Advocacy for rural library provision in central and southern England in the late nineteenth century

Abstract

Although originating in the 1850s, advocacy for rural library provision took place mainly in the 1880s and 1890s and drew on the experience of central and southern England. There were two groups of advocates. amateurs who were interested in using libraries as a means of rural regeneration and professional librarians who wanted to apply their technical expertise to the rural areas. The contribution of the amateurs was marred by a lack of technical expertise and by over enthusiastic propaganda. The professionals failed to develop a comprehensive theory of rural library provision and were indebted to the most able amateurs, F W Naylor and the Verneys.

The LIBSCOT file and library historiography

“…The publicly accessible types of library which comprised the great majority were based on market towns and villages, much as they had been a hundred years before, while inner-city and deprived areas were seriously neglected. Conversely, provision in the rural areas, even in the previously disadvantaged Highlands, was good, offering an interesting contrast to the rural south of England (4). Far from being on the decline, community-based provision in rural areas showed considerable vitality and even signs of growth and renewal.…”

“…3 Entering the report on the PLPC into the Mackintosh, using the wordprocessing program. 4 Entering the PLPC records into the Mackintosh using the database management program and word-processing the resulting database for publication.…”