at Readers (1947). Several of these librarians were aware of the impressive developments
on the other side of the Atlantic and tried to emulate their American counterparts.
Provision took a variety of forms. Perhaps the most outstanding was the Library for
Boys and Girls in Nottingham, which was regarded as a pioneer in respect of its
accommodation, its balanced collection of contemporary children’s fiction, furnishings
and general ethos (Kelly 1977:79). Although there were rare examples of imaginative and
progressive provision of this kind, many collections contained inappropriate stock and
were on ‘closed access’ whereby each book had to be asked for unseen. It was not
uncommon for children under the age of 12 to be denied access, and in a few instances
segregation of the sexes was practised.
One of the primary problems was a limitation on the amount of money which local
authorities could spend on libraries and books. This was used by many authorities as
an excuse for not providing a library service. Another factor responsible for the slow and
restricted evolution of children’s libraries was the fact that county councils, which
controlled large rural areas of Britain, were not empowered to provide a public library
service. The Public Libraries Act of 1919 helped to overcome both these problems but
did not immediately lead to significant developments in library provision for children.
In the 1920s and 1930s, however, more public libraries recognised the need to reflect
the increasing output of children’s publishing in their stock, and the new county
libraries brought provision to small communities. Libraries began to shake off the
constraints of former years, introducing open access, extending the eligibility of
membership to younger children, looking outward to providing services to children in
hospitals and youth clubs. In 1926 the Library Association became involved in
publishing lists of books recommended for young people when it was asked to prepare
lists for the guidance of club leaders engaged in spending Carnegie United Kingdom
Trust grants made to boys’ and girls’ clubs. The Library Association lists of ‘core’ books
for children’s collections continued to appear until the early 1960s—at which point the
large number of books in print made the production of the lists impracticable.
Some libraries provided ‘extension activities’. Lantern slide shows had become
transformed into film shows, and story hours, reading circles, quizzes, talks by authors
and other activities were slowly becoming popular. Such activities were given an
unprecedented boost and a national focus with the establishment in 1925 of the
National Book Council (later the National Book League and now the Book Trust), which
inaugurated a national Boys’ and Girls’ Book Week during the 1930s. This brought
together children’s librarians, parents and teachers for a range of activities and later
spawned similar events at a local level throughout the country.
The 1930s saw major developments in the infrastructure of children’s librarianship. In
1937, H.J.B.Woodfield, formerly one of the first county librarians, who worked for the
library supply firm of Combridge in Birmingham, and who later set up his own firm of
library suppliers, Woodfield and Stanley, established The Junior Bookshelf, modelled on
The Horn Book Magazine, as the first British specialist reviewing journal for children’s
books. In the same year, the Library Association established the Carnegie Medal to be
awarded annually to an outstanding children’s book: the first award was made to Arthur
Ransome, for Pigeon Post.
612 APPLICATIONS OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE