Free Books for All: The Public Library Movement in Ontario, 1850-1930

H. Graham Rawlinson is a Ph.D. candidate in historyat York University
and a historical research consultant.

In this detailed examination of the formative years in the history of
Ontario libraries, Lorne Bruce finds that the first campaign for what
would become state-supported public libraries came in the 1850s and
1860s in conjunction with mid-Victorian education reform impulses. The
road to “free books for all” was not, however, a smooth one. The
kinds of books most popular with working people, for instance, did not
always serve the civic ends of prominent library advocates. And
differing agendas among politicians, educators, and librarians often
made reading material less, not more widely, available. Still, by 1930,
provincial government legislation and librarian professionalization
guaranteed the foundation for the modern library system in the province.
In telling this story, Bruce relies on a prodigious amount of original
research, and his judgments are measured and thoughtful. If anything,
perhaps too much is included: the myriad personalities, towns, and
associations described often blur the author’s argument. But on the
whole, Free Books for All makes an important contribution to the
scholarly history of Canadian libraries.