Canadian School Libraries and Books for Youth Forum at Winnipeg, 1949

Canadian School Library Development in Postwar Canada, 1945–50

Attention to school library work and better cooperation between public libraries and schools increased after the Second World War. While libraries in secondary schools were mostly satisfactory and there were a few outstanding ones, small classroom collections prevailed in elementary schools. For example, at a rural school in Brechin just outside Nanaimo, British Columbia, each classroom held a small library with books supplied by the Vancouver Island Union Library. Teachers frequently were in charge of these collections, although a few trained teacher-librarians supervised activities. Larger public libraries, such as Toronto and Vancouver, led the way in providing collections for schools to use and promoted their services in children’s libraries or special rooms for teenagers. In the case of Vancouver, elementary schools could borrow recreational books to augment their own collections from a central collection in the public library’s school department. Schools provided library rooms and teacher-librarians, while the public library, under the direction of Isabel McTavish, acquired, catalogued, and distributed the books.

Children reading in a classroom library
Brechin, British Columbia, c.1944

Although the war years had stalled school library development, after the formation of the Canadian Library Association (CLA) in 1946, services for children received more consideration. The Canadian Association of Children’s Librarians (established in 1939) became a constituent section of CLA with the ambitious goal of promoting reading on a national scale. The group established a Book of the Year Award in 1947 to highlight worthy Canadian authors or books published in Canada. Two years later, CLA launched Young Canada’s Book Week in November 1949 to encourage reading for young Canadians. In 1950, a CLA Youth Interest Group to address teenage readers became an official section of CLA.

Because it was commonplace for public libraries to supply schools with reading materials after the war, the idea of  ‘children’ or ‘youth’ was broadly construed. Elementary school children and younger teenagers were often considered collectively following the example of the American Library Association Division of Libraries for Children and Young People established in 1941 for schools, children, and public librarians. By 1940, the Ontario Library Association had already formed two separate official sections: a ‘children’s librarians’ group and a ‘school and intermediate libraries’ group for teachers and librarians engaged in high school work. These sections sometimes worked collaboratively and their members often attended sessions together at the OLA annual conference.

After the war, the CLA took the lead on the national stage. Many librarians felt the best way to discover what young people were reading was to make friends with them and listen carefully. Then, they could discuss books and find out what they thought about what they were reading. As part of the CLA 1949 annual meeting in Manitoba, a subsequent two-day forum of ideas was planned to discuss youth services in more detail. The focus was on current practices in school librarianship, not collections or facilities.

The Institute on School Library Work was held on June 24–25 at the Manitoba Legislature under the direction of Amelia Munson, New York Public Library. She was quite experienced in working with youth and an entertaining speaker. She taught at Columbia University on the reading interests of adolescents for almost two decades and inspired a generation of students, such as Louise Riley, who earned her MA in LS at Columbia in 1942 and made children’s work in the Calgary Public Library a model for other libraries in Alberta. Although Munson was nearing the end of her career, she became widely known for her handbook on young adult services, An Ample Field: Books and Young People, published in 1950 by the American Library Association.

The Institute on School Library Work, Winnipeg, June 1949

Cover for Books for Youth

The proceedings and discussions held in four sessions at the Manitoba Legislature were published as Books for Youth: Everyone’s Responsibility; School Library Institute Proceedings, June 24-25, 1949, Winnipeg, Manitoba by the CLA in 1949. Amelia Munson addressed her audience on the subject of the pleasures of reading and the responsibilities of librarians three times:

•  “Growth through Reading”
• “What Books? For Whom?”
• “Who, Me?”

The first general address at the beginning of the meeting revealed her extensive literary background with English and American authors from Shakespeare to Robert Frost. She felt that if a person actively read compelling, cultivated literature that spanned many issues and many periods of time, then the possibility of personal growth surely existed.

If without reservation, with all that is in us, we can associate ourselves with such high matters, with such great comparisons, how can we fail to grow—in understanding, in compassion, in integrity? And it is such a simple matter, really. But we need occasionally to have our attention drawn to it. “Men need in general,” says Dr. Johnson, “not so much to be informed as to be reminded.” That is what I have been trying to do tonight.

Hélène Grenier, the head of the Teachers’ Library for the Montreal Catholic School Commission, closed the opening session by reiterating the critical roles librarians and teachers played in the lives of youngsters. The Director’s address at the second general session the next morning dealt with the demanding challenge of mastering a diverse range of reading interests and readers’ abilities.

When I think of the voracious reading of adolescents, I do not have a picture of a mass of young people steadily and single-mindedly devouring a book, as an army of grasshoppers crunches its way through a wheat field. ... Not all of them are readers, of course, as we think of readers. Some are ‘reluctant’ and some are ‘rebellious,’ but I hesitate to call any of them non-readers. I should prefer to say they are all potential non-readers, unless we do something about it.

Personal and professional responsibility was her focus: “I believe one’s first duty is to be a real person—then, perhaps, a professional one.” She insisted that librarians were important intermediaries between the world of books and reading with students and young persons.

It is for us to see to it that the vital line of communication between the great spirits of the past and the eager, questing spirits of today remains unbroken, it is our function to brush aside the obstacles that confront contemporary readers and give them direct access to the mind and heart of the writer; and it is our obligation, an obligation that rests heavily upon us for we deal with materials “too dear for our possessing,” and yet an obligation that it is a delight to fulfil, to find some way of sharing that richness.

Small discussion groups were formed during this session. Then reports were made when the groups returned to a general assembly. One concern that merited special consideration was the ‘retarded’ reader, today an outdated term which would be replaced in subsequent decades by youngsters experiencing ‘reading disorders’ or ‘reading difficulty.’ Each individual required careful consideration, and by using attractive books or story-telling techniques, and by exploring personal interests, the child might begin to like reading. Discovering the interests of ‘rebellious’ readers was another challenge requiring individual attention. Finally, ‘resourceful’ readers who read widely and were capable of finding information on their own, could be guided to resources beyond the school library and encouraged to expand their reading interest. Finding a young person’s interests and building upon them was the key to a successful relationship with students.

Lyle Evans, the supervisor of school libraries for the Saskatchewan Department of Education, led the third session. She called upon all participants to outline how they organized their collections and how students could be helped to achieve better reading levels and enjoy reading. Teachers and librarians presented a variety of current methods: Story Telling  —  Book Talks   —  Student Helpers   —  Library Clubs   —  Work with Individuals  —  Classroom Libraries   —  Audio-Visual Aids   —  Radio Broadcasts in Schools  —  Picture Collections   —   Exhibits. In the subsequent discussion, films, plays, puppet shows, and collaboration with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation also came under consideration.

The final evening session featured presentations on responsibility in a school setting. Again, Amelia Munson offered inspiration about the merits of reading for young people:

For though changes—revolutionary changes—occur in thinking and in conduct, in science and philosophy, even in human nature, the needs and the satisfaction of the human spirit remains constant. ... There must always be heights for the aspiring spirit; whether they be in Nature, in Art, in Philosophy, in Religion is not of much concern.

Four speakers described their work at this session. Lyle Evans talked about the role of the teacher-librarian in the educational program in relation to the resources of libraries or classroom collections in schools. They might work as instructors but were managers with the difficult goal of developing a love of reading regardless of resource limitations. The role of school principals was also important as well for they chose the school library leaders, designated space(s) for collections, and provided funding within their budgets. District superintendents, such as Herbert McIntosh in Winnipeg, oversaw developments on a broader scale and liaised with educational officials across an entire province. He said schools were tax-supported institutions and the public “should know why a school needs a library and what it does with it.” In conclusion, the role of elected school board trustees was briefly touched on, and questions were raised about plans for development in the Winnipeg school system.

In the closing appreciation, all members were urged to participate in the forthcoming Young Canada’s Book Week/Semaine du livre pour la jeunesse canadienne, which would be held for the first time. Among the 106 registrants, there were influential leaders in children’s and school library work nationwide. Almost half the participants were from Manitoba, led by Eleanor Boyce, Manitoba Inspector of Schools, and Myrtle Lewis, Manitoba Department of Education Library. A few other prominent names in school library work included Alvine Bélisle (École Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Montreal), Louise Riley (Calgary Public Library), Margaret Fraser (Galt Collegiate Institute), Kathleen Dolan (Sir Adam Beck Collegiate in London), Isabel McTavish (Vancouver Public Library), and Elizabeth Mott (Baron Byng High School in Montreal).

At mid-century, school library work was taking place in ten separate provincial education systems summarized by a 1951 Canadian Education Association report: “The increasing attention which departments of education are giving to school libraries, in the provision of expert advice and recommendations, books, and funds, and the instruction in the use of the library which is being introduced into schools are indications of the recognition of the importance of the library to the school program.” It was an optimistic outlook, but at the start of the 1950s, school librarianship and teacher-librarians continued to be a minority voice in public library-oriented associations and departments of education across the country. During the following decade, library groupings devoted to youth services, children’s work, and school libraries divided librarians’ attention and educational officials, principals, and teachers struggled to cope with increasing enrollments. It would be ten years before CLA organized another successful two-day national conference on school librarianship held in Edmonton in 1959.

The Library Service in the Schools Workshop held in Edmonton in 1959 is the subject of my previous blog.

Canadian school library development at mid-century is subject of a previous post.

Two talks by Marshall McLuhan to Ontario librarians in the 1950s is a post at this link.

Canadian Mid-century School Libraries and Modern Education, 1945—1950

School Libraries in Canada before 1945

Although Canadian school libraries exhibited signs of progress during the 1930s, this work came to a halt for the most part at the outset of the Second World War. In the thirties, while British Columbia and Ontario schools continued the tradition of small classroom collections, promotion of recreational reading, and reliance to a great extent on public libraries for book stocks and branches in schools, there were indications of change. In Ontario, Margaret Fraser, an influential high school librarian at Galt (now Cambridge), outlined what she felt the mission of the school library should be in 1938: “The school library should be the centre of all school activities, working with the teachers and students of all grades and departments. Its work is varied and continuous, but the librarian has three main aims: ( 1) to encourage reading, (2) to assist the teacher, (3) to teach the student to help himself.” In British Columbia, a Manual for Small School Libraries was issued in 1940 that recommended the American Library Association standards of a trained teacher-librarian and separate classroom for elementary schools with more than 100 pupils and a teacher-librarian or full-time librarian for schools with more than 500 students.

 Interest in school libraries did continue during the wartime years, the subject of my earlier blog on Louise Riley and Jack Brown at this link. They explored school-public library cooperation and the need for greater provincial support from departments of education. Riley’s thesis in particular was an important study of school services in larger cities with more than 10,000 population in several provinces. She reported the typical state of affairs: “In Canada, classroom collections are provided by the public library or the school board or both to some elementary and junior high schools in thirty-one of the fifty cities included in this report.” As for centralized libraries: “There are some centralized school libraries in elementary and junior high schools in fifteen public school and three separate school systems.“ She concluded, “The school library movement is in its infancy in Canada.”

Towards the end of WW II, the Canadian Library Council issued Canada Needs Libraries; it included provincial statements on the needs for improved school services. Although the main focus was on public library development, school libraries, especially at the secondary level, received more attention in the Ontario and Saskatchewan briefs. With the formation of the Canadian Library Association (CLA) in 1946, a truly national voice came into being for library work with children, adolescents, and students. Within a year, a section of CLA was established that included librarians interested in work for children and youth. In November 1947, the Association's journal published several articles on school library work, with a leading article that pointed to new directions and a new philosophy of service related to educational trends in North America. The principal author was a former teacher, Lillian Lyle Evans (BA 1940, Saskatchewan, and BLS 1942, Toronto), newly appointed as supervisor of school libraries for Saskatchewan in 1946. After working briefly at Toronto Public Library in the Kipling Room, the section for adolescents, and a Florida school library during the war, she became a dynamic force in Canadian school librarianship and eventually Canadian School Libraries Association president in 1969 –70. She set forth a new compelling role for school libraries that was being cultivated in the United States in the CLA Bulletin published in November 1947.

To-day the school library is conceived as a functional unit of the school, that is as a workshop or laboratory where individuals and classes carry on desirable activities and have valuable experiences. The school library now makes possible investigation and research, curriculum enrichment, independent study and recreational reading. This new and broader concept is a direct outgrowth of recent social and educational changes.

Canadian School Library Progress after 1945

Lyle Evans was referring to the progressive child-centred concept of schooling championed by John Dewey which flourished from the 1920s to 1950s. The traditional, conservative approach in education for a long time was teacher-centred. There was an emphasis on oral instruction, reading and reciting facts from a few graded texts, taking notes, memorizing information by repetition, and studying individually or in classroom groups. Small book collections usually satisfied this concept. Progressivism meant fitting instruction to the different needs of each pupil; it meant curriculum revision and the eclipse of rote textbook learning; it meant new teaching methods focusing on real-world situations for pupil and group activities; and it meant a new emphasis on understanding social and civil affairs. For school library collections it meant supplying demands for wide reading and provision of varied reference sources. For library staffing it meant training in teaching and librarianship in order to guide or instruct pupils in selecting appropriate material to read and helping students clarify their thinking and reaching valid conclusions. In Lyle Evans' estimation, “the school library is an integral part of the educative process, and its objectives are actually identical with those of any modern educational program.” At mid-century, progressive education was considered to be ‘modern’ and infused ideas and methods in the United States and Canada despite critics who preferred standardized testing and high standards, such as Hilda Neatby, who published So Little For the Mind in 1953.

    The November 1947 pages of the CLA Bulletin featured prominent contemporary figures in school librarianship. Margaret E. Reid, an Ontario College of Education and Queen's University graduate, wrote on student library usage in St. Catharines. She outlined the usual types of student use: classes with a period of library science (normally grades nine and ten), classes brought to the library by teachers, and individual pupils from all grades. She believed student use of libraries could lay the foundation for a varied adulthood. The chief librarian at Trois Rivières, Claire Godbout, described how the newly established public library provided a school service for young students at six school deposits tended to on a weekly basis by visiting staff. Joseph A. Brunet, the director of school libraries for the Montreal Commission of Catholic Schools, was optimistic about progress in Quebec, especially in Montreal where books were selected, classified, and cataloged at the head office by a professional staff. Rural schools in Quebec were supplied with grants and small deposits of books for classrooms. He believed the idea of the school library was taking shape and gaining ground each year. Mary Silverthorn, a University of Toronto Library School professor, provided an extensive list of book selection aids. She noted there was reliance on American sources and that “school library work in Canada is hampered by the lack of catalogues and book lists designed for Canadian use.” Dorothy Cullen, the director of the Prince Edward Island Libraries regional system, reported on the various ways its branches and headquarters supplied library service to all the island schools with deposits and books-by-mail. There was also a collection of professional literature for teachers at the regional  headquarters in Charlottetown.

    Summaries of provincial school library developments were also provided. In British Columbia, the Department of Education offered library training in summer school courses for teachers. These teacher-librarians held library positions in graded elementary schools and some junior high schools; however, in high schools only teachers who were also fully qualified librarians were appointed to full-time library positions. The Manitoba Department of Education administered book grants and selection guides: “For the year 1946 books were selected for 1,557 one-room schools and 103 two-room schools, and orders checked for 224 graded schools, thus providing libraries for 2,790 teachers. For these schools 3,798 magazine subscriptions were placed.” A professional library for Winnipeg teachers was located in the reading room of the departmental library, but it was noted that professional training had not kept pace with book distributions. Lyle Evans reviewed her new duties in Saskatchewan and pointed to the successful initiative in a Cupar school district northeast of Regina to establish a core collection of texts, supplementary texts, and reference books for each rural school. A central pooled collection was started in the school unit main office staffed by a teacher acting as teacher-librarian. She felt, “The experiment has been so successful and attracted so much interest that many other units and [school] superintendents have been asking for guidance in organizing school library services in their areas.” Her work justified her enthusiasm about modernization that

The school library, then, provides material to enrich the school curriculum, develops in pupils good attitudes and habits of study, and promotes a lifelong interest in reading for information, recreation and mental stimulation. That is, the school library is an integral part of the educative process, and its objectives are actually identical with those of any modern educational program.

Despite this inspirational rhetoric, school libraries faced a difficult task implementing better conditions. When the Canadian Education Association surveyed school libraries on a province-by-province basis in 1951, it remarked on the general under developed state of affairs:

It will be noted that proportionately few elementary schools have separate libraries; classroom collections for lending and reference are more common. Libraries are found somewhat more frequently in secondary schools, but there too the classroom collection persists. The library collection as a separate and well equipped unit administered by a qualified person as an essential school service, just as gymnasium or cafeteria, has not been developed on an all-inclusive scale.

    Canadian school librarians were not early advocates in supporting progressive ‘modern’ education philosophy. But after 1945, the provision of resources for critical thinking, experimental learning, developing social skills and other worthy features of progressive education came to the fore. Mary Mustard, a prominent school librarian from Brantford, Ontario, declared that a main goal of school library service was “to develop character through desirable book habits” thereby escaping the dull textbook routines of the past. At the CLA School Library Institute held in Winnipeg in June 1949, participants were excited to hear Amelia Munson, an experienced American youth services exponent from New York Library, speak to the issue of ‘Growth Through Reading,’ which offered students opportunities to experience develop personally through the medium of books. In the following year, 1950, a Young People’s Section of CLA was formed, distinct from Children’s Librarians. The new section included public and school library work for teens, and in August 1953 it organized a successful thematic session in Ottawa during CLA’s annual meeting—‘Effective School Library Service.’ Participants learned the effectiveness of any school library was determined by four factors: library accommodation, an adequate collection, a trained librarian, and an appropriate program of activities. Subsequently, in June 1958, the section sponsored a Workshop on Education of School Librarians at Quebec City where Lyle Evans reported on the current state of affairs for teacher-librarian training: “Six provinces regularly offer courses, two offer courses occasionally, and two do not offer any courses.” The workshop registrants concluded national standards were needed to improve training for school library staffing, a task that would take several more years to complete.

    From the outset of the decade and throughout the 1950s, the varied administrative arrangements and finances for schools determined by Canadian departments of education and school boards absorbed the attention of librarians, teachers, and administrators. There were thousands of school boards across the country and the progressive nature of reforms varied a great deal. Traditional pedagogic methods and the 3 R’s were still important. Library proponents were grappling with the organization, staffing, facilities, and collections of school libraries in large bureaucratic provincial structures that were steadily reducing the number of school districts. Although improvements in services would continue to be gradual during the postwar period, nonetheless, after 1950 a national consensus was developing to support better libraries in schools, for formal education programs, and services based on child-centred learning. Many of these issues would be the result in a successful two-day national conference on school librarianship held in Edmonton in 1959 discussed in my previous blog. After 1960, advances in school librarianship would accelerate even as the influence of progressive education itself would begin to face challenges from conservative educators, competing philosophies of education, new media, and rapid technological change.

References

My blog on the School Library Institute held in Winnipeg in June 1949 is at this link.

Margaret Fraser, “High School Libraries in Ontario.” The School [Secondary Ed.]; A Magazine Devoted to Elementary and Secondary Education 27 (Oct. 1938): 148–151.

British Columbia Public Library Commission. Manual for Small School Libraries. Victoria: The Commission, 1940.

My blog on Canada Needs Libraries is at this link. 

Lyle Evans, “The School Library in Modern Education.” Canadian Library Association Bulletin 3  (Nov. 1947): 29–30.

Mary Mustard,  “Freedom from Textbooks.” Canadian Library Association Bulletin 6 (Sept. 1949): 35, 87.

Canadian School Libraries and Librarianship National Meeting (1959)

Proceedings of the Library Service in the Schools Workshop, University of Alberta, Edmonton, June 26–27, 1959. Ottawa: Canadian Library Association/Association Canadienne des Bibliothèques, September 1959. 59 p.

Canadian School Libraries before 1950

Although there were hundreds of Canadian school libraries by the mid-19th century, these were primarily small, informal classroom collections managed by busy one-room teachers. As they developed in the first decades of the 20th century, larger elementary school libraries remained underfunded and relied on access to small classroom collections. Students often used children’s services supplied by public libraries (notably Toronto Public Library) or bookmobile services from regional or county libraries, a system patterned on British practice which offered the advantage of recreational reading. Separate centralized libraries in schools, distinct from public libraries, began to appear first in the secondary school sector, a model influenced by American experience that emphasized direct connections with school authorities and formal educational programs. In the 1930s, the efforts of energetic librarians, such as Joseph A. Brunet, the director of school libraries for the Montreal Catholic School Commission, Arthur Slyfield (Oshawa), Margaret Fraser (Galt, now Cambridge), Mary Mustard (Brantford), and Isabel McTavish (Vancouver), began to spur development by advocating better facilities and collections, encouraging student use of libraries, initiating regional surveys, and publishing handbooks for students,

In the immediate postwar period following 1945, there was more government emphasis on improving services with the appointment of supervisors in departments of education: prominent librarians such as Lillian Evelyn (Lyle) Evans in Saskatchewan in 1946 and Hélène Grenier in the Montreal Catholic School Commission in 1952. During this period, the Young People’s Section of the Canadian Library Association (CLA) addressed many problems related to school libraries after its formation in 1950; nonetheless, progress seemed to unfold at a snail’s pace. When the Canadian Education Association surveyed the nation‘s school libraries in 1951, it revealed their underdeveloped state; for example, in Nova Scotia, “most of the schools in the province have book collections, but more than half of the 554,187 volumes in individual schools are felt by the Department [of Education] to be of little value.” Several years later, in 1958, when the Dominion Bureau of Statistics published a major survey of elementary and secondary schools in communities of 10,000 and over, it received responses from 200 school boards in 123 centres representing 2,951 schools. The survey revealed that only 1,058 schools (about a third), with a total pupil enrollment of 668,680, operated centralized libraries. Total stock amounted to 2,898,780 volumes or 4.5 volumes per pupil. Fully trained staff, with teacher training and library training to a degree level, was concentrated in intermediate or junior high schools and secondary schools, where 129 professionals supervised 270 libraries.

Canadian Library Association Meeting on School Libraries in 1959

To spur activity, CLA initiated action to plan a national workshop on schools to bring together leaders from seven national associations: the Canadian Association of School Inspectors & Superintendents, Canadian Book Publishers Association, Canadian Education Association, Canadian Home and School and Parent-Teacher Federation, Canadian School Trustees Association, and the Canadian Teachers Federation. CLA aimed to prompt discussion on problems of mutual interest and to allow participants to become acquainted personally. It was hoped that specific ideas arising from this first national workshop would encourage the sponsoring organizations to hold future sessions on specific subjects. The two-day workshop was held at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, in June 1959. The 195 registered delegates included school superintendents, principals, school board and public library board trustees, and public and school librarians. Formal presentations and separate discussion groups dealt with different topics. In general, the entire workshop was themed around providing resources, training librarians to provide services, and how services could best be organized.

Nancy Day, the Supervisor of Library Services in the South Carolina State Department of Education and former President of the American Association of School Libraries in 1954–55, addressed a general session on Friday morning with her topic, “The Place of School Library Service in Education.” She emphasized the importance of recognizing the library as part of the curriculum where learning and learning skills occur. Librarians should select materials, provide reading guidance, and encourage the use of the collection. It is imperative to have someone who knew the collection, the curriculum, and how to work with both children and teachers. Several freewheeling discussions on various issues took place in Friday afternoon breakout groups. There was a sharp division of opinion between school superintendents and librarians about how best to develop libraries initially. The former believed there was a more urgent need to get more books into the schools, their view being expressed as ‘books before librarians.’ The public library’s role in providing student resources also came under scrutiny. Many delegates felt the responsibility for libraries in schools should come under a Department of Education. Public library activities should encourage school libraries but not directly provide the services, even though some school officials tended to expect such assistance. There was a shift in thinking towards supporting the need for education officials to direct and fund libraries distinct from public libraries. Although cooperation was stressed, there was skepticism that public and school libraries could be combined successfully. There was general agreement that a certified teacher with some professional library training would be the ideal staff for a school library; but for larger schools, a professional librarian with a BEd could best work with teachers. Generally, delegates favoured the centralized library, a dedicated space available to all students which could also supply and refresh classroom collections and support provincial curricula.

On Saturday, Dr. Marion Jenkinson of the University of Alberta Faculty of Education gave an excellent summary of four topics that every group wrestled with. First, the approach librarians utilized to student reading was essential: the librarian viewed children individually, not as part of a classroom pattern. Second, improvements in teacher training were necessary. Thirdly, although there was an air of prestige bestowed on reading, often readers were derided as ‘eggheads’ or ‘squares.’ The Alberta professor declared, “We have to turn the TV image into the feeling that the reader is the ‘best sort of guy to be.’” Fourth, the issue of teacher training was paramount:

Teacher training is not adequate. Elementary teachers frequently receive only seven months training. Here librarians can help in advising in the training. Librarianship is a graduate profession; in the elementary schools there is need for a graduate teaching profession. In a graduate programme for teachers, there should be courses in children's literature. (p. 51)

Dr. Jenkinson stated that teachers, interested groups, and parents should work cooperatively with librarians and education officials in their local communities. She concluded by stressing the need to clarify important issues. There should be more concise definitions about school library work: (1) identify the function of the teacher-librarian as opposed to the children’s librarian; (2) clarify the purposes of different branches of library services; (3) articulate the basis for the selection of books; and (4) establish priorities in school library service. At the end of the workshop, delegates adopted two resolutions: they requested the Dominion Bureau of Statistics (DBS) to conduct a representative survey of libraries in publicly operated schools, and they asked for the Wilson Education Index to include the periodical, The Reading Teacher, in its indexing service.

It is difficult to assess the impact of the 1959 national workshop, but there is no doubt that the pace of school library progress quickened in the 1960s when provincial governments reduced the number of school districts and strengthened financial revenues. The DBS began surveying school libraries on an annual basis and by 1964, the Bureau reported that there were 2,595 centralized libraries staffed by 263 full-time professional school librarians. When Leonard Freiser was hired as chief librarian by the Toronto Board of Education in 1960, he began developing a centralized education center to provide resources for teachers and students in separate libraries in schools independent from Toronto Public Library. In Quebec, Alvine Bélisle became the provincial director of school libraries within the Department of Public Instruction in 1961. During 1961 the Canadian School Library Association (CSLA) was formed as a separate CLA division. The Association soon began publishing a lively quarterly newsletter, the Moccasin Telegraph. It also launched a national award in partnership with Encyclopaedia Britannica for elementary school libraries in 1967. School librarians also organized a Workshop on School Library Standards at the annual CLA conference held in Toronto in June 1965. Two years later, in 1967, Standards of Library Service for Canadian Schools was published. However, by the early 1970s, it was evident that in terms of facilities, personnel, and collections, school libraries for the most part did not meet the 1967 standards.

The meeting in Edmonton also allowed school librarians to network and develop professionally. Laurence Wiedrick, a teacher-librarian at Eastglen Composite High School in Edmonton, began teaching library studies at the University of Alberta in 1964. Another attendee, John Wright, librarian at the Aden Bowman Collegiate in Saskatoon, was appointed Supervisor of School Libraries for the Saskatchewan Department of Education in 1963 and later became president of CSLA in 1967. His colleague, Lyle Evans, followed him as CSLA president in 1969. Many other teachers, librarians, and administrators returned home to continue improving reading, teaching, and learning in elementary and secondary schools. A national consciousness and community of interest had been created on an inter-provincial scale. The delineation of fundamental issues was an essential ingredient in fostering progress in the subsequent decade. The recognition of the need for better-quality, modernized school libraries was an important (and lasting) outcome of the workshop.

My blog on school library development shortly after WW II is at this link.

The Canadian Library Association is Formed, June 1946

Canadian Librarians Organize in 1945

When the Second World War ended in summer 1945, the long-awaited time for creating a national organization for Canadian librarians, trustees, staff, and anyone interested in libraries had arrived. For almost four years, the Canadian Library Council (CLC), headed first by Charles Sanderson, Toronto Public Library, and then by Margaret Gill, National Research Library, had been planning for the establishment of a national association on a membership basis. There was general agreement that a country-wide association to promote library interests and a national library to provide services that were not currently available to Canadians were both essential. Earlier in the year, in April, the Council had set up specific committees to prepare concrete proposals concerning an organizational meeting and a constitution to be adopted by provincial library associations during summer and autumn 1945. Another  measure, a national survey of libraries to ascertain existing conditions and future library needs was also brought forward for action.

Afterwards, Elizabeth Homer Morton, the CLC executive director working from the National Research Library, crisscrossed the country to seven provinces to discuss matters, such as the national association, inter-library cooperation, and the proposed library survey. By the end of 1945, all seven provincial associations had approved the main CLC resolution. General sentiment favoured an association based on personal membership open to anyone interested in libraries. Because the American Library Association was due to convene in Buffalo in late June 1946, Canadian organizers decided that their meeting should be in proximity to allow for attendance at both conferences. The CLC formed an activities committee under the direction of Freda F. Waldon, Hamilton Public Library, to determine the scope of the proposed organization. Her colleague, Marget Meikelham at McMaster University, began arrangements to host the first meeting on her campus. Thus, the stage was set for an initial founding conference in Hamilton from Friday, June 14th, to Sunday, June 16th, 1946.

The theme selected for the organizational conference was Libraries in the Life of a Nation. The advance program featured two keynote addresses on national issues: the Liberal cabinet minister, Secretary of State Paul Martin, speaking on National Unity and Citizenship and Dr. Luther Evans, Librarian of Congress, speaking on The National Library in the Life of the Nation. As well, several workshop meetings with consultants; private meetings of individuals with mutual interests; a meeting of the new Executive; an assembly vote to create CLA; and the setting up of national committees were also features. Then, some members would be free to travel to Buffalo to attend ALA.

Convocation Hall in McMaster University Hall

Canadian Librarians Meet in Hamilton, June 1946

The CLC met in Hamilton on June 12–13 at the Royal Connaught Hotel on King Street to review the activities of 1945/46 and make final preparations for the conference. Then, Margaret Gill opened the conference for delegates on Friday morning in Convocation Hall. “I hope that you all feel as I do, that this is really a very thrilling occasion. The older librarians will know that this is the culmination of a great many years of effort to give Canada a national library association. There have been various attempts in the past, and they have not succeeded in getting beyond the very first stage of good intentions. Today and tomorrow we are going to see something more effective. Both the weather and the reception we have had at McMaster indicate that we are well on the way to a good start.” Gerhard Lomer (McGill University) followed with a speech on the background of events leading up to the proposed national organization. Then, a panel discussion on the Canadian library scene was held to inform members about the state of libraries nationwide.

The Friday afternoon session was given over to concerns about the proposed CLA constitution, financial affairs, and proposed CLA activities. Delegates made an important addition to the draft constitution by insisting that its title be bilingual before leaving for a tour of the Hamilton Public Library. Later in the evening, two speakers addressed delegates. C. Cecil Lingard, chief librarian at Regina, spoke about the role of UNESCO and its potential for change. Canada was a founding member of UNESCO, which came into being later in 1946. Paul Martin, the federal MP representing Windsor and Secretary of State for Canada in the Liberal Cabinet, emphasized the political and cultural importance of national institutions. Because Canada exhibited many different ethnic origins and regional disparities, “it is not surprising that in this country, despite our pride in our heritage, we find ourselves less unified than many of us would like.” He fully supported the work of librarians and the need for a national organization. “Your organization can assume an important role in developing a sense of Canadian unity. Through your work in the community you can bring knowledge of other communities. You can help explain to one part of Canada what other parts of Canada are like. You can contribute to the basic understanding that our fellow citizens, wherever they live, are much the same. They have the same objectives, they want the same guarantees and the same securities.”

Librarians resumed discussion on the constitution on Saturday morning before the announcement of the slate of officers for 1946/47.

President: Freda Waldon, Hamilton
First Vice-President:  W. K. Lamb, University of British Columbia
Second Vice-President:  Joseph Brunet, Montreal Catholic School Commission
Treasurer:  Hugh Gourlay, Edmonton
The current members of the CLC were elected councillors for one year pending the election of 1947.

The Saturday afternoon was given over to eight workshops on particular interests: (1) work with film collections, (2) library building design highlighting the London Public Library opened in 1941, (3) effective organization of library services, especially along regional lines, (4) Canadian reference tools, (5) cataloguing for the nation highlighted by a talk by Rev. Robert J. Scollard, St. Michael’s College, Toronto, who stressed the need for a National Library to take the lead in classifying, bibliographic control, and cataloguing for all Canada, (6) the possibility of library services from community centres, and (7) young person’s interests. Another session, held by the Canadian Association of Children’s Libraries, formed in 1939, decided to ask the CLA executive to establish their group as a distinct section of the new association. Sheila Egoff made a presentation on radio programming for children, and Jean Thompson, Toronto Public Library, was elected chair of this group for 1946/47.

For the evening session, Dr. Luther Evans described the evolution of the Library of Congress, touching upon one of its main responsibilities: “the complex of problems connected with mastering the devices to make these constantly increasing books and documents, sound recordings and motion pictures, newspapers and manuscripts, accessible to scholars and general readers.” Regarding the collections, he alluded to the need for work on a national basis, “co-operation that must inevitably be spearheaded by a leading agency such as a national library.” Loud applause erupted at the end of his speech and Dr. Evans told the audience that if they did not stop clapping, he would give another speech. The evening session concluded with the showing of three library films and discussions about the possibility of using films for public relations programs.

The general conference closed on Saturday night with an address by CLA’s first president, Freda Waldon. She kept her remarks short. “I just want to say that I am very conscious of the honour you have done me and very apprehensive of the responsibility that goes with it. I can only say that I will do my best, and I hope that I shall not let you down after the splendid leadership you have had from Miss Gill.” She finished by saying, “I feel that this conference is a challenge to us and an historic occasion and I do hope that we shall be able to make it go. We have just got to make it go.”

By all accounts, CLA-ACB was off to a successful start. The transition from the Canadian Library Council to the new association was a testament to the leadership, vision, and hard work of a dedicated few, such as Elizabeth Homer Morton, who had moved to Ottawa from Toronto to become secretary.  National goals were being developed and a small (300) membership base slowly expanded. The new executive and CLC councillors departed for ALA in Buffalo on Monday morning where they would meet again. Americans were hopeful that a national organization could be formed and traditional ties with Canadian members would be maintained. The CLC would continue in existence until the new association was incorporated. This eventually took place in December 1947 when W.K. Lamb was CLA president.

During its first CLA executive-council session in October 1946, a dinner meeting was held in Toronto with representatives from learned societies and national organizations. Of course, the principal topics were plans for a national library and a joint brief to the federal government. Shortly afterwards, a brief, A National Library for Canada; A Brief Presented to the Government of Canada, was prepared under the sponsorship of the Canadian Library Association, the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Historical Association, the Canadian Political Science Association and the Social Science Research Council of Canada. It emphasized services rather than a new building housing an extensive collection. It is the subject of my earlier blog published in 2021. 

Although it was not officially incorporated, the new association had immediately assumed all the activities of the older CLC and its executive office in Ottawa. Its primary pursuit after 1947 was a national library, and for this reason CLA-ACB repeated its ideas again in another brief in 1949, The National Library of Canada, Its Eventual Character and Scope that I discussed in an earlier blog. Although it took several years, in 1952 the National Library Act was passed by the Canadian Parliament, becoming law in January 1953.

A biography of Freda Waldon is available on the Ex Libris Association website.

A biography of Margaret Gill is available on the Ex Libris Association website.

The Morton Years: The Canadian Library Association, 1946–1971 can be read free at the Internet Archive by creating an account.

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 2023

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 1966

Canadian Libraries and Intellectual Freedom

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 held at Calgary on June 21, 1966.

 * * * * * * * * 

The Canadian Library Association Statement on Intellectual Freedom, 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. One interesting CLA point on facilitating access to library spaces and services (#2) did not seem to be contentious until the late 1970s when libraries in Mississauga and Oakville decided to screen the film, The Naked Civil Servant. 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.

A National Library by Elizabeth Dafoe (1944)

A National Library by Elizabeth Dafoe. [Toronto:] Canadian Adult Education Association, 1944. 5 p. [offprint from Food for Thought, v.4, no. 8, May, 1944]

After introducing her topic with a summary of major publications and earlier efforts to advocate for the establishment of a national library in Ottawa—all of which had come to nought—Elizabeth Dafoe, chief librarian at the University of Manitoba, posed the question:

Is the apathy of the public in this regard due to ignorance of the real nature of a national library, the confusion of its functions with those of a parliamentary library, lack of pride in Canada's history and cultural growth, or a general indifference to libraries and library service?

Elizabeth Dafoe, n.d.

Then, she proceeded to develop a cogent statement in a strong and well-argued manner on the need and functions of a national library that would constitute an important part of a postwar plan for library development in Canada. Her report would form part of a later brief to Ottawa by the Canadian Library Association and other national organizations. At the federal level, there was support for a National Library by politicians such as Paul Martin, Sr., a prominent progressive Liberal MP from the Windsor area, and a few other Members as well.

Elizabeth Dafoe and the Need for a National Library 1944  

 Dafoe’s appeal for a national library expressed her concern that libraries should be an integral part of the country’s postwar fabric. They were institutions that could preserve and make available the historical record of many ideas, events, and personages giving Canadians a national identity. Indifference, apathy, or ignorance of Canada’s past or its potential future were failings that could be surmounted if library advocates developed a concerted campaign. Dafoe admitted that library service in Canada was “disjointed and unorganized compared to such service in Great Britain.” In particular, there was no single agency responsible for preserving printed records of the country as a whole or coordinating an effort to assemble these records. But there were solutions at hand. One crucial element in a Dominion-wide plan was the establishment of a national library in Ottawa.

    Dafoe outlined some essential features such as service that would reappear in the years ahead. These ideas were not original, yet her timing when governments were assuming a greater role in society was favourable. Her primary aims for a national library were as follows:
• the primary goal is the collection of all books and pamphlets published in the country or relating to it. This activity would involve the legal deposit right to receive free copies of each book printed or copyrighted in Canada. As well, the acquisition of older or rare books and other publications relating to Canada which were published beyond its borders was an important consideration.
• the national library would be responsible for making its collection available to scholars and students of the country. This would not involve lending the latest works of fiction, but rather important works for serious study and investigation. To achieve this goal, the library would require “proper housing of the collection, adequate recording and administration of it, sufficient space for readers, and a safe and efficient system of delivery to students who are unable to visit the library in person and who cannot obtain the required publications from a library in their vicinity.”
• the creation and maintenance of a national union catalogue of holdings by major libraries. Catalogue listings/locations would be the key to sharing books in the various Ottawa governmental libraries and identifying rare, valuable books across the country. The catalogue would form a reliable system of inter-library loans and greatly assist research.
• the establishment of a photo-duplication section where “photostatic, enlarged photo-print, or microfilm copies of books or articles could be made on request and issued at cost.” As well, assistance in selecting, purchasing, and allocating materials would eliminate duplication in collection building.

    In looking at the actual mechanics of building a national collection, Dafoe turned to the Parliamentary Library, which served Canada’s members of Parliament as a legislative reference library. Its chief, Félix Desrochers, had estimated that about 350,000 books could be moved to form the nucleus of a genuine national library. Cooperation with the Public Archives was also essential. She foresaw the future in a cooperative, networking environment with Ottawa’s national institutions providing leadership for the provinces and major libraries across the country. Dafoe’s plea was not a new vision but one that was argued in a compelling way at a crucial time. Her ideas would reappear in a few years when the Canadian Library Association and four learned societies presented the federal government with a brief, A National Library for Canada, in December 1946.

    In her concluding remarks, Dafoe posted another question: “Is it too much to hope that in time we shall see in Canada a chain of libraries: provincial, regional, and municipal; public, business, university and college; and at the centre, practically and spiritually if not geographically, a great National Library?” The next quarter-century would see positive steps in Canadian library development; but Elizabeth Dafoe died in 1960 before a building housing the national archives and library opened its doors on Wellington Street, a few blocks from Parliament Hill.

Read my biography about Elizabeth Dafoe at this blog site.

Library Service for Canada 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.

Library Service for Canada Statement 1944

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, 1945

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 in my previous blog in 2017.