Teaching in both primary and secondary schools was still very formal and
comparatively little attention was paid to the quality of children’s recreational reading.
However, in 1936 both the School Library Association and the School Libraries Section
of the Library Association were established (they merged as an independent organisation
in 1947), and, although the early issues of their journals seem to indicate that they were
biased towards the academic school and that the main aim should be to get young
people reading adult classics at the first opportunity, they gradually took on the
reviewing of a wider range of books for the young. In 1937 an Association of Children’s
Librarians was formed; this was subsumed into the Library Association in 1947 as the
Youth Libraries Section (now the Youth Libraries Group).
During the period immediately after 1945, the critical importance of appointing staff
who had a specific remit for working with children was at last acknowledged by many
library authorities. Many of these individuals were imaginative and innovative and
characterised by their strong conviction, and dedication to the needs of the young. The
overwhelming majority were women, a fact that characterised children’s librarianship for
half a century and which some believed to be detrimental to the development of the
specialism.
Eileen Colwell, who, very unusually for the period, had trained full-time for a Diploma
in Librarianship at University College, London, in the 1920s, was appointed to organise
a library service for children in Hendon, a north London suburb. In 1928, Hendon
organised the first Children’s Book Week, and Colwell went on to be a major figure in
many areas of children’s librarianship and story-telling.
In 1942, the McColvin Report The Public Library System was a ‘watershed in public
library thinking’ which drew the nation’s attention to the importance of children’s
libraries, recognised the deficiencies of collections, and underlined the need for
children’s librarians to hold appropriate qualifications and possess the appropriate
personal qualities (Whiteman 1986:42–43). The 1944 Education Act led to a marked
improvement in education and stimulated library services for children generally.
Publishing for children, both fiction and non-fiction flourished, but the children’s
library movement grew slowly. A survey undertaken by the Library Association in the
late 1950s reflected a depressing level of service with few designated posts for children’s
librarians.
Developments After 1964The passing of a new Public Libraries Act in 1964 and the re-organisation of local
government over the next decade consolidated the status of public libraries generally
and paved the way for an unprecedented expansion of children’s libraries. The 1964
Public Library and Museums Act obliged local authorities to encourage young people to
make use of the public library, but while the provision of a public library service by local
authorities was enabled by the 1964 Act, the nature and extent of that service was not
prescribed. An authority is only required to provide a ‘comprehensive and efficient’
service, and the place of services for children and young people within the core of public
library services has never been defined. This anomaly has led to contentious debate in
recent years.
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