Henry Cummings Campbell

In 1963, Theresa G. Falkner, chair of the Toronto Public Library, wrote in her annual report of a "dynamic new climate" at the library, of electricity in the air, experimentation going on and a feeling of excitement. She described the situation as follows: "The human dynamo generating this vibrating wind of change in the library is Harry C. Campbell. Dr. Sanderson did well to recommend him to the board as his successor. In our chief librarian we have a brilliant driving force, fearless, optimistic and tireless. His vigorous leadership is deeply appreciated by the Board."

Henry C. Campbell was the first Chief Librarian of the Toronto Public Library (1956 to 1978) to hold a professional library degree. He is credited for having contributed to the expansion of the library and its adaptation to an increasingly dynamic and multicultural city. New services were offered, such as the Film Department, Library on Wheels, the Marguerite G. Bagshaw Puppetry Collection and Theatre, the Northern District Library with reading machines for the visually impaired, language self-instruction centres, a Young People’s Department, the Spaced Out Library of science fiction, the Metropolitan Bibliographic Centre, the West Indian Collection at Parkdale Branch, and the First Nations/Aboriginal Collection at Spadina Road. The Lillian H. Smith Collection of Children’s Books was established in 1962 to mark the 50th anniversary of children’s services and Community Information Posts were established at the Parliament Street and Parkdale Branches in 1969. Henry C. Campbell also contributed, along with the Board of the Toronto Public Library, to the creation of the Metropolitan Toronto Library Board and the Metropolitan Reference Library (now the Toronto Reference Library).

Henry C. Campbell worked as a producer at the National Film Board of Canada under the direction of John Grierson from 1941 to 1946. He worked at the United Nations Archives in New York from 1946 to 1949 and was Programme Director at the UNESCO Library Division in Paris from 1949 to 1956. He was Chief Librarian of the Toronto Public Library from 1956 to 1978, and oversaw the creation of the Metropolitan Toronto Public Library in 1967. In 1959, he also founded Books for the Developing World, which eventually became the Canadian Organization for Development through Education (CODE), with Roby Kidd and Marion McFarland of the Canadian Association of Adult Education and Kurt Swinton of Encyclopædia Britannica. He served as president of the Canadian Library Association in 1973-1974 and was First Vice President of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) from 1974 to 1979. He was president of the Federation of Canada-China Friendship Associations from 1984 to 1986 and president of the Ex Libris Association of retired librarians in 2002, of which he was also co-founder in 1986.

Henry Cummings Campbell BA BLS MA (April 22, 1919 - July 31, 2009) was a Canadian educator and librarian, and Chief Librarian of the Toronto Public Library.