Eugène Morel: Pioneer of Public Libraries in France (review)

According to author Gaëtan Benoît's widow, Marie, this biography of the great champion of free public libraries in France began its life as the author's thesis for the Fellowship in the Library Association (U.K.) in 1977. This latest iteration, published by Litwin Books more than two decades after Benoît's death in 1987, examines in detail the efforts of Eugène Morel to establish free public library services in France in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The book follows Morel from his upbringing, through his early success as a literary figure and first career as a lawyer, on to his role as the advocate and initiator of free public libraries. Each of the seven chapters deals with a specific aspect of Morel's advocacy, such as children's libraries, public libraries, library education, and legal deposit, making the book as a whole largely thematic and more loosely chronological.

Benoît's opening chapters explore Morel's early childhood, then delve into his subject's success as an author of French novels, including Petits Français, a roughly accurate account of his upbringing in the French educational system. It was only after his short-lived career as a literary author and critic and even shorter career as a lawyer that Morel entered the field of librarianship, beginning as a part-time employee at the Bibliothèque nationale and remaining there, moving through the ranks, for the rest of his career. His great passion was for establishing a free public library system in France. Using the libraries of the United States and Great Britain as his models, he systematically went about reforming the organization of French libraries, which at that time consisted of collections of materials seized from the aristocracy and the Catholic Church during the French Revolution. While these collections were both fascinating and valuable, they were not suited to the general readership of France at the dawn of the twentieth century. Morel's vision was to re-create a system of libraries open to all citizens and full of books and newspapers that would serve the average, not only the erudite, reader. Additionally, he became a pioneer of library education in France, establishing a program through which French women studied librarianship in the United States and brought back to France new skills and philosophical approaches to library service. The remaining chapters of the book examine in detail the efforts expended by Morel and several like-minded individuals in bringing what can be recognized as a true public library system, modern library education practices, and an updated legal deposit system to France.

The details in these chapters help establish the tremendous amount of work Morel put into his advocacy. Benoît has exhaustively researched, translated, analyzed, and incorporated the text of letters, articles, lectures, books, and reports—even legislative bills. Large sections of the text are made up of translations of supporting documents, some of which provide brilliant insight into the mind of Morel. His writings excerpted in the chapter on children's libraries are particularly fascinating and modern in their vision. His position, progressive at the time, will be familiar to modern librarians: "Libraries are required to teach two things: firstly, to go deeply into the study of a subject, to follow quietly, progressively, and completely a chosen path, and secondly, to choose for oneself" (88). He takes his philosophy even further, and the newness of this approach in France—where stacks were closed and libraries were intended for the intellectual elite alone, not schoolchildren—is remarkable when one considers that Morel's position is fundamental to the ideas of freedom of inquiry and critical exploration. "Does it [the library] inform? Not at all," he writes. "One must go to it, one must make an effort. It gives one the means to inform oneself" (89), and, later, "It is not important to know everything, but you...