The public librarian in modern London (1890-1914) : the case of Charles Goss at the Bishopsgate Institute
Charles Goss (1864-1946) was one among the pioneering set of librarians in charge of London's first wave of public libraries in the 1890s and early 1900s. He was chief librarian of Lewisham rate-assisted library in south-east London from 1891 until 1897 when he moved to the Bishopsgate Institute, a charitable library and cultural institution situated on the border of the City and the East End. Goss remained in charge at the Institute until 1941. In 1895, he co-founded the Society of Public Librarians (SPL), a group of thirty-plus London Chief and Deputy Public Librarians who met monthly until 1930 to discuss professional issues and offer mutual support and friendship. Using the writings of Goss, the SPL archive, public library records and library journals, this thesis describes the occupational experience of this set of librarians. It also examines their treatment in the secondary material on public library development. Because of their stance during an intraprofessional dispute over how readers should access the material on the library shelves (the socalled open access debates), Goss and his SPL colleagues have been marginalised in library historiography. The thesis revisits and assesses their standpoint
Johansen, Michelle
The public librarian in modern London (1890-1914) : the case of Charles Goss at the Bishopsgate Institute. Charles Goss (1864-1946) was one among the pioneering set of librarians in charge of London's first wave of public libraries in the 1890s and early 1900s. He was chief librarian of Lewisham rate-assisted library in south-east London from 1891 until 1897 when he moved to the Bishopsgate Institute, a charitable library and cultural institution situated on the border of the City and the East End. Goss remained in charge at the Institute until 1941. In 1895, he co-founded the Society of Public Librarians (SPL), a group of thirty-plus London Chief and Deputy Public Librarians who met monthly until 1930 to discuss professional issues and offer mutual support and friendship. Using the writings of Goss, the SPL archive, public library records and library journals, this thesis describes the occupational experience of this set of librarians. It also examines their treatment in the secondary material on public library development. Because of their stance during an intraprofessional dispute over how readers should access the material on the library shelves (the socalled open access debates), Goss and his SPL colleagues have been marginalised in library historiography. The thesis revisits and assesses their standpoint
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