Celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the Ontario Legislative Library.

• Author: Cop, Monica

In its 200-year history Ontario's Legislative Library has operated in numerous locations, survived many fires, and is currently embracing the digital age. In celebration of this significant milestone, the author briefly traces the library's development, examines the challenges it and other legislative libraries have encountered as they fulfill their non-partisan role to support the work of parliament, and finally notes recent trends in their operations

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In 2016, the Ontario Legislative Library is celebrating its 200th anniversary. This occasion offers an opportunity to reflect on the Library's rich history and to examine the evolution of how it and other legislative libraries across Canada deliver their services.

The earliest incarnation of the Ontario Legislative Library dates to the late 1700s in the Province of Upper Canada. It began with a small book collection to assist elected officials in their jobs as legislators. However, it was on April 1, 1816 that the Library of the Province of Upper Canada was formally established. On that day, An Act to appropriate a sum of Money for providing a Library for the use of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly of this Province was passed and provided 800 [pounds sterling] for the purchase of books and maps for a Library. This was only nine years after the founding of the British House of Commons Library and 16 years after the creation of the Library of Congress in the United States.

It was not until 1827 that law student Robert Baldwin Sullivan was appointed as the first Librarian. At that time, the Librarian was required to be in the Library only when the Legislature was in session, which was just nine weeks per year on average. Interestingly, Sullivan used his free time to be called to the bar, campaign for an uncle's election campaign, carry on a legal practice, and even become Mayor of Toronto. The subsequent pioneering Librarians included William Winder, a medical practitioner and a member of the "Bully Boys" guerrilla group that fought in the Niagara Peninsula during the War of 1812, and Alpheus Todd, a man who had started working at the Library as a 15-year-old indexing prodigy. During these early days, the Library struggled to maintain its collection numbers reportedly due to the failure of members to return books, the frequent moves of the Legislature to makeshift accommodation as a result of several fires, and the resulting poor conditions in which the books were kept.

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