It was founded in Hamilton, Ontario in 1946, and was incorporated under the Companies Act on November 26, 1947. It is a registered charity, governed by an elected Executive Council, which is advised by over thirty interest groups and committees. Canadian Library Trustees' Association Canadian School Library Association. A growing number of our members are entrepreneurial consultants offering a wide range of library and information management expertise to clients, while others sit on the boards of public libraries, work for companies that provide goods and services to libraries, or are students in graduate level or community college programs. The mission of the Canadian Library Association is to promote, develop and support library and information services in Canada and to work with all who share our values in order to present a unified voice on issues of mutual concern.
Public libraries are essential social agencies in Canadian communities.
In a democratic society, public libraries exist to satisfy the information needs of all citizens and to protect citizens' right to know. They do so by acquiring, organizing and archiving the information created by society and keeping it in the public trust. Information at the public library is freely accessible to all citizens regardless of capacity to pay. Public libraries typically do not charge user fees because they violate the principle of free public access to information. For Canadians, the public library is the most frequently used of all government-supported cultural institutions.