establishments before the rise of national networks. It was an innovative era for librarians that demonstrated their readiness to embrace new technology. However, the role of broadcasting was comparatively small and limited to major libraries like Toronto or Vancouver. Radio was often viewed as an external ‘extension service’ rather than a mainstream activity. There was usually no provision for specialized broadcast sections or dedicated staffing as administrators sought to develop a range of other new services, such as a readers’ advisory service. In response to the new medium, librarians used radio in a sporadic way before expansion commenced after 1945 when libraries turned to ‘outreach’ and programming on a more systematic basis.

During this formative period, there was a gradual evolution from a local focus to national programming. Small independent local commercial stations secured broadcast licenses from the federal government at the outset and provided a flurry of programs featuring news, concerts, sports, advertising, discussion groups, and short segments with local groups willing to participate. After the Canadian National Railway (CNR) established a network of stations between 1923–33 that eventually became part of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) national network in 1936, ‘library programs’ were developed for a national audience. The CNR radio was initially used as entertainment for passengers and railway hotel guests. Radio headsets and radio receivers in parlour cars of transcontinental passenger trains were linked with a network of transmitting radio stations from coast to coast. The CNR controlled the network content, usually from Toronto.

The CNR recognized the potential for educational programming along with educational authorities. This type of broadcasting began in the 1920s with the University of Alberta’s station, CKUA, and the Nova Scotia Department of Education’s use of station CHNS. A few years after the Aird Commission report in 1929, which recommended a national, publicly-owned radio system to foster Canadian culture and national identity, the federal government crated Radio-Canada to replace the older CNR network. It offered programming in two separate networks, one French and one English.

Libraries began participating more formally with the CBC as they envisioned a growing national audience. In 1943, Stuart Griffiths, head of CBC programming in Toronto, spoke to Ontario librarians about effective radio cooperative projects and the CBC organization. Toronto Public Library, in particular, developed a good relationship with CJBC, the flagship station of the CBC English network. In 1944, TPL devoted an entire section of its annual report to radio broadcasts highlighting one successful program, “Lets Visit the Library:”

The interviewer strolled through the Central Library building chatting with various members of the staff and collecting items of interest in the Circulation Department, the Reference Library, the Microphotography Room, and the Boys and Girls House where a story was in progress, and several boys and girls were ‘interviewed.’ The visit ended in the chief librarian’s office when Mr. Sanderson told of other library activities, aims and ideals, which couldn’t be covered in the actual tour.

Charles Sanderson followed in the autumn of 1944 with a lengthy weekly series of talks, “Books and Us,” on CJBC. These were educational in nature by encouraging reading through and discussing the content of books, library services, literary topics, and trends in reading rather than presenting reviews or promoting certain genres or authors. Attractive posters to announce the series and book lists in the form of book marks relating to each talk were made available to the public after broadcasts.

Library Leadership in Types of Programming

Radio use by libraries varied over the interwar period and WW II. Canadian librarians did not develop specific plans for the new medium. Leadership on broadcasting came from the American Library Association, which established a radio committee in 1926, mostly to link it with adult education and literacy work. Librarians often relied on publications to develop their own ideas and discover successful efforts elsewhere. Three books in particular were helpful: (1) Francis W.K. Drury, The Broadcaster and the Librarian (1931), which emphasized educational aspects of melding discussions and library events on local airwaves; (2) Faith Holmes Hyers, The Library and the Radio (1938), a practical guide for promotion and community outreach; and (3) Julia Sauer, Radio Roads to Reading: Library Book Talks Broadcast to Girls and Boys (1939) which reprinted transcripts of radio book talks presented by the Rochester Public Library where she was in charge of children’s services for more than three decades.

In the course of her work with ALA and preparation of her book, Julia Sauer solicited scripts from libraries and received replies from Toronto and Vancouver. The Library and the Radio explored cooperation with educational authorities and the kinds of broadcasts that children’s librarians were conducting. In general, Canadian libraries pursued several types of radio programs: children’s story hours, book talks, library publicity and programs, novel readings, and question and answers sessions by patrons.

Children’s story hours — Storytelling was the predominant program format in the early days of radio. Children’s librarians were used to story hours for various ages and locales, such as schools. Also, this developing subset of librarianship deeply believed in the power of stories to inspire youngsters and inform them about becoming the best they can be. Through the 1930s, Louise Riley, a Calgary librarian who would later rise to prominence across Canada after 1945, often presented stories on local stations, such as CJCJ, CFCN, and CFCA. In Saskatoon, Dorothy Clancy began reading stories on Saturday and Monday mornings on CFQC in the early 1930s. There were many other instances across the country. Eventually, librarians began supplying radio with subjects for dramatization by professional announcers, a development leading to popular CBC Dominion Network programs in the 1950s, Cuckoo Clock House on radio and Hidden Pages on television.

Library publicity and programs — On the occasion of ALA’s 56th annual conference held in Montreal in 1934, John Ridington, chief librarian of the University of British Columbia, broadcast a national address on Thursday evening, June 28th, on “Libraries as Public Safety Insurance.” He stressed the important role of libraries in communities and the need to finance these educational institutions properly. However, there were skeptics about the success of library publicity via radio. Mary Duncan Carter, the Director of the School of Library Science at the University of Southern California, told delegates at the Pacific Northwest Library Association meeting at Victoria in August 1941 that surveys suggested radio publicity for library work had comparatively limited appeal. She believed in concentrating on promoting the reading interest of various groups of listeners.

Book talks and novels — Using the airwaves for discussions about new books, important authors, or trends in reading were always comfortable topics for librarians. Alerting audiences to popular Canadian authors, such as Grace Campbell, was considered another essential duty. The quality of the TPL program “Books and Us” prompted the Globe and Mail to editorialize on March 9, 1945, that stations beyond Toronto should include it in their Sunday evening programming schedules. By this time, book talks were well established. In Hamilton, Freda Waldon, who later became the first President of the Canadian Library Association, hosted weekly Saturday afternoon chats about new books and Canadian issues on CHML. Similarly, Alexander Calhoun, the chief librarian in Calgary, arranged a series of talks starting in October 1936 that touched on foreign affairs and issues of the day. However, Calhoun and his library staff also took another step by inviting guest speakers to make the presentations, a measure that became more frequent. Local libraries were also helpful by supplying materials to producers and professional radio announcers for their own book programs. The “Library Shelf” program on Toronto’s CFRB in the 1930s was particularly successful.

Promoting Library Services — Of course, as librarians became more adept at programming of all sorts, not just radio, the idea of public relations crept into the minds of administrators. Creating a favourable image of the library became an important aspect of broadcasting. The most notable instance came in June 1936, when the Special Libraries Association met in Montreal. American special librarians used a series of radio addresses to inform and promote the public about type library work, an event I documented in an earlier blog at this link. Through the 1930s and 1940s, librarians often suggested a visit to the library would open new vistas. In early 1946, the Montreal Children's Library (a privately funded library) used radio to advertise its services. On one segment, Ted Miller, an announcer on CBM, interviewed a boy and girl who were library users. They explained their experiences and enjoyed their adventure over the airwaves. By the mid-1940s, as librarianship developed, a few librarians, such as Elizabeth Dafoe, chief librarian of the University of Manitoba, began to use radio to promote regional systems and to entice students to pursue a library career.

Conclusion

Although some librarians were reluctant to participate in radio broadcasting because they feared it might reduce the popularity of reading books and the use of libraries. Also, there was concern about the commercialization of literature. In his 1935 annual report, Charles Sanderson, deputy chief librarian at Toronto Public Library, noted the demand for books stemming from radio broadcasts: “whilst some of these broadcasts represent disinterested comment, many of them have a camouflaged commercial support which is unknown to most listeners.” Sanderson suggested one solution was independent library programing to offset commercial coercion. Nevertheless, many successful experimental library efforts emerged in the interwar period. Generally, library broadcasts produced a broad range of programming that attempted to enrich the lives of people of all ages.

Ultimately, despite generally enthusiastic support for radio, librarians shared the fate of others who advocated for educational programs. Commercial programs, especially American ones, proliferated, and as radio programming became more segmented and competitive, and television achieved its primary, local library efforts were given less time on the air. However, they continued to provide support for broadcasters by supplying information and materials for programs. There were other difficult factors as well, such as the allocation of less popular or irregular hours, the lack of direct public response, inconsistent ties to local stations or broadcasters, and the absence of reliable survey data on audience size. Nonetheless, librarian broadcasters, especially children’s librarians, were determined to use radio to promote reading and library use through book talks, storytelling, and promotional programs.

Dorothy Cullen, a Prince Edward Island librarian who had earned her BLS at the Pratt Institute Library School in 1936, and who had experience with radio book talks, summed up this period astutely in a 1946 article on broadcasting published in the Maritimes and Ontario: “If the question were put to a group of librarians — ‘Are radio programs worthwhile as publicity’ — you would find considerable difference of opinion about them; but probably most of the people who have given this medium a tryout would say that they found broadcasting worth the time and effort. It does take a good deal of time preparing radio broadcasts ... but radio publicity can compare favorably with projects undertaken within the library - displays, booklists, etc. because it has possibilities of reaching people who are not library patrons.”

Further suggestions:

My 2008 Canadian Library Association radio presentation on Reaching Listeners and Users is at this link.

An audio and transcription of my interview by Mr. Rex Murphy on the CBC network in March 1995 about the future of libraries and books is the subject of an earlier blog at this link.

Use of radio at the Special Libraries Association conference in Montreal in 1936 is the subject of an earlier blog at this link.

Cullen, Dorothy, “Radio Programs,” Maritime Library Association Bulletin 10, no. 2 (1945): 6–1; Reprinted as “Library Radio Programs,” Ontario Library Review 30, no. 1 (1946): 48–52.

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