ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the history, growth, membership and collection development of the Lagos Library from 1932 to 1960. It examines the library’s place in the lives of its subscribers and its role as a vetting tool used by the ‘select people’ in determining the clubbability of the indigenous elite. This chapter analyzes the British Council’s successful attempt to preserve the Lagos Library as a colonial subscription library even after Nigeria’s independence was achieved. It concludes with an assessment of the Nigerian subscription library landscape before and after World War II and the gradual retrenchment of the Lagos Library from supporting book-box schemes throughout Nigeria to catering almost exclusively to the information and entertainment needs of the diminishing ‘select people’ and the emerging ‘proper sort.’
