NET SURFER
Basil Stuart-Stubbs'
1934-46: The Long Last Lap
[formation of CLA in 1946]
National Library of
Canada's celebration of its
50th anniversary
1953-2003
A.S. Popowich,
The Politics of Public Library History
Dalhousie Journal of Information and Management, v. 3, #1 (Winter 2007)
View City of Toronto Archives
exhibit on early children's libraries in Toronto "Eager Readers"
Look at library postcards by searching the Bibliothque nationale du Qubec
by subject or title |
Libraries Today
Libraries Today is a web site for those who are interested in the history of Canadian libraries and librarians, especially in the province of Ontario. As well, there is a concern with contemporary library political, administrative, economic, and social issues that are relevant to library history. Finally, it also provides hyperlinks to Internet sites dealing with the theory, study, and methodology of library history in an international context.
What influence does the study of the "past" have on the "present?" Libraries Today strives to convey that there is a dual function which critical history performs: it helps us understand how past thoughts and actions have shaped "today" and it provides us with a deeper awareness of present courses of action leading to contemporary change.
We are constantly reinterpreting history (as events and as historical accounts) using new concepts which emerge from uncovering more evidence and rethinking accepted facts in the light of new ideas and research methodology. "History" can be taken to mean what we accept happened in the past (or, conversly, what did not take place); it can also mean what is written as a result of dialogue between historians--what took place (events); why or how things happened (explanations); who was involved (personages); and when did events occur (chronologicial dimension).
There are many areas where research can enlarge our knowledge of the history of libraries: biography; public library administration; the impact of international technological innovation; services for children; rural services; the influence of larger urban libraries; and the professionalization of librarianship. Currently, there is a resurgence of interest about the role of library history in the education of librarians, the interpretation of public library development since 1850, and the future prospects of library history in general.
Historical knowledge and inquiry can help us to analyze today's problems by identifying and defining issues and problems. As well, historical understanding helps us to comprehend cause-and-effect relationships and to avoid judging the past (and by extension the present) in terms of current norms and values. By looking at past library events and decisions in Ontario and across Canada we can develop alternative approaches to contemporary conditions based on a better awareness of the likely consequences. Historical memory is one of the keys to self-identiy, a focus that Free Books for All, published by Dundurn Press in 1994, helps provide for public libraries in Ontario. |
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