Public Libraries Act 1850 - 1849 Select Committee

1849 Select Committee

The advocacy of Ewart and Brotherton then succeeded in having a select committee set up to consider public library provision. A paper entitled “A statistical view of the principal public libraries in Europe and the United States” by Edward Edwards, an assistant at the British Museum Library, came to Ewart’s attention and Edwards became a key witness to the select committee. Edwards was "a self taught former bricklayer ... passionately convinced of the value and significance of libraries". The select committee of 1849 produced a report in which Edwards and Ewart ensured that “no stone was left unturned” in proving their case that existing public library provision was inadequate and that provision in other countries was far superior. The Select Committee reported that “while we learn that, more than half a century ago, the first step taken by a foreign writer was to consult a public library on the subject of his studies or composition; we find that no such auxiliary was at the service of the British intellect”. The Report also argued that the provision of public libraries would steer people towards temperate and moderate habits, the same argument as was made by James Silk Buckingham fifteen years earlier. With a view to maximising the potential of current facilities, the Committee made certain proposals, including:

• public use of university libraries
• improved public access to the British Museum Library
• duplicate books from the British Museum Library collection to be redistributed to local libraries

In order to achieve such ends, the committee made two significant recommendations. They suggested that the government should issue grants to aid the foundation of libraries and that the Museums Act 1845 should be amended and extended to allow for a tax to be levied for the establishment of public libraries. However, it was not thought necessary to subsidise stock provision for the libraries so the levy was to be used to provide buildings, furnishings and staff salaries. The authors of the report believed that donations from members of the public would be more than adequate to stock the new libraries.