A History of Oxford County's Library Services

[This page is under construction. It is not complete and may contain inaccuracies.]

1. Oxford Before the Age of County Libraries (1800-1899)

1835 | Woodstock opens its first library. This may be the earliest modern library established in Oxford County.

1855 | Ingersoll establishes its first library, locating it in a local school.

1882 | Ontario passes its Free Libraries Act, which allows towns and cities to establish free, tax-supported public libraries.

1883 | The Toronto Public Library opens Ontario's first free public library. Guelph opens its free library the same year. And, although it's not a free one, the village of Embro establishes its first library.

1886-98 |  Indiana, Wyoming, and Ohio are among the earliest American to pass laws that allow for some form of library service to organize at county level.

 

2. The Call for County-Level Library Service Grows (1900-1936)

1900-17 | Scottish-born American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie offers library building grants to qualifying towns and cities, which funds the construction of over 2,500 library buildings (known as Carnegie libraries) around the world, including 125 in Canada, 111 of which were located in Ontario and 5 in Oxford County. Woodstock opens its Carnegie library in 1909; Ingersoll's opens in 1910, Tillsonburg's in 1915, Norwich's in 1916, and Tavistock's in 1917. A sixth, which was planned for Otterville and was to serve South Norwich township, was never built.

 

 

1909 | California becomes the first American state to pass legislation allowing for county public library systems to form.

1912 | W.H. Arison, the chairman of the Niagara Falls (Ontario) Public Library's board, addresses the annual Niagara Institute with his paper, “Library Extension on County Lines”. This is the earliest proposal on record for the development of county-level library services in Ontario.

1932 | Under the leadership of the Sarnia Public Library's Dorothy Carlisle, Ontario's first county library association forms in Lambton County. Its initial membership comprises seven libraries but later expands to eighteen member libraries. Based on successful models in England and the United States, county library associations operate as collectives that rotate shared collections among member libraries and organize “traveling libraries” (early versions of what later become bookmobiles) to remote locations.

1933 | F.C. Jennings, the provincial Inspector of Public Libraries, writes favourably of the county library association model in his annual report. Although Ontario's Public Libraries Act does not yet allow county public libraries to form (nor does it explicitly recognize any form of library service at county level), Jennings approves $300 annual grants for any county associations that form in Ontario.

1934 | The Middlesex County Library Association forms ca. September-October. By December, it comprises fifteen member libraries. 

1936 | At a February meeting of the Thamesford Public Library's board, librarian R.E. Crouch of the London Public Library delivers a paper titled “County Library Associations and How One Worked in Middlesex County”. By March, Thamesford's library board begins to organize a county library association for Oxford. In April, as part of its annual conference, the Ontario Library Association passes a resolution calling for legislative changes that recognize the existence and needs of county library associations. By late spring, the Elgin County Library Association forms.

 

The Thamesford Public Library building. (Courtesy of the County of Oxford Archives.)

 

From September through November, and with further encouragement from R.E. Crouch, representatives from various libraries in Oxford County meet and consider forming an Oxford County Library Association. By late fall, as many as seventeen libraries show interest in the plan.

 

3. The Oxford County Library Association (1937-47)

1937 | In January, the officers of the Oxford County Library Association (OCLA) submit charter documents to the county to establish the Oxford County Library Association (OCLA). Blythe Terryberry of the Woodstock Public Library and Irene Cole of the of the Ingersoll Public Library co-supervise the Association's operations, using space in the Woodstock Public Library's basement for an office. Annual membership fee for member libraries is $15.00. To rotate shared collections, representatives from each member library meet every three months at the Woodstock Public Library to exchange books. Once books have travelled to all member libraries, they are placed into various member libraries permanently.

In July, Angus Mowat begins his tenure as Ontario's Inspector of Public Libraries.

1939 | According to Inspector Mowat's annual report, five fully chartered and recognized county library associations exist in Ontario, including Lambton, Middlesex, Elgin, and Oxford.

1940 | After organizing unofficially in 1936, the Essex County Library Association establishes itself as Ontario's sixth county library association.

1941 | The Huron County Library Association forms. Betty Crawford becomes Chief Librarian of the Ingersoll Public Library and assumes co-managership (with Terryberry) of the OCLA.

1944 | Inspector Mowat drafts revisions to the existing Public Libraries Act that will allow full county level public library systems to form. His work continue into 1945.

1946 | The Welland County Library Association forms. It is Ontario's eleventh such association.

1947 | In April, the Public Libraries Amendment Act of 1947 receives royal ascent, with changes effective January 1948. It does not include provisions for county-level public libraries; instead, the Act requires all existing county library associations re-establish themselves as "cooperatives". The change requires county councils to authorize a library cooperative by passing a bylaw and appointing county-level boards. County councils are allowed to supplement annual provincial grants but not to exceed the province's annual legislative amount.

Angus Mowat, the Director of Public Libraries in Ontario, attends a meeting of the Oxford County Library Association in June and addresses members about the public library situation in the province. In September, County Council recommends that the "formation of the County Library Cooperative" be filed, in anticipation of the Libraries Act amendments.

 

4. The Oxford County Library Cooperative (1948-64)

1948 | In January, the Oxford County Library Cooperative (OCLC) begins to organize and write its constitution. In short, its purpose (as described in a 1949 report)is to "distribute books to the local [public] libraries, schools, and other interested groups". The Woodstock Public Library's Blythe Terryberry, who co-managed the county's former library association, serves as the OCLC's interim librarian and operates the OCLC from the basement of the Woodstock library.

In April, the OCLC's inaugural board of trustees holds its first meeting and adopts its constitution. The OCLC's first annual budget is $1,000 with $700 of that to be spent on shared collections. Both the County Council and the newly formed OCLC Board recommend that all public libraries in the county join the library cooperative.

1949 | In the spring, Louise Krompart is hired as the OCLC's first County Librarian. (Born Louise Fairlie Huffman in Woodstock, Krompart had served as the Woodstock Public Library's Chief Librarian in the late 1920s and early 1930s.) On the advice of Angus Mowat, the province's Director of Library Services, Krompart visits several county library cooperatives in the region to observe how they operate.

Midway into the year, the OCLC relocates its operations to a 14' x 24' room located in the basement of the county courthouse in Woodstock. By this time, sixteen of the county's public libraries have joined the OCLC but by the end of the year all seventeen of the county's public libraries will join. The OCLC also runs a deposit station in the hamlet of Bright.

Just as in the OCLA's last years, the OCLC circulates its shared collections by automobile. Motorized book vans exist (first in Ontario was the Huron County Library Association's van of 1947) but are expensive. By end of 1949, the OCLC's collections total 2,511 books.

In October, Louise Krompart begins giving "book talks" to the county over CKOX radio in Woodstock.

1950 | After receiving more than 60 applications for school room service, the OCLC begins supplying books to many of the county's classrooms.

1951 | Mrs. Chris Crocker joins the OCLC staff as Louise Krompart's assistant. (She remains with OCLC until 1965, when she will be hired by the newly formed Oxford County Library. She eventually retires in 1979.)

1953 | In March, the OCLC's new bookmobile (a motorized bookvan virtually identical to the Huron County Library's) makes its inaugural run, ending the routine of delivering books to member libraries by car. The Oxford County Library Cooperative bookmobile travels three weeks at a time, visiting all member libraries (except the Ingersoll Public Library) and the many county schools, delivering new books and rotating shared collections as needed. It completes this 3-week run four times a year: in March, June, Aug-Sep, and Nov-Dec. Louise Krompart's retired husband, Stanley, becomes the new bookmobile's driver.

At this time, the OCLC manages about 8,000 books and serves all the county's public libraries (total now eighteen). To help its growing operations, the OCLC relocates to a larger space in the county courthouse's basement.

1955 | According to the Woodstock Sentinel-Review, the OCLC's collections now total approximately 12,000 volumes. The bookmobile continues its regular visits to the county's public libraries and 143 classrooms across the county.

1958 | The OCLC begins an annual "Book Review Contest" for students in grades 7 and 8. This is the earliest evidence on record of county-wide library programming. 

1959 | Ontario passes its Public Libraries Amendment Act 1959, with changes to public library regulations effective January 1960. Under the new rules, pre-existing library cooperatives may continue, but counties may form county-level public library systems instead of cooperatives if at least 75% of a county's municipalities favour of a county-level system.

1960 | The Public Libraries Amendment Act 1959 becomes law. However, no counties take any major steps to form county-wide public library systems for a couple years yet. Larger regional cooperatives form instead.

In June, Stanley Krompart, Louise's husband and the OCLC bookmobile's driver since 1953, passes away.

1962 | In response to the province's underwhelming response to the Public Libraries Amendment Act 1959, Ontario passes the Public Libraries Amendment Act 1961-62. Under the new rules, counties may form county-level public library systems instead of cooperatives if at least 50% of a county's municipalities favour of a county-level system.

1963 | Interest in forming county-wide public library systems increases. Served by a county library cooperative since the late 1940s, Middlesex County begins discussions about possibly reorganizing its county's public libraries into a single county-wide system.

1964 | In January, the Middlesex County Library's inaugural board meets for the first time, making Middlesex the first county in Ontario to form a county public library system. They form a board of trustees at county level but maintain "advisory committees" for each branch in their system.

The Lake Erie Regional Library system forms, which includes Elgin, Middlesex, Norfolk, and Oxford counties. Another form of library collective, regional systems emerge primarily for interlibrary book sharing.

Oxford County considers ending its county library cooperative and establishing a county public library system. On December 3rd, Oxford County passes by-law No. 1781 (effective January 1, 1965) to create its new county system, called the Oxford County Library, and end its Oxford County Library Cooperative after seventeen years. The new county public library will serve the Townships of Blandford, Blenheim, Dereham, East Nissouri, North Norwich, South Norwich, East Oxford, North Oxford, West Oxford, East Zorra, and West Zorra, plus the villages of Beachville, Embro, Norwich, and Tavistock. Only Woodstock, Ingersoll, and Tillsonburg retain their municipal public library systems.

 

5. The Oxford County Library: The First 25 Years (1965-99)

1965 | As of January 1st, the newly formed Oxford County Library (OCL) comprises fifteen branches: Beachville, Brownsville, Burgessville (known then as the "North Norwich" branch), Drumbo, Embro, Harrington, Hickson, Kintore, Mount Elgin, Norwich, Otterville, Plattsville, Princeton, Tavistock, and Thamesford. In March, the OCL gains a sixteenth branch when Innerkip joins. 

Following the Middlesex County Library's example, the OCL will maintain, in addition to a county-level board of trustees, "advisory committees" in all municipalities served by the library. (Several of these municipalities will maintain advisory committees even sixty years later.) The new library system's Headquarters will be in Woodstock, using the same two rooms in the county courthouse's basement as used by the former OCLC.

In June, the OCL hires Jane Menzies (later Mary Jane Webb) as a collections librarian.

The OCL relaunches the former OCLC bookmobile as the Oxford County Library's bookmobile. The bookmobile begins making regular visits to the various OCL branches.

Only months after the OCL's formation, the drugstore that had housed Drumbo's small library for years closes permanently, leaving the OCL without a location for its Drumbo Branch. (It will take nearly two years for the Drumbo Branch to reopen in another permanent location.)

1966 | The OCL bookmobile begins serving classrooms in county schools. By the end of the year, the OCL's collections total over 113,000 volumes.

In the summer, work begins on the OCL's new central headquarters building (HQ) in Woodstock, one of several Centennial building projects underway in Oxford County. Designed by Duncan Black & Associates, the new HQ building will front Graham Street at Buller, on the site that had once been the county's jail's east yard. Construction on this building will continue into 1967.

1967 | In May, the Burgessville Branch (then still called the "North Norwich Branch") opens in a new building on the corner of Main and Church streets. The OCL opens a new branch in East Oxford, in a former school building the Township converted into municipal offices. Both construction projects were Centennial building projects.

The OCL opens its newly completed HQ building in November, permanently relocating its administrative operations from the courthouse basement. Called the "Centennial Library", the new building at 93 Graham Street in Woodstock cost $200,000 and also contains a meeting room for the county library board, space for central collections processing, and a garage at the building's southwest corner for the OCL's bookmobile.

1969 | The Ingersoll Public Library joins the OCL system as its eighteenth branch, making Tillsonburg and Woodstock the only municipalities in Oxford not served by the OCL. The Drumbo Branch reopens at 16 Oxford St. West.

In September, the Ottawa Citizen reports that OCL's bookmobile visits 252 classrooms every three weeks, reaching 11,900 students in public and Catholic schools across the county. This item runs in newspapers across the province and continues appearing in newspapers well into 1970, even in papers as far away as the Regina (SK) Leader-Post. 

1972 | The Harrington Branch relocates to the village's new community centre, a renovated former school building where Canadian author Ralph Connor is said to have been a student.

The Ingersoll Branch's supervisor, Betty Crawford, retires. An Ingersoll native and daughter of a cheese salesman, Crawford had graduated from the University of Toronto before returning home to teach. Her transition into librarianship reflected two of her great passions: lifelong learning and art. As Ingersoll’s Chief Librarian, Crawford established the Art Club, one of the library’s most popular programs. She spent many vacations completing art classes in the United States and Europe, honing her talents as a watercolourist and printmaker. She contributed to exhibits, won awards, and in 1951 was elected to the prestigious Society of Canadian Painters, Etchers and Engravers. She met all members of the Group of Seven and even studied with Fred Varley at the Doon School in 1954. Upon retirement, Crawford helps establish the Ingersoll Creative Arts Centre in Ingersoll. 

1973 | In November, the Thamesford Branch opens a newly constructed extension to their main building, originally constructed in 1934. 

After 24 years as Oxford's first County Librarian (16 years with the former Oxford County Library Cooperative, plus 8 more with the Oxford County Library), Louise Krompart retires.

1974 | Formerly the OCL's collections librarian, Mary Jane Webb (formerly Menzies, later to become Mary Jane Gamble) begins her tenure as the OCL's administrator. (Unlike Krompart, however, Webb will be known as the OCL's "Chief Librarian" instead of the "County Librarian".)

Throughout the year, a bill to restructure Oxford County into fewer and larger municipalities ("amalgamation") becomes the focus of local news. Once passed, the bill will become law on January 1, 1975.

1975 | Although Oxford's restructuring included no changes to its county library system, a motion is made to combine the OCL, Tillsonburg, and Woodstock library boards into a single system. The motion does not succeed, and Tillsonburg and Woodstock remain separate from the OCL system.

In April, the OCL opens a new branch in Foldens. 

1978 | HQ installs a new teleprinter machine, making “communications amongst all libraries of the system more precise and workable, especially in the interlibrary loan and reference division[s]” (according to the OCL’s 1978 Annual Report). This is the earliest instance on record of the OCL embracing modern library automation.

1979 | According to a memorandum, the OCL's staff at HQ includes five people: 2 librarians, 1 library technician, 1 secretary, and 1 clerk-typist. It adds: "A Xero copier is of great value."

1980 | Sometime shortly after 1979, the OCL retires its motorized bookmobile. Books and other materials travel between branches by mail. 

1985 | Now comprising a HQ plus 19 branches, the OCL joins the Ontario Library Cooperative Automation Program. By fall 1986, the OCL is barcoding its materials and creating an electronic database of collections.

1986 | With inter-branch book lending increasing, the OCL replaces inter-branch delivery by mail with motorized delivery, a method that continues today (today we have a transit van).