Canadian Library History Blog

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 so popular that they were expanded and continued for more than half a century before they were discontinued. Canadian Bookmobiles Operate from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coasts The first Canadian...

Roads to Reading . 16 mm film, colour, sound, 14 minutes, 1958. Produced by the Nova Scotia Film Bureau for the Nova Scotia Provincial Library. Directed by Margaret Perry with Alberta Letts as technical advisor. Journey from Zero = La Longue Randonnée . 16 mm film, sound, colour, 13 minutes, 1961. National Film Board of Canada, Directed by Roger Blais. By 1960, regional libraries were fairly well established in Canada. The sight of a bookmobile on Canada’s rural roadways was by no means novel anymore. In Nova Scotia, where regional services had begun in earnest in the late 1940s, there were five regional systems: Cape Breton (headquarters in Sydney), Annapolis Valley, Pictou County (headquarters in New Glasgow), Colchester-East Hants (headquarters in Truro), and the Halifax City Regional Library. In 1952, Nova Scotia adopted a new library act that provided a comprehensive plan for a centralized direction and regional libraries to cover the entire province, financed to the amount ...

Fraser Valley Public Library , 16 mm., b & w., 12 minutes, c. 1932. British Columbia Public Library Commission. Photographed and produced by H. Norman Lidster. The Library on Wheels , 16 mm., b & w, 14 minutes, 1945. National Film Board of Canada. Produced by Gudrun Parker and directed by Bill MacDonald. The use of 16 mm. films for the promotion of Canadian library services began in earnest with Hugh Norman Lidster during the Great Depression. He was a practicing lawyer, a councillor, and a library board member in New Westminster, BC. In 1929, Lidster was appointed to the British Columbia Public Library Commission, a position to which he made many contributions until his retirement in 1966. In addition to his local and provincial contributions, he was active on the national level and received an Award of Merit from the Canadian Library Trustees’ Association in 1962. Lidster became an avid “home movie” enthusiast in the twenties and bought his first movie camera in 1930. Within...