Durban Public Library and Reading Rooms, 1900

Abstract

The paper examines Durban Public Library and Reading Rooms in 1900, studying the relationship between the library and the local council, the institutional culture of the library, and the relationship the institution had with library members and users. It is impossible to take a snap shot of history with any degree of accuracy. The author examined the library from 1898 to 1902 to provide a holistic picture of the library in 1900, using minute books and also secondary sources for background information. Findings indicate the library had a complex and frustrating relationship with the council, with the latter not fully appreciating the value of the library to society. The library had two major contentious issues with the council where the library had good reason to feel aggrieved: lack of space in the current library and the proposed new library building and funding. Due to the culture of the librarian and library committee, the library had a condescending and patronising relationship with its members and users. Paradoxically the library, playing its small part in the (Anglo-Boer) war effort, benefited by pressurizing the council to provide better library facilities and received an increase in subscriptions from the new members.

I would like to thank Ruby Pretorius who so diligently transcribed five years of the manuscript minutes of Durban Public Library and Reading Rooms and without whose help this paper could not have been written. This paper would have been difficult to write without availing oneself of library facilities in Durban. To this end I would like to thank Mr jayaram, Director of Durban Metro Library and his staff, for all the time and help I received whilst I was completing my research.