Reference
Li
Title
Bedfordshire County Library Service, including its predecessors.
Date free text
1700-1974
Production date
From: 1700 To: 1974
Admin/biog history
The Bedfordshire County Library was established in January 1925 as a result of a letter from the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust stating that they were prepared to make a grant of £1,100 towards its establishment. A Library Sub-Committee was appointed by the Education Committee, with G. Herbert Fowler as Chairman. [Li.M 1/1].
It was decided to appoint a full time qualified Librarian on a salary of £300 per annum. By the end of February, the committee had appointed 23 year old George Glazier, who had previously been working at Northampton Public Library. [Li/PM 1/1].
Glazier was charged with developing and overseeing a library service throughout the county. The service began with small village library centres, administered on a voluntary basis by the local schoolteacher or Women's Institute, and open on a weekly basis in schools and church halls. Books were distributed in batches to the centres from a base in Bedford, and changed at regular intervals. There was much emphasis on encouraging people to read non-fiction as well as fiction, although demand for the latter lead to many letters begging for more books to be stocked at each centre. Service was also provided to individual students, to local Workers Education Association classes, and to local clubs and societies. The County Librarian himself was very involved with local activities, and his papers include references to Bedford Arts Club, lectures given to Women's Institutes and various other societies, and his vice presidency of the Shire Hall Cricket Club. A series of administrative files gives an insight into the scope of the library service at this time [Li/SA 2].
The service expanded very rapidly and there were soon branches at Kempston, Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable and Biggleswade, with more qualified library staff also employed in County Library Headquarters. The Second World War put pressure on the service, with extra demand from evacuees, military personnel in local bases and large relocated businesses, whilst valued library staff were being called up. There is some interesting correspondence, mainly addressed to the Deputy County Librarian Mr G H Clark, from library staff now in the armed forces serving in Europe, Africa and the Middle East [LI/PM 3-4].
Post war the emphasis changed to the provision of Branch Libraries, run by paid staff, in the towns and large villages, with the development of a travelling library service to other villages [Li/SA 10]. This meant the acquisition of and eventually the construction of buildings for use as Branch Libraries, and an increase in the numbers of paid professional staff employed [Li/SA 3, Li/Lib].
In 1974, following Local Government Reorganisation, the Library Committee became part of the Leisure Committee, and from this date the Library Archives can be found underLei/LI
Reference
Level of description
fonds