Temples of democracy: a history of public library development in Ontario : 1880 - 1920

The forty years from 1880 to 1920 were probably the most significant for public library development in Ontario, underscored by a marked deficiency of these institutions in the other Canadian provinces. This study explores the transition from a loose confederation of semi-independent mechanics" institutes and a few free libraries to a recognizable province-wide system of public libraries that, after 1900, came under the watchful eye of a nascent professional association, the membership of which took a "missionary" approach to its work [continued]…