Project Progress: A Study of Canadian Public Libraries, 1981

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 are good reasons to be wary. Consider a few results from the 1979/80 general survey of libraries presented in chapter three:
51.8 per cent of service points are open less than 20 hours a week
38.4 per cent of service points circulate less than 50,000 items per year
89.3 per cent of service points lent less than 250 books a year to other libraries
64.3 per cent of service points operate on less than $50,000 annually
77.1 per cent of libraries employ no full-time qualified public service librarians
94.6 per cent of libraries employ no full-time qualified librarians in technical services
84.0 per cent of libraries employ no administrative or “other” librarians
46.0 per cent of service points are less than 1,000 sq. ft. in size
41.3 per cent of service points hold less than 10,000 volumes
19.0 per cent of service points have no catalogue access to their collections
32.0 per cent of service points offer children’s programs/story hours
Is this progress? It is disquieting to learn that eighty years after the introduction of children’s programming in Canada less than one-third of our libraries provide story hours. Why? The members of the research team pass over this - and other alarming findings – without much discussion. Perhaps their own doubts about the potential for corrective measures are too firmly established to give palliative comments.

The bleak statistics in Project Progress lead up to a discussion of library cooperation and cost-benefit analysis at the end of chapter three. Project Progress rightfully notes that the existing volume of inter-loan traffic is low, that present national bibliographic information services are “unwieldy,” and that only “little growth or innovation” has occurred since 1972. Given some of the results of the survey above, it is doubtful whether cooperative efforts at resource-sharing will become a widespread activity outside larger urban and suburban communities.

Chapters four and six analyze the education, utilization, training and attitudes of library workers. Project Progress reports that the unionization of libraries is viewed by workers as having little impact. Indeed, the issue of professional status of librarians in relation to management has not been addressed adequately. Project Progress also identifies a possible weakness in library education concerning use of technology to improve services. No doubt library educators will disagree on this issue.

Two further chapters study usage of libraries by the public which incorporate some results appearing in previous surveys made by the federal government in 1975 and 1978. It is noteworthy that a full century after the introduction of free tax-based library services, the question, “Would you favour taxes being increased to cover necessary costs?’ instead of cutbacks, elicits a negative reply from 45 per cent of the respondents (2 per cent greater than those favouring tax increases). Little wonder Project Progress recommends a more explicit market orientation and effective performance measures to support budget requests! Further, it is revealed that people believe libraries are more important to the community (61.5 per cent) than they are personally (42 per cent). The irony is that most professional librarians and staff would agree that they exist to serve the needs of individual users, not communities. Thus it is no surprise that the 1981 Ontario Library Association conference theme was “Libraries Celebrate the Individual.”

Project Progress is the most important single document on public libraries to appear since Libraries in Canada; A Study of Library Conditions and Needs, the report of an inquiry chaired by John Ridington in 1933. In my view, most recommendations offer a sensible basis for further study and action. Nevertheless, there is an essential ingredient missing. Nowhere in Project Progress is there any serious analysis of the political process engulfing public libraries. Although all levels of government formulate policies, the financial realities impinging upon the majority of local municipal units limits the scope for leadership and innovation. The major policy actors – library trustees, librarians, school boards, councillors, interest groups such as library associations, and provincial civil servants – are largely concerned with administrative/internal decisions. In this milieu, political policy-making languishes. An opportunity has been missed to explore the political world of public libraries where detailed administrative expertise is the road to advancement for librarians, and where trustees (and their libraries) suffer low visibility. Because the by-word for action in the fragmented library community is unity, changes are exceedingly difficult to achieve.

Project Progress does close with the conviction that improvements can be implemented by good planning, basically through national or provincial agencies such as CLA. This is a step forward in raising political awareness. Fifty years ago the Ridington report sincerely believed that there was “nothing the national government can do” to create and maintain a national library at Ottawa. Clearly since then public libraries have come to recognize that meaningful rewards can be attained through moderate political action. But constructive changes continue to follow a sporadic course, because little is known about the political environment of libraries.

Postscript

In the mid-1970s, the Canadian Association of Public Libraries decided to conduct a study to ascertain the public library’s effectiveness and provide future recommendations. Unfortunately, this ambitious undertaking eventually raised less than half of the original projected financial goal after five years. CAPL, a small 1,000 plus member section of the Canadian Library Association, hoped a national study would boost decision-making, serve as a basic footprint for planning, and stimulate librarians/libraries to focus on changing societal conditions (especially the importance of information provision). The first three chapters centred on a brief introduction, an explanation of the data and methods, and a description of public library activity. Urban Dimensions examined 1,178 completed library questionnaires from 2,426 service points, conducted 90 personal interviews of library workers from 51 libraries, interviewed 200 people from the general public by telephone, and met with 18 decision-makers. The report concluded with twelve general recommendations, some of which did not appear to come from the data presented in tables and graphs.

The information presented was fairly general and the findings, which blurred the distinction between a library as an organization and the totality of service points. As a result, there was some discouraging reporting on the availability of library services. The report was released at the CLA national conference in Hamilton in June 1981 with some fanfare that future discussions about its recommendations would lead to new directions. However, this prospect did not materialize. A year later, at Saskatoon in 1982, CLA’s sessions on the report made little headway because conference-goers disagreed with some findings, such as the recommendation for professional librarians to form a national body equivalent to a licensing body. Many administrators surmised that the implementation of major recommendations would necessitate local initiatives which might vary across the country. The development of national strategies in a diverse public library community required financial resources that CLA, public libraries, related firms, and foundations were unable to provide. In retrospect, Project Progress was a valiant attempt to assess current strengths and weaknesses and offer guidance for future action; however, the report relied on subsequent activity at the community level and coordinated national leadership which CLA and leading library associations were not able to undertake.

Three additional important reviews:

Jean Tague and Sam D. Neill, “A Critical Review of Project Progress,” Ontario Library Review 66 no. 2 (June 1982): 84-87.

 Katherine H. Packer, compiler, “Project Progress: A Review,” Canadian Library Journal 39 no. 3 (June 1982): 129-133; with a “Reply to the Review” by the researchers, E. B. Harvey, Lorna Marsden, and Anne Woodsworth, 135-137.

S.D. Neill, “Project Progress and Professional Library Education  –  Continuing Education, Management Skills, Management Statistics,” OLA Expression 3 no. 4 (Winter 1982): 19-21.

Intellectual Freedom Statement adopted by the Canadian Library Association in June 1966

Although the Canadian Library Association-Association Canadienne des Bibliothèques did not adopt an intellectual freedom statement until 1966, its development had a long genesis. As early as 1951, at its Toronto conference, the Ontario Library Association requested CLA-ACB to develop a statement on a “Library Bill of Rights,” i.e., a national library policy on intellectual freedom similar to the American Library Association’s statement revised in 1948. As a result, the CLA-ACB appointed a special committee to explore a “Library Charter” chaired by Gerhard Lomer (McGill University). Over two years, the committee worked on a statement in three sections: the rights of the Canadian people, the services and responsibilities of libraries, and the duties of the government. However, the committee was discharged in 1953, perhaps because CLA-ACB chose a reactive “watch and ward” position focused on its Undesirable Literature Committee (est. 1950).

Yet, this latter committee did not attempt to draft a policy, although it did submit a 1953 brief to a Senate committee concerning indecent publications that declared censorship could be problematic. For many years, meetings and conferences of CLA-ACB mostly dealt with “bread and butter” issues, such as salary standards for employees, standards of service for public libraries, or the development of a projected national survey on the state of libraries. The welfare of librarians and libraries, not issues of national or public policy, was the prime interest of the membership.

The lapsed mandates of the two 1950s committees were eventually incorporated into an Intellectual Freedom committee in 1961. This committee, chaired from 1962–66 by John Archer, began a more purposeful program first of providing information for libraries and the public through a series of articles and then the composition of a statement on Intellectual Freedom for CLA members to debate. John Archer was a 1949 BLS graduate (McGill University) who had advanced to the positions of Legislative Librarian and Provincial Archivist of Saskatchewan. He came to the committee after the Canadian Criminal Code adopted a more permissive view of obscenity in publications—the new test was the interpretation of an author’s “undue exploitation” of sex, crime, violence, or cruelty. This legal application opened the door to works of artistic merit to circulate freely; thus, challenges in the early 1960s swirled about novels of apparent “ill-repute” such as Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Naked Lunch, Tropic of Cancer, Women in Love, and Memoirs of Fanny Hill. As well, a federal statute enacted in 1960, the Canadian Bill of Rights, provided citizens with certain legal rights, such as a free press, in relation to other federal laws and government actions. However, its scope was limited. For example, it did not apply to provincial laws.

A general principled approach, not statements on individual authors or works, was adopted by CLA-ACB. John Archer’s first step came in the March 1962 issue of the Canadian Library, where two articles appeared: “The Freedom to Read” and the “Library Bill of Rights.” Both statements were reprints originally adopted by the American Library Association, which had begun to address the right to read and libraries’ responsibilities as early as 1939. Later, in November 1962, Rev. Edmond Desrochers, S.J., the President of CLA, published an article, “A Catholic Librarian looks at Intellectual Freedom in the Canadian Setting.” Desrochers identified some problems with the ALA statements in a Canadian context. He emphasized the need for a policy that “embodies due respect for the different philosophical and religious beliefs of the Canadian people.” However, he did not oppose adoption of a statement, rather he encouraged the creation of a policy that recognized the diversity of Canada. Finally, in March 1963, the Canadian Library published a final article by Archer, “This Freedom.” It became obvious from its two-page text that “watch and ward” should be jettisoned.

Libraries must play a vital role in the maintenance of intellectual freedom. As a responsibility of library service to the public, the reading materials selected should be chosen for interest and for informational and cultural values. The freedom of an individual to use the library should not be denied or abridged because of factors of race, national origin, or political views. Library service should offer the fullest practical coverage of materials, presenting all points of view concerning local, national and international issues of our times. The libraries and those responsible for libraries must stand as leaders for intellectual freedom and must resist social influences tending to restrict the legitimate right to provide Canadians with worthwhile books.

A CLA-ACB annual meeting was scheduled for Calgary in June 1966. The Intellectual Freedom Committee wisely decided to hold a two-day pre-conference meeting at Banff that attracted about seventy registrants. On the first day, there were topical addresses followed by four breakout discussion groups: two for public libraries, one for academic libraries, and one for government/special libraries. John Archer, now Director of Libraries at McGill University, was the incoming President of CLA-ACB and led a strategy group that condensed the findings of each group and provided a draft for discussion and adoption on the second day. Then, the CLA-ACB Council fine-tuned the draft to be forwarded at two open meetings of conference delegates at the Calgary conference. The following statement, slightly revised at these meetings, was approved Twenty-first Annual Conference on June 21, 1966.

 * * * * * * * *

 Intellectual Freedom comprehends the right of every person (in the legal meaning of the term), subject to reasonable requirements of public order, to have access to all expressions of knowledge and intellectual creativity, and to express his thoughts publicly.

Intellectual Freedom is essential to the health and development of society.

Libraries have a primary role to play in the maintenance and nurture of intellectual freedom.

In declaring its support of these general statements, the CLA-ACB affirm these specific propositions:

1) It is the responsibility of libraries to facilitate the exercise of the right of access by acquiring and making available books and other materials of the widest variety, including those expressing or advocating unconventional or unpopular ideas.

2) It is the responsibility of libraries to facilitate the exercise of the right of expression by making available all facilities and services at their disposal.

3) Libraries should resist all efforts to limit the exercise of these responsibilities while recognizing the right of criticism by individuals and groups.

4) Librarians have a professional duty, in addition to their institutional responsibility, to uphold the principles enunciated in this statement.

* * * * * * * *

Following the adoption of the statement, conference delegates also passed a resolution that they believed (hopefully) would secure legal recognition for libraries.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Government of Canada be requested to recognize both this role and this responsibility by introducing amendments to the Criminal Code specifically exempting libraries from such provisions of the Code as may now or in future restrict or forbid individual citizens from acquiring books or other materials within the scope of the CLA-ACB statement on Intellectual Freedom, such materials to be acquired by libraries for purposes of research.

Not surprisingly, many matters pertaining to the federal Criminal Code were deemed more important by government officials in Ottawa. The impetus for following through on the statement and the resolution soon lapsed.

Although CLA-ACB had produced a succinct and clearly worded document that acknowledged libraries and librarians should be proactive, not reactive, in terms of censorship and freedom of expression, the association’s interest in asserting its policy diminished for several years until a revival occurred in the mid-1970s. In 1974, the Church of Scientology served writs on the Hamilton and Etobicoke libraries because both libraries refused to remove books critical of Scientology, such as Cyril Vosper’s The Mind Benders. Eventually, the Church withdrew its civil action, and CLA successfully redrafted its position on June 17, 1974 (the so-called Winnipeg Manifesto). The revised statement cited the 1960 Canadian Bill of Rights and used more assertive wording, such as “guarantee,” and broadened its scope by referencing “employees and employers.” In many ways, this revision improved and simplified both the OLA 1963 statement and the previous CLA-ACB effort adopted at Calgary in 1966. Nevertheless, issues involving pornography, child pornography, and hate propaganda would require CLA’s continued attention, especially in the 1980s: the 1974 statement was revised in November 1983 and November 1985 to reference the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Shortly before CLA disbanded, it would be revised a final time on September 27, 2015.

John Hall Archer was invested with the Order of Canada in April 1982. The University of Regina’s main library is named in his honour. He died in 2004.

The Bibliothèque Edmond Desrochers at the Centre justice et foi in Montreal, specializing in the social sciences, was named in his honour in 1985. Father Desrochers died in 1987.

Read the contemporary statement adopted by the Canadian Federation of Library Associations upon review on August 26, 2016.

Library Service for Canada Brief by the Canadian Library Council, 1944

Library Service for Canada: A Brief Prepared by the Canadian Library Council, as Forwarded August 2, 1944, to the House of Commons Special Committee on Reconstruction and Re-Establishment. 10 leaves, 2 appendices [Ottawa?]: Canadian Library Council, July 1944.

In 1942, the Canadian House of Commons appointed a Special Committee on Reconstruction and Re-establishment. James Gray Turgeon, a Liberal politician from British Columbia, served as chair. The committee’s purpose was to study and report the potential problems and ensuing responses that might arise from a postwar period of reconstruction and re-establishment following the Second World War. The committee submitted a report of its activities and associated briefs in 1944 and completed its work in 1945. A major aspect of the committee’s activities concerned the state of culture across the Dominion. A variety of arts and cultural groups made submissions which helped create a better awareness of cultural issues. These early efforts provided a basis for which later developments could occur, which saw the federal government support Canadian artists and develop national institutions in the 1950s. In terms of library service, the Canadian Library Council (CLC) assumed the responsibility for drafting a brief earlier in the summer of 1944, but final approval was delayed until July. The CLC then forwarded its report to the committee for its 2 August 1944 meeting; however, the Council did not make an oral submission and receive questions, although references to the CLC’s proposal appear in the committee’s minutes for this date.

It was well known from many reports in the 1930s that library services in schools, colleges, and municipal institutions were deficient. A 1943 survey by the Canada and Newfoundland Education Association especially lamented the poor state of school and public libraries. One of its reported recommendations concluded: “That library service be extended over the whole Dominion. Not less than $1,000,000 per annum is required for this purpose.” The CLC, formed in 1941 and incorporated in late 1943, existed to promote library service and librarianship in Canada. It included representatives from library associations in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, the Maritimes, Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. By 1944, its membership was busy publishing information to raise awareness about the need for rural service, regional libraries, a national library, and improved library education. The Turgeon Committee afforded an excellent opportunity to give prominence to library matters at the federal government level.

There are a few references to the CLC’s work on 21 June 1944, when a delegation representing 16 national arts groups presented the Reconstruction Committee a brief concerning the cultural aspects of Canadian postwar reconstruction. This “Artists Brief” (as it came to be known) set forth a comprehensive national program to encourage the fine and applied arts and general culture in the interest of an enriched society. It called for establishing a national  “governmental body” to administer the arts and for the founding of hundreds of community art and civic centres across the country in municipalities and rural communities, such as the one in Hamilton featured in this accompanying illustration. One component of these centres would be a municipal library in larger cities and regional or county libraries in smaller communities and rural districts. At this time there were only a few libraries operating in community centres. The Dominion government would fund these centres by setting aside $10,000,000. The brief also proposed the coordination of cultural activities by the National Film Board, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation with the building of community centres. Other proposals for government attention concerned many issues such as copyright law, creating a national library, expanding the national archives, and improved programs for federal publications and government information. In the case of library service, establishing a national library in Ottawa would provide for the “circulation of books in Canada and for the sending of the best Canadian books to public libraries in other countries to create a better understanding of Canadian life.” The Arts and Letters Club in Toronto reiterated these ideas and called for “a tremendous extension of library services in Canada.” The playwright, Herman Voaden, one of the artists delegation, said, “When you build a library you make provision for a small stage at one end and for clearing the hall for plays and concerts. You have art exhibitions on the walls.”

At the same June session, the Canadian Authors Association also weighed in on the development of libraries with two specific points:

That travelling libraries be organized and circulated in rural districts throughout Canada, including books written by Canadian authors, and dealing with Canada—these to be drawn from a central library or depot of Canadian books at Ottawa, which shall be adequately financed and staffed for that purpose—the staff to be drawn by preference from discharged Service men or women but strictly limited to competent persons. This library service would fit into the Community Centres Plan accompanying this brief, which we support. That collections of the best Canadian books available be sent to public libraries in other countries of the United Nations, to create a better understanding of Canadian Culture.

Together with other short references, library services caught the attention of Members of Parliament at the June session. In the context of all the cultural briefs, discussions at the Reconstruction Committee hearings, and general postwar planning, CLC forwarded its brief to the Reconstruction Committee in August. The CLC emphasized three critical points at the outset: (p. 5)

The Canadian Library Council believes that an effective, Dominion-wide, library service can make a valuable contribution toward the settlement of post-war problems of rehabilitation by providing books and audio-visual aids in training or re-training demobilized service and civilian personnel for new and old skills; by dispensing current information regarding new developments in the fields of agriculture, industry, business, and the professions; by supplying cultural, recreational, and citizenship reading.

London Public Library art display, March1945

The Council brief also noted the potential for library development in a national community centres program: “This would be a natural association of services. The Library is open every day to a varied group of readers and its workers are trained in community guidance. The cultural art centre with the library as nucleus (featured in this illustration on the left) has been demonstrated successfully in London, Ontario, where book, art, music, and film services are provided under one administration.” However, the Council advocated a centralized plan of development beginning with a federally appointed and financed national Library Resources Board “to guide, co-ordinate, and encourage provincial, local and special efforts.” The initial focus for the Board would be a survey of existing library resources and book collections used by the armed forces at stations that would be discontinued and any suitable buildings at present used by wartime activities. With this information and collection of provincial data, the Board, using federal funds under its control, could provide incentive grants for regional libraries and devise a system of co-operative use of library resources at provincial and local levels. A regional library would typically be “40,000 people with a budget of $25,000 a year [which is] is the minimum unit recommended in order to supply the readers with the three essentials of library service (apart from buildings accommodation), [that is] a wide range of reading on all subjects, a constant supply of new books, and trained librarians to select the books, advise readers, and manage library affairs.” (p. 8) The National Library Service would include a variety of institutions and ambitious programs:
1) a National Library in a building perhaps dedicated as a war memorial;
2) compilation of a storehouse of national literature and history;
3) development of reference collections on all subjects;
4) formation of a lending collection which other libraries might borrow from when their resources failed;
5) shared microfilm, photostat, and other copying services;
6) a union catalogue to make existing books in libraries available through an inter-library loan on a Dominion-wide basis;
7) the coordination of  book information with audio-visual aids, working in close co-operation with the National Film Board, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and other national organizations;
8) administration of collections of books about Canada for exhibition abroad;
9) publication of bibliographical works about Canada.

The Library Resources Board would also encourage adequate standards for personnel, training, salaries, etc. Finally,  the Board would provide library consultation services (e.g., legislation, book tariffs, postal rates, the National Selective Service, and functional architectural plans). The proposed national library board to direct and coordinate library work was a bold idea, but it was in keeping with the sweeping powers the federal government had assumed during wartime as well as the central idea proposed in the Artists Brief. Much of the work of the national advisory Library Resources Board could be furthered by assistance from provincial library associations and groups working in adult education or teaching. By providing leadership through the creation of library standards and advisory services, the Library Resources Board could spur library expansion. In this scheme of thinking, a National Library was necessary to implement and support many activities. The CLC’s plan did not avoid the thorny issue of financing by the federal government (p. 10).

Dominion encouragement of library service will need large initial grants. The suggestion has been made that funds could be raised to initiate such projects as library undertakings, community centres, etc., by a special Victory Loan to supply the Tools of Peace. Another suggestion is for an annual per capita tax to provide funds to maintain the above enterprises.

In conjunction with other provincial briefs submitted by library associations and groups, the CLC’s postwar rebuilding vision could advance the nation’s “intelligence, character, economic advancement, and cultural life.” (p. 4) Library reconstruction plans at all government levels would confer benefits for Canada’s citizens and lead to a better, more informed society. Some of the main ideas in the brief— a national commission, a national library, and regionalization—had appeared earlier in January 1944 in Charles Sanderson’s Libraries in the Post War Period.  Sanderson had accentuated the potential programs and roles that libraries might assume in their communities and noted the importance of provincial organization. To bolster its case, the CLC appended two more specific documents: Nora Bateson’s Rural Canada Needs Libraries and Elizabeth Dafoe’s A National Library. Both publications had appeared earlier and already received distribution and promotion across Canada. [These will be the subject of future blog posts.]

Like the contemporary Artists Brief, Library Service for Canada achieved little in terms of prompting federal action or securing funding. In the immediate aftermath of WWII, the federal government’s priorities were decidedly not cultural and political support for libraries at local levels sporadic. The arts and library services were provincial and municipal responsibilities. The postwar Liberal governments under Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent prioritized economic recovery, jobs and housing for veterans, national defence, and immigration. And there were additional obstacles. Although both the arts and library plans proposed centralized direction and coordination, the building of multi-functional community centres depended on local initiatives and preferences in hundreds of government settings. When Leaside, an independent suburban community in Toronto, decided to build a community centre shortly after the war, the need for sporting facilities, not a library, moved to the fore. As a result, a separate $100,000 library building opened on 8 March 1950 in Millwood Park (now Trace Manes Park), two years before the community centre, which required extensive fundraising beyond original expectations, began operation. The trend to form regional libraries developed slowly. By the early 1950s, there were only two dozen regional or county systems serving about 1,500,000 people in seven provinces, mostly in Ontario. In the realm of education, new schools required increased capital and operating tax levies that made library requests challenging to fulfill. At the national level, federal government enthusiasm for the building of a National Library was episodic. Library advocates began to focus on incremental program activities, not an expensive construction project.

Nevertheless, Library Service for Canada heightened awareness of the need for libraries, especially regional library development and national-provincial planning in a country that had scarcely equated libraries with this type of development before WWII. It presented a progressive vision, parts of which would persist and eventually change Canada’s library landscape for the better.

The ten members representing various Canadian jurisdictions who endorsed the CLC brief were:
Nora Bateson, Nova Scotia Regional Libraries Commission
Alexander Calhoun, Calgary Public Library
Elizabeth Dafoe, University of Manitoba Library
Léo-Paul Desrosiers, Montréal Public Library
Hélène Grenier, Bibliothèque des Instituteurs de la Commission des Ecoles Catholiques de Montréal
Gerhard R. Lomer, McGill University Library
John M. Lothian, University of Saskatchewan Library
Edgar S. Robinson, Vancouver Public Library
Charles R. Sanderson, Toronto Public Library
Margaret S. Gill, Chairman, National Research Council Library, Ottawa

Further reading:
Canadian and Newfoundland Education Association. Report of the Survey Committee Appointed to Ascertain the Chief Educational Needs in the Dominion of Canada (Ottawa: the Association, March 30th, 1943).
Canada. Parliament. House of Commons. Special Committee on Reconstruction and Re-establishment. Minutes and Proceedings of Evidence, vol. 1. Ottawa: King’s Printer, 1944.
Nora Bateson. Rural Canada Needs Libraries. Ottawa: Canadian Library Council, 1944. [Previously, a shorter version had appeared as an article: “Libraries for Today and Tomorrow,” Food for Thought 3, no. 5 (February 1943): 12–19.]
Elizabeth Dafoe. “A National Library,” Food for Thought 4, no. 8 (May 1944): 4–8.

Library Service for Canada was republished along with accompanying provincial briefs in 1945. This book, Canada Needs Libraries, was reviewed previously in 2017.

CANADIAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION CONSTITUTION, 1947

In June 1946, the Canadian Library Association was founded on the McMaster University campus in Hamilton, Ontario. There were about 300 persons in attendance. One of the first orders of business was the adoption of a draft constitution which had been circulated to groups across the nation. The members present agreed that the CLA would be a bilingual, national organization with annual conferences across Canada. However, the delegates balked at the draft proposal of having executives and governing councilors represent geographical considerations; instead, the members voted to have both the association's  Executive and Council elected by the membership based on personal merit.

Membership in CLA was envisioned to be general, it was to be an "umbrella model" library organization. There would be institutional members interested in the promotion of library service, librarians, trustees and those serving on governing boards of libraries, as well as associate members (persons interested in librarianship and libraries). Professional interests were represented in new active Sections, six by 1950: Children's, Young People's, Trustees, Cataloguing, Reference, and Research Libraries.

The CLA's constitution was incorporated under Canada's federal Companies Act on November 26, 1947. Of course, some constitutional provisions, such as the one on Sections (VII), would be revised a number of times in the next decade. This version was published in 1947 and reflects the ideas and agreement reached at the founding meeting of CLA.

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Canadian Library Association -- Association Canadienne des Bibliothèques

Constitution, 1947

Article I     -   Name
Article II    -   Object
Article III   -  Membership
Article IV   -  Officers and Executive Board
Article V    -  Council
Article VI   -  Committees
Article VII  -  Sections
Article VIII - Meetings
Article IX   -  By-laws
Article X    -  Amendments to the Constitution


Article I. Name
Sec. 1. The name of this body shall be the Canadian Library Association or Association Canadienne des Bibliothèques.

Article II. Object
Sec. 1. The object of the Association shall be:
(a) to promote education, science and culture within the nation through library service;
(b) to promote high standards of librarianship and the welfare of librarians;
(c) to co-operate with library associations both within and outside of Canada and with other organizations interested in the promotion of education, science and culture.
Sec. 2. The Association shall be a non-profit, non-sectarian, non-political body.

Article III. Membership
Sec. 1. Members. An individual, institution or other group approved by the Executive Board may become a member upon payment of the fees provided for in the by-laws. The membership of an individual or an institution may be suspended by two-thirds vote of the Combined Executive Board and Council; a suspended member may be reinstated by a two-thirds vote of the Board and Council in joint session.

Article IV. Officers and Executive Board
Sec 1.
(a) The officers of the Association shall be a President, a President-Elect, who shall serve as First Vice-President, a Second Vice-President, an Executive Secretary, and a Treasurer. These officers, with the exception of the Executive Secretary, shall be elected at each annual general meeting of the Association, and, with the immediate Past President, shall constitute the Executive Board.
(b) All library members shall be eligible for election to the Executive Board.
Sec. 2. Duties of Officers.
(a) The President, First Vice-President, Executive Secretary and Treasurer shall perform the duties relating to their respective offices.
(b) The President shall be an ex-officio member of all Committees of the Association.
(c) i. The President-Elect shall serve the first year after election as First Vice-President, the second year as President, the third year as ex-officio member of the Executive Board.
ii. The President-Elect shall, in accordance with the By-laws, designate to the Executive Board for appointment, the five members of the Nominating Committee.
(d)The President, the Executive Secretary and the Treasurer shall report annually to the membership.
Sec. 3. Duties of the Executive Board.
(a) The Executive Board shall administer the affairs of the Association during its term of office in accordance with the policies laid down by the Council.
(b) It shall review all membership applications as submitted, and be responsible for their approval.
(c) It shall review the annual estimates, and approve the annual budgets which shall be received by the Treasurer. All budgets shall be within the limit of the estimated income of the Association.
(d) It shall report promptly resolutions adopted by the Executive Board to the Councillors.
(e) It shall fix compensation of all paid officers and employees.
(f) It shall choose and appoint the Executive Secretary. This officer shall be appointed by the Executive Board at each annual Executive Board meeting.
(g) It shall designate the length of terms of appointments to Committees in accordance with the By-laws.
(h) The Executive Board shall authorize votes by mail when required.
(i) It shall fill all vacancies in office. The persons so elected shall serve until the end of the fiscal year.
Sec. 4. Term of Office.
(a) The officers and the Executive Board shall serve until the end of the fiscal year.
(b) i. No person shall serve on the Executive Board for more than three consecutive years.
ii. No person can be returned to the Executive Board after a term of three years, during the three years subsequent to the expiration of his term of office.

Article V. Council
Sec. 1. Membership. The Council shall consist of the following members to be known as Councillors:
(a) Nine members elected by the membership at large.
(b) The members of the Executive Board.
(c) Chairmen of Sections.
Sec. 2. Councillors. Members of the Council shall be Members of the Association in good standing.
Sec. 3. Duties.
(a)The Council shall be the Legislative body of the Association.
(b) It shall determine all policies of the Association and its decisions shall be binding upon the Association, its officers, and its constituted bodies.
(c) In the Council shall be vested all powers of the Association not otherwise provided for in the Constitution and By-laws.
(d) It shall inform the Executive Board of all new and revised policies.
(e) The Council shall review the action of officers, Committees and Executive Board of the Association.
(f) It shall promptly consider questions of professional and public interest referred to it by the membership Committees, or Executive Board, and promptly act upon reports and recommendations made by the Association and its constituted bodies.
(g) It shall report regularly to the Association at the annual meeting.
(h) It shall appoint Standing Committees in accordance with the By-laws.
(i)The members may. set aside any action of the Council by a three-fourths vote at any meeting of the Association or by a majority vote by mail in which one-fourth of the voting members of the Association have voted. Such vote by mail shall be held upon petition of fifty members of the Association.
Sec. 4. Terms of Office.
(a) Councillors chosen by the membership at large shall serve for a term of three years except as stated in the By-laws.
(b) No person shall serve on the Council for two consecutive terms.
(c) The Council year shall be the Fiscal Year.

Article VI. Committees
Sec. 1. Committees shall be appointed in accordance with the By-laws.
Sec. 2. All members of the Association are eligible for committee membership.
Sec. 3. The President shall be an ex-officio member of all Committees of the Association.
Sec. 4. Each Committee shall present an annual report to the Council.

Article VII. Sections
Sec. 1. Special interest sections of the Association may be constituted as provided for in the By-laws.

Article VIII. Meetings
Sec. 1. Meetings shall be held as provided for in the By-laws.

Article IX. By-laws
Sec. 1. By-laws and amendments to them may be proposed in writing by the Executive Board, by the Council, or by twenty voting members of the Association.
Sec. 2. They shall be received by the Executive Secretary and included in the agenda for the annual general meeting.
Sec. 3. They may be adopted by a majority vote of the members present and voting at an annual general meeting.
Sec. 4. Any By-law may be suspended by a three-fourths vote of those present and voting at an annual general meeting.

Article X. Amendments to the Constitution
Sec. 1. Amendments to the constitution may be proposed in writing by the Council, by the Executive Board, or by twenty voting members of the Association for consideration by a Constitution Committee at least two months before the annual general meeting.
Sec. 2. Report of the Constitution Committee shall be received by the Executive Secretary, included in the agenda for the annual general meeting, and mailed to the membership three weeks in advance of the meeting.
Sec. 3. Amendments may be adopted by a majority vote of the members present and voting at the annual general meeting.

Libraries in Canada: The Commission of Enquiry Creates a National Perspective on Libraries, 1930–1933

Libraries in Canada: A Study of Library Conditions and Needs by John Ridington, chair; Mary J. L. Black, and George H. Locke. Toronto: Ryerson Press; and Chicago: American Library Association, 1933. 153 p. index.

In the spring of 1933, thousands of printed copies of Canada's first national survey of libraries were delivered to the offices of newspaper and magazine editors; school and university officials; federal, provincial and municipal politicians; as well as librarians and trustees. It marked the culmination of three years of work by Carnegie-funded commissioners who had traversed Canada in 1930 at the outset of the Great Depression. Led by John Ridington, the chief librarian of the University of British Columbia, the Commission, which included George H. Locke (Toronto) and Mary J.L. Black (Ft. William), had sought to ascertain the state of Canadian libraries and made recommendations to improve conditions. The three commissioners were primarily interested in public libraries but also included chapters on government and universities and colleges.

How was the report received? What impact did Libraries in Canada have? A case can be made that it influenced library development for many years and was a landmark Canadian study that set a standard for library surveys, reports, briefs, and planning documents in the era before social science techniques and data gathering took hold in library and information science.

According to one American reviewer in The Library Quarterly, Ridington, Black, and Locke had produced a “human story” about library progress (or lack thereof) and aspirations for future growth that might inspire contemporaries to attain higher standards and to provide a blueprint for planning. A friend of Ridington, Edgar Robinson, noted that “tangible results,” in the form of Carnegie funding for a regional demonstration in Prince Edward Island, were already in evidence. Decades later, the Canadian librarian who has provided the most extensive study on the work of the Commission, Basil Stuart-Stubbs, described its report as a “vision document” that spoke to the community at large and realized its vision decades later--the establishment of a national library, regional libraries, improved library legislation, published standards, better funding. Even a national library association, which the commissioners advocated but felt impossible to establish in the Depression, would eventually be formed in 1946. None of the commissioners lived to see their ideas become conventional principles: Locke died in 1937, Mary Black in 1939, and Ridington in 1945.

Libraries in Canada (LIC) attracted some modest press and magazine attention in 1933. City newspapers naturally focused on local conditions, seldom mentioning national goals. A Saskatoon Star-Phoenix editorial on March 14^th indicated the lowly state of library service in many regions of Canada might come as a shock to those who were comfortable with present service levels. It noted the three basic improvements the Commission advocated: (1) the development of larger administrative units of service or cooperation between urban-rural libraries in regions; (2) the extension of services via branches, bookmobiles, etc; and (3) the need for professional management under provincial legislation. On March 25^th, the Toronto Globe lamented that the report offered up a general “discouraging picture” and editorialized that Canadians were “book hungry.” Most papers, such as the Montreal Gazette, highlighted comments about local conditions: it reported “Parish Libraries Plan Commended,” on March 15^th and followed with “[McGill] Library School is Doing Great Work,” on March 16^th. The April and May issues of the Canadian Bookman and Canadian Forum also commented briefly on the work of the surveyors for their readers.

While explicit “next steps” and tangible results were not immediately forthcoming, the Commissioners' ideas were sketched on a national canvas for the first time through provincial studies. At a time when the few provincial library associations that existed were small in membership, LIC prompted Canadian librarians and educators to rise above parochial thinking. After LIC suggested reduction of postal subsidies for book loans by mail, British Columbia and Ontario librarians reiterated this position in Briefs to the Dominion government's study on federal-provincial relations (the Rowell-Sirois Report) a few years later in 1938. A special postal “book rate” became reality in 1939 and still exists in a different form today. Although LIC admitted formation of a national association of librarians was not feasible during the Great Depression, new steps, led first by John Ridington, were undertaken to form a national body with support from A.L.A in 1934. Eventually, a national association came into being in 1946. After the Second World War, the concept of regional libraries, successfully demonstrated in B.C. and Prince Edward Island in the 1930s and frequently recommended by the commissioners as a remedy to small uncoordinated community libraries, took hold across the country. LIC strongly suggested the need for a national library service headed by a Dominion librarian who would take the lead in organizing all federal library collections. Eventually, in 1953, federal legislation established the basis of a national library and a new building opened in 1967.

LIC commended the work of the library schools at McGill and Toronto universities. The idea of "modern methods" in libraries necessitated well-trained staff:

So the modern public librarian came into being, with the present interpretation of library service, namely, that a library is not simply a building, nor is it a collection of books only; it is a public service, whereby the right book is brought to the right reader at the least cost, by a person who has been trained for the work.

Where such a trained librarian is in charge of a suitable collection of books, a community has the right to expect that at least a third of the population are regular borrowers, and that five books per capita are read annually. (p.9-10)

In time, by the late 1960s, the establishment of more library schools and library education along with the development of library standards was firmly implanted. To be sure, many improvements in public libraries, especially the need for better provincial legislation, can be traced to LIC, in part because the report was brought to the attention of decision-makers such as Quebec Premier, Louis-Alexandre Taschereau, and the Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King. While the Commission could be faulted for not doing more extensive work on university-college libraries and school libraries, few could argue that the $10,000 Carnegie grant was not well spent.

Further, Libraries in Canada pointed the way to conducting more published analysis on library problems, especially on a geographic basis. Previous studies, especially in British Columbia, had focused mostly on specific provincial concerns. Now a national study unveiled and legitimized ideas -- principles, even -- that could be developed on a broader basis. Studies in the later 1930s such as Nora Bateson's two works, Carnegie Library Demonstration in Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown, 1936) and Library Survey of Nova Scotia (Halifax, 1938); and Norma W. Bennett, Library Service in Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, 1937) benefited greatly from the inspiration of LIC. More than a decade on, another national study by the Canadian Library Council, Libraries in the Life of the Canadian Nation, published at Ottawa in 1946, revisited numerous ideas from the Commission of Enquiry. Many of the subsequent studies began to utilize data gathered on a biennial basis by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, a resource that LIC neglected. But, by this time, the influence of the initial efforts by Ridington, Black and Locke had taken hold. It was the power of words and ideas rather than explication of numbers and facts that prevailed.

The concluding chapter of Libraries in Canada is available at Libraries Today.

More reading:

Review by Edgar S. Robinson and Harold L. Leupp, Bulletin of the American Library Association 27, 4 (April 1933), 197–198

Review by Clarence B. Lester, Library Quarterly 4, 4 (Oct. 1934), 662–66

Basil Stuart-Stubbs, "1930: the Commissioners' Trail," Feliciter 47, 3 (2001), 140–41

Basil Stuart-Stubbs, "1933: The Commission Speaks," Feliciter 48, 3 (2002), 126–28

Basil Stuart-Stubbs, "1934: CLA Redux . . . Almost," Feliciter 49, 3 (2003), 161–64

The Morton Years by Elizabeth Hulse (1995)

THE MORTON YEARS: THE CANADIAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, 1946-1971.
By Elizabeth Hulse. Toronto: Ex Libris Association, 1995.

The genesis for this book dates to 1987 when the Ex Libris Association set out to honour the memory of Elizabeth Homer Morton (1903-77), the long-time executive director of the Canadian Library Association (CLA) and an important leader in Canada's twentieth-century library history. The Morton Years covers CLA's first quarter century and highlights Morton's contributions during her tenure of office (1944-68).
        Elizabeth Hulse, a bibliographer and historical writer, has aimed for a broad readership: persons interested in librarianship, libraries, and the conditions that promoted progress in these areas during the postwar era's rapid growth of educational services. The Morton Years is a concise, authoritative history which will be recognized as a standard reference for many years. Hulse has delved into the CLA manuscript sources at the National Archives and has recorded a number of oral histories with former CLA officers. Researchers will be rewarded by studying the footnotes despite the fact that CLA's archives are not complete and that the administrative nature of many documents (often recorded or edited by Morton) are often unrewarding in terms of personal details or controversy.
        A short introduction (1-12) provides a useful synopsis about the foundation of CLA in 1946. This account will likely undergo revision after a forthcoming publication (not available to the author) by William Buxton and Charles Acland on the Charles McCombs Report of 1941 appears. This new work will document the extent of American influence and financing for the educational goals that Canadian librarians actively pursued during the second world war and its immediate aftermath.
        The progress of many worthy CLA projects which Morton helped orchestrate between 1946-65 is traced in two chapters (13-52): the foundation of the National Library in Ottawa; the microfilming of historical newspapers; the development of the Canadian Periodical Index; successful publication ventures; the professionalization of librarianship; a CLA statement on intellectual freedom; and submissions to federal royal commissions to promote literacy, information services, women's rights, and bilingualism.
        Hulse then addresses the problems faced by CLA in the mid-1960s and subsequent changes (53-90). Initially, CLA's organizational structure reflected the small base of its membership, but, by the mid-1960s, there were 2,500 members and the executive group which Morton guided was sometimes criticized as "out of touch." Under the terms of the first constitution only "library" members employed by libraries or library school graduates were eligible for election to the executive, which was assisted by a few councillors and section chairs (e.g., cataloging) in a formal legislative body. By 1971, the expanded membership had decided to reorganize along the lines of a "type-of-library" model with the presidents of five divisions (e.g., school libraries) serving on the executive along with elected representatives from regional library organizations. In this revised formation, a larger executive and council was deemed to be more responsive and representative. In addition, membership provisions were extended to all persons interested in the general welfare of library services.
        In retrospect, it is clear that changes came about because CLA was not always effective in coping with professional issues or balancing diverse regional interests. This perspective is most evident in Hulse's description of the gradual withdrawal of Francophones into their own national organization in the mid-1960s (72-77). Effectively, by centennial year, CLA had become a unilingual national organization less attentive to professional concerns.
        A final chapter (91-104) focuses on CLA's search for a successor and Morton's retirement. Hulse addresses a number of sensitive questions about CLA's chronic financial problems, and the pressures its executive confronted by attempting to replace someone who had worn many organizational hats. Most participants convey the impression that they felt Morton could not really be replaced (her successor left after three years). Morton's qualities as an executive officer, her management style, character, and leadership abilities are recounted at this point by Hulse, who concludes with a very brief summary of CLA's accomplishments.
        Throughout the Morton Years, Hulse balances the demand to study the development of CLA and to personalize Morton's role as a catalyst and administrator. At certain critical points, such as the search for a successor, the sources are not complete enough to provide more satisfying explanations or historical narrative. By all accounts, Morton was a hard working, dedicated professional. Her career coincided with a labour market that offered a limited number of relatively low-paying professional career opportunities for women and with social conventions that dictated that they must resign their positions if they married. Morton did not directly challenge these barriers. Instead, she focused her energies on improving librarians' educational and occupational attainment through association activities on a national scale to redress gender workplace inequality, a typical response in the library community.
         Overall, Hulse has woven a reliable account of CLA's postwar growth and demonstrated the outstanding contribution one person can make to a national organization. Elizabeth Morton deservedly received a Centennial Medal and became a member of the Order of Canada in 1968.

Originally posted in September 1997