National Library News May 2000 Vol. 32, no. 5

The Call for a National Library

He may have been only kidding, but when John Charlton rose from his seat in the Commons just before midnight on April 20, 1883, he was the first to suggest an actual location for the national library that Sir John A. Macdonald thought we ought to have.

It was the House itself, "this dark chamber", as Charlton called it. If a wing could be built out from it, one with windows that would let in fresh air, then the members could debate there, leaving plenty of room in the chamber for the library’s books, especially if "a lot of the old rubbish" were to be banished to make way for "works of some value".

Facetious though the remark seems, it indicated the Member’s belief in the value of a library and in the idea of one to serve the public. It was a concept the Prime Minister was having trouble getting members to accept. A few days earlier, in considering the report of the Library of Parliament Committee, Sir John had suggested having a national library quite separate from that meeting a legislative function. He asked the Committee to look into it, but opposition leader Edward Blake, speaking for the Committee, thought it was not "their province to propose the creation of a national library".

Sir John A. Macdonald. Courtesy of the National Archives of Canada.

Two years later, in considering the appointment of a new parliamentary librarian, Sir John returned to the theme, pointing out that, unlike England which had the British Museum, the Dominion had no "general library". He went on to explain that the parliamentary library’s collection had grown to the point where it ought to assume the role of a national library. To facilitate the concept, he introduced a resolution creating two library positions: general librarian, to look after the library as a whole, as a scientific and literary institution; and parliamentary librarian, to oversee legislative needs (constitutional law, history and political subjects).

Opposition members ridiculed the idea. They saw no sense in having two librarians in charge of one library and in thinking there were two collections, when there was really only one. Nevertheless, the resolution was approved, and the two appointments were made. It was a good start in having the notion of a national library understood. And Sir John’s actions are surely underestimated by those saying that by creating two librarians instead of two separate institutions, he succeeded only in delaying the start of a real national library.

It was a wonder the Prime Minister had any time at all to consider book matters. Finding relief for the nearly bankrupt Canadian Pacific Railway was the primary issue throughout the library debate period. And then, just as he was creating the dual library positions, the small matter of the Northwest Rebellion had to be attended to. Moreover, he had no champion for the cause. Government logic dictated that arts matters should be in the hands of the Department of Agriculture, which, annual reports show, was mightily concerned with the cattle trade, sheep scab and hog cholera. It would have had little time for national library planning. As well, the government’s budgetary deficits were escalating alarmingly. Public Works Minister Hector Langevin, who would have had to build any new library, was pleased with the Prime Minister’s action, but allowed that at some future date "when we see our revenues very large", the construction of a separate library would be the proper thing to do.

A quarter century passed before the idea was, at least in library and academic circles, forcefully revived. It was at the annual meeting of the Ontario Library Association in 1910 when Lawrence Burpee began his "crusade", as Dolores Donnelly aptly called it in her historical analysis The National Library of Canada. Burpee was the chief of the Carnegie Library of Ottawa and incoming president of the Association. His speech to the delegates, later published in The University Magazine, lamented that Canada, like Abyssinia and Siam, had no national library. He proceeded to enumerate countries around the world that did. He borrowed his model of what a national library should be like from Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam. It should have a collection universal in scope; it should have specialists to answer inquiries; and it should have an index of the collections of other libraries. "Let the government adopt a policy of a national library", he said. He wanted it to be in a central location and have turned over to it books from the Library of Parliament that "serve no very useful purpose in a pureful legislative library".

Visionary that he was, Burpee saw the national library being linked to the Public Archives, the Library of Parliament and government departments by a system of pneumatic tubes through which books and messages would be sent whizzing. Sixty years later, the Federal Government Library Survey returned to the matter, recommending not tubes but a delivery van.

Lawrence J. Burpee. Courtesy of the National Archives of Canada.

The Ontario Library Association took up the cause, passing a resolution calling for "the speedy establishment of a national library" and sending it to Prime Minister Laurier. His government was getting ready for an election and did nothing about it.

Burpee kept up the pressure. Another, though unfortunate, opportunity arose in 1916 when fire gutted the centre block of the Parliament Buildings. Only the library survived. Burpee wrote to Prime Minister Borden urging that in re-designing the building, suitable accommodations for a national library be taken into account. He enclosed an offprint of his article in The University Magazine. Dolores Donnelly relates that Borden forwarded the letter to Parliamentary Librarian Martin Griffin for his comments. Griffin denounced the proposal, saying it was the work of "agitators". A national library would be too expensive and was unnecessary because there were many other libraries already in existence.

More interventions followed. An inquiry into the state of Canadian libraries, known as the Ridington Commission, recommended in its 1933 report that a national library be created, "one worthy of Canada’s place among nations". It reflected Burpee’s general concept: construction of a building, appointment of a Dominion librarian, coordination of federal libraries and development of a combined catalogue of their holdings, appointment of subject specialists, and the transfer of books not needed for law-making from the Library of Parliament. The 1940 Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations took little note of briefs from the British Columbia and Ontario Library Associations, its only comment being that if the Dominion Government so thought, the creation of a library would be appropriate.

In 1944, Opposition Leader Gordon Graydon supported the idea of creating a library "at the appropriate time", adding that he had no intention of pressing the point immediately. "After all", he said, "we are in a war." Short weeks later, the recently formed Canadian Library Council (forerunner of the Canadian Library Association) submitted a brief to a House of Commons committee considering reconstruction measures to follow the war. The brief contained all the main points of consensus on what a national library should do but also reflected the library profession’s interest in applying the latest technology. It spoke of microfilm and photostat copying, and the coordination of book information with audio-visual aids.

Immediately after its formation in 1946, the Canadian Library Association took a strategic decision which would soon result in a breakthrough. A service, rather than an institutional, approach should be taken in persuading the government to proceed. Instead of calling for, as in previous representations, the immediate construction of a building, the Association emphasized the basic services that a bibliographical centre could offer. Freda Waldon, Chief of the Hamilton Public Library, Margaret Gill, Head of the National Research Council Library, and W. Kaye Lamb were the early proponents of the idea. The centre, they visualized, would operate in temporary quarters until a full library in a building of its own was approved and erected.

Dr. W. Kaye Lamb. Courtesy of the National Archives of Canada.

The Association joined forces with the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Historical Association, the Canadian Political Science Association and the Social Science Research Council of Canada to present a brief in December 1946. Shortly after, a delegation met with Secretary of State Colin Gibson, who reacted favourably. This was the beginning of the single most effective lobbying campaign in the history of Canadian library service. Under the shrewd leadership of its executive director, Elizabeth Morton, the CLA sent copies of its briefs and other pertinent information to members of Parliament, newspaper editors and scholarly organizations. It arranged for editorials, news reports and radio broadcasts in support of the cause.

Finally, on June 11, 1948, after reference to the Joint Committee on the Library of Parliament, the House approved the Committee’s recommendation "that as a first step towards the creation of a National Library, the planning of a bibliographic centre be commenced by the selection of a competent bibliographer and secretary".

The Canadian Library Association had just begun microfilming Canadian newspapers of historical importance. Executive Director Morton had the idea of presenting to Prime Minister King a copy of the newspaper published by his grandfather, William Lyon Mackenzie. This would be a good way of promoting the national library cause. She arranged for Dr. Lamb, as CLA president, and Elizabeth Dafoe, incoming president, to perform the ceremony. There followed a conversation on the possibilities of microfilm collections in libraries and archives. "Mr. King", as Dr. Lamb later recalled, "was enchanted with the idea." Mr. King’s special assistant, Jack Pickersgill, who, according to Dr. Lamb, "was flitting about in the background", later told Dr. Lamb that when the meeting ended, Mr. King turned to him and said: "That man should become head of the Archives right away. Find out more about him."

What he and the Prime Minister found out was that their candidate held a Ph.D. in history and economics from the London School of Economics, had been provincial librarian and archivist of British Columbia, and was currently librarian at the University of British Columbia. The appointment of Dominion archivist was shortly offered and accepted, with one proviso. Dr. Lamb said he would come to Ottawa only if there was a definite commitment to the National Library in the terms of his appointment. The commitment was made. Dr. Lamb’s assignment, effective January 1, 1949, included "preparing the way for the organization of a national library".