George Locke
{{Short description|Canadian librarian}}
{{for|the Canadian judge|George R. Locke}}
{{infobox officeholder
| name = George Locke
| image = George Locke portrait.jpg
| office = President of the American Library Association
| term_start = 1926
| term_end = 1927
| predecessor = Charles F. D. Belden
| successor = Carl B. Roden
| birth_name = George Herbert Locke
| birth_date = {{birth date|1870|03|29}}
| birth_place = Beamsville, Ontario, Canada
| death_date = {{death date and age|1937|01|28|1870|03|29}}
| death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| nationality = Canadian
| education = University of Toronto
| occupation = Librarian
}}
George Herbert Locke (March 29, 1870 – January 28, 1937) was a Canadian librarian. He was chief librarian of the Toronto Public Library from 1908 until his death, a time of great expansion in that library system. In 1926-27 he became the second Canadian to be president of the American Library Association.{{cite web|title=ALA's Past Presidents|date=20 November 2007|url=http://www.ala.org/aboutala/history/past|publisher=American Library Association|access-date=21 March 2016}} The George H. Locke Memorial Branch of the Toronto Public Library, which opened in 1949, is named after him.{{Cite web|url=http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/about-the-library/library-history/locke.jsp|title=George H. Locke : History of Toronto Public Library}}{{cite web|title=George H. Locke, 1870-1937|url=http://www.uoguelph.ca/~lbruce/photos/Lockegh.htm|publisher=Libraries Today|access-date=21 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314130541/http://www.uoguelph.ca/~lbruce/photos/Lockegh.htm|archive-date=14 March 2016|url-status=dead}}
Biography
Locke was born in Beamsville, Ontario, on March 29, 1870,{{Cite book|last=Anderson|first=Margaret|title=Dictionary of American Library Biography|publisher=Libraries Unlimited|year=1978|isbn=0-87287-180-0|editor-last1=Wynar|editor-first1=Bohdan S.|pages=317–319|chapter=Locke, William Herbert (1870–1937)|oclc=3608952}} and was educated at Ryerson Public School in Toronto, Brampton High School, and Collingwood Collegiate Institute. He studied at Victoria University,"Newspapermen" file, William Perkins Bull fonds, Region of Peel Archives, Brampton. and graduated from the University of Toronto in 1893. After graduating, he taught as a professor of ancient history at the University of Toronto and continued to teach at other colleges in subsequent years. He served as editor of the School Review while at the University of Chicago and was also the author of books on Canadian history. He was a member of the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, and served as president from 1910–1912.{{Cite web|last=Arts and Letters Club of Toronto|title=Gallery of Presidents|url=https://artsandlettersclub.ca/club-presidents/|access-date=2021-11-08|website=Arts and Letters Club of Toronto|archive-date=2021-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109044515/https://artsandlettersclub.ca/club-presidents/|url-status=dead}} He was survived by his wife Grace Moore Locke.{{cite journal|last1=American Library Association|title=George Herbert Locke, 1870-1937|journal=Bulletin of the American Library Association|date=1937|volume=31|issue=2|page=87|jstor=25689016}}
In 1930, Locke, along with Mary J. L. Black and John Ridington, were hired as part of a commission of inquiry into the conditions of Canadian public libraries. As part of the commission, Locke and the other commissioners toured Canada to visit and report on local libraries. The commission concluded in 1933 with the publication of Libraries in Canada: A Study of Library Conditions and Needs.{{Cite news|date=November 6, 1935|title=Experiments in Rural Libraries Nearing a Close|page=11|work=Brandon Daily Sun|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/ca/mb/brandon/brandon-daily-sun/1935/nov-06-p-11/|access-date=March 31, 2020}}{{Cite journal|last=Peel|first=Bruce|date=1982|title=Librarianship in Canada Before 1952|url=https://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/10971|journal=Archivaria|volume=15|pages=78–85}}
By 1930, Toronto's public library system was recognized as one of the best in North America and George Locke's reputation as a visionary leader had vaulted him to the Presidency of the American Library Association.{{Cite book |last=Bruce |first=Lorne |title=George Herbert Locke and the Transformation of Toronto Public Library, 1908-1937 |publisher=University of Waterloo |year=2023 |publication-date=2023 |pages=150}}
Bibliography
- Builders of the Canadian Commonwealth. 1923.
- The education of a people : the inaugural lecture delivered at Macdonald College. 1908.
- English History (ALA: Reading with a purpose). 1930.
- Libraries in Canada : a study of library conditions and needs. 1933.
- When Canada Was New France. 1919.
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- Bruce, Lorne D. (2020). [https://archive.org/details/george-locke-and-the-transformation-of-toronto-public-library-1908-1937 George Herbert Locke and the Transformation of Toronto Public Library, 1908–1937]. (Waterloo, ON: Lorne D. Bruce). {{ISBN|9780986666629}}
External links
- [http://www.exlibris.ca/doku.php?id=biographies:locke-george-herbert Biography of George H. Locke] at Ex Libris Association
{{s-start}}
{{s-npo}}
{{s-bef|before=Charles F. D. Belden}}
{{s-ttl|title=President of the American Library Association|years=1926–1927}}
{{s-aft|after=Carl B. Roden}}
{{s-end}}
{{ALA Presidents}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Locke, George H.}}
Category:University of Toronto alumni
Category:People from the Regional Municipality of Niagara
Category:Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
Category:Presidents of the American Library Association
{{canada-academic-bio-stub}}
{{library-bio-stub}}