Legacy of The Act
The Public Library Acts of 1855 and 1866 were the last to be advanced by William Ewart, who retired in 1868. He had made great efforts to promote the public library system in Great Britain and perhaps his greatest achievement was the complete elimination of the population limits, as this allowed even very small towns or parishes to set up a public library. It was later found that this could present a problem, however, as many public libraries were established by library authorities that did not in fact have enough money to run a library satisfactorily. Despite the rise in the level of tax public libraries could levy, it was still very difficult for boroughs to raise enough capital to fund new libraries. The growth of the public library movement in the wake of the 1850 Act relied heavily on the donations of philanthropists such as Andrew Carnegie, John Passmore Edwards and Henry Tate.
Read more about this topic: Public Libraries Act 1850
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