In Their Own Image: The Public Library Collection as a Reflection of Its Donors

Abstract

Early library boards espoused the positive effects of socially beneficial and culturally substantive knowledge. The Ogden (Utah) Carnegie Free Library board was no exception. However, when the library opened in 1903, it included a large number of donated materials that reflected a library mission beyond education and self-improvement. Ogden's community and social leaders, many of whom were library board members, donated a wide range of material, creating a public library that responded to and reflected the community's needs and interests, not merely those expressed in public statements and official documents. This information yields insights into the donors' views of the broad role of the public library in the community as well as their desire to establish an individual, ethnic, religious, and political presence in the communal institution of the library.

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