b. Feb. 12, 1891,Ormstown, QC; d. April 25, 1977, Victoria, BC

1912 BA (McGill University)
1914-1915 (University of Wisconsin Library School and field practice at Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library)
1934 BLS (McGill University)

1915-1919 Canadian army service in France
1920-1926 Worked in the oil fields of Mexico and California
1926-1933 Trucker and investment agent in Victoria, B.C.
1934-1940 Book-van driver, then Chief Librarian, Fraser Valley Regional Library
1940-1946 Provincial Librarian, British Columbia
1940-1956 Superintendent, British Columbia Library Commission
1956-1959 Children’s librarian, Vancouver Island Regional Library

Morison, Charles K. (1937). “Library problems in the Fraser Valley.” Pacific Northwest Library Association Quarterly 2 (1): 40–42.

Morison, Charles K. (1939). “Progress and poverty in the Fraser Valley.” Library Journal 64 (October): 781–784.

Morison, Charles K. (1940). “Democratic control of the regional library in British Columbia.” Pacific Northwest Library Association Quarterly 4 (3): 93–97.

Morison, Charles K. (1941). “British Columbia libraries in wartime.” Progressive Librarians Council Bulletin 2 (5): 1–2.

Morison, Charles K. (1944). “Library service in Northern British Columbia.” Pacific Northwest Library Association Quarterly 8 (3): 87–90.

Morison, Charles K. (1944). “Regional libraries in Canada.” Wilson Library Bulletin 19 (3): 181–184.

Morison, Charles K. (1944). “Certification of librarians in British Columbia.” Canadian Library Association Bulletin 1 (2): 11–12.

Morison, Charles K. (1945). “Pilgrimage to the Peace [District].” British Columbia Library Association Bulletin 9 (September–October): 5–6.

Morison, Charles K. (1946). “Library service in the provincial institutions of British Columbia.” Pacific Northwest Library Association Quarterly 10 (2): 83–86.

Morison, Charles K. (1947). “The invasion of the ‘Peace.’” Canadian Library Association Bulletin 3 (4): 55–56.

Morison, Charles K. (1948). “Library extension in Canada.” Librarian and Book World 37 (March): 69–73.

Morison, Charles K. (1949). “Helen Gordon Stewart, library pioneer.” Food for Thought 9 (6): 11–16 and 20.

Morison, Charles K. (1951). “Experiments in regional library service in British Columbia.” Fundamental Education 3 (Jan.): 3–9.

Morison, Charles K. (1951). “Audio visual materials: QB, BC and CBC; experiment in public relations.” Library Journal 76 (13): 1143–1144.

Morison, Charles K. (1952). The Public Library Commission of British Columbia. [Victoria B.C.]: Public Library Commission.

Morison, Charles K. (1953). “‘Little Watertown’ in BC.” Library Journal 78 (June 15): 1080–1081.

Morison, Charles K. (1954). “Margaret Clay.” American Library Association Bulletin 48 (1): 15–16, 34.

Morison, Charles K. (1956). “Library extension in British Columbia, Canada.” UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries 10 (March): 31–33.

Morison, Charles K. (1957). “British Columbia’s Public Library Commission.” British Columbia Library Association Bulletin 20 (January–April): 1–13.

Morison, Charles K. (1959). “Vancouver Island: regional library service to schools.” Canadian Library Association Bulletin 15 (5): 213–214.

Morison, Charles K. (1959). “Regional library development in British Columbia.” British Columbia Library Quarterly 23 (1): 3–8.

Morison, Charles K. (1969). A book pedlar in British Columbia. Victoria, B.C.: Library Development Commission.

British Columbia Library Association, President 1937-1938
Member of Canadian Library Association, American Library Association, and Pacific Northwest Library Association

For a quarter of a century, Morison crossed the United States and Canada to many library conventions and returned with many ideas for improvements and encouragement of services in British Columbia. In a review of his career, he remarked “That [travelling] is what I have most enjoyed in library work whether in the Fraser Valley or in the Public Library Commission, meeting the public.” After his ‘retirement’ in 1956, he worked for a short time in a public library on Vancouver Island and later as a volunteer circulation assistant at Victoria College (now the University of Victoria).

The C.K. Morison Memorial Prize is awarded to students for library work by the University of British Columbia, School of Library, Archival and Information Studies.

Clay, Margaret J. (1956). “Charles Keith Morison.” British Columbia Library Association Bulletin 20 (October): 1–2.
Gilroy, Marion E. and Samuel Rothstein, eds. (1970). As we remember it: interviews with pioneering librarians of British Columbia. Vancouver: University of British Columbia School of Librarianship. [Interview with C.K. Morison, pp. 76-107].
ELA biography compiled by Lorne Bruce.