Canadian Library History Blog

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, the vast majority were primarily small, informal classroom collections managed by busy one-room teachers in rural areas. As they developed in the first decades of the 20th century, larger elementary school libraries remained underfunded and continued to rely 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...

Resources of Canadian University Libraries for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences: Report of a Survey for the National Conference of Canadian Universities and Colleges , by Edwin E. Williams. Ottawa: National Conference of Canadian Universities and Colleges, November 1962. 87 p. Resources of Canadian Academic and Research Libraries/Ressources des Bibliothèques d’Université et de Recherche au Canada by Robert B. Downs. Ottawa: Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, 1967. 301 p. By the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s, the number of full-time undergraduate and graduate university students across Canada was increasing dramatically, and provincial governments were granting new charters to several universities, such as Victoria, Calgary, Waterloo, York, Guelph, Brock, and Carleton. Additional funding for faculty, teaching staff, and buildings came from federal and provincial governments to accommodate this growth. Consequently, the expansion of libra...

A New History of the English Public Library: Intellectual and Social Contexts, 1850–1914 by Alistair Black. London: Leicester University Press, 1996. 353 p. This blog is a condensed version of my review that appeared originally as “In review: the new history for public libraries,” Epilogue; Canadian Bulletin for the History of Books, Libraries, and Archives 11, 2 (1996): 27–35 published by Dalhousie University. ------------------------------------------------- Alistair Black recently published an important book on public library history in England. His timing is apt because it appears when speculation and pessimism about the prospect for library history exists. To distinguish his new history, Black has used a theoretical perspective and model for public library development in the Victorian-Edwardian period and presented his ideas using a non-narrative historical mode. As well, this New History explores the dimensions of the two library histories: history-as-event (the actual past) an...

Canadian Librarians Organize in 1945 When the Second World War ended in 1945, with V-E Day in May and V-J Day in August, the long-awaited time to create 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 not currently available to Canadians were both essential. Earlier in the year, in April, the Council had established specific committees to prepare concrete proposals for an organizational meeting and a constitution to be adopted by provincial library associations during summer and autumn 1945. Another measure, a national survey of librar...

For many years, Anne Hume was a dynamic force in Canadian librarianship. From 1936–57, she was the Chief Librarian of Windsor, Ontario, a city that grew to more than 120,000 population during her tenure. During this time, Ann Hume grew with the city: she was a founding member of the Windsor Art Association and the Education Council, a co-organizer of the Institute of Community Leadership, a charter member of the Nutrition Council, a charter member and director of Windsor and District Film Council, a charter member and later the President of the University Women’s Club, a charter member of the Zonta Club, and President of the Music, Literature and Art Club. She was on the executive of the Windsor Council of Women and on the Community Welfare Council, a member of Assumption University of Windsor Senate, a member of the Adult Education Commission, and served on the board of the YWCA. On a professional basis, she was President of the Ontario Library Association (1940–41) and President of t...

War Devastated Libraries in Europe in 1945 In the summer of 1945, in the aftermath of war, many European communities lay in ruins. Millions of people had died, a mass displacement of persons and families had occurred, and food shortages were commonplace. Amid this disastrous situation, the daunting task of rebuilding and restocking many demolished libraries was no less serious. For example, an estimated 15,000,000 library items had been destroyed in Poland, especially in Warsaw. However, even before the war ended, there were plans to restore libraries, notably the American Library Association’s project to create an American Book Center for War Devastated Libraries to operate from the Library of Congress. From 1945–47, the ALA Center collected, documented, and shipped more than 3,500,000 books overseas to over 40 countries. Another international organization, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), founded in 1945, undertook to launch a number of ...

Jessie Robson (Mrs. Austin) Bothwell and the Saskatchewan Library Advisory Council, The Problem of Controlling the Reading of Undesirable Periodical Literature . Regina: Saskatchewan Library Advisory Council, 1946. [A Brief presented to Saskatchewan Library Advisory Council on November 25, 1946; reprinted in the Ontario Library Review 31, no. 2 (May 1947): 125–136] By 1950 romance comics were very popular with teenage girls Undesirable Publications in Canada In the immediate years following WW II, the mass production and distribution of cheap publications, such as comics, pocketbooks, magazines, and tabloids, quickly became a new phenomenon facing Canadians. At the same time, the issue of adolescent development, youth culture, and juvenile delinquency came to the fore. The rapid spread of youthful preferences in fashion, popular music, sports, vocabulary, dating, and reading attracted the attention of parents, teachers, home and school associations, religious organizations, women’s gr...