Spaced out: A history of the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy, 1968--1979

Public libraries are a democratizing force in our society. The collections they build, however, are often far from egalitarian. How do special collections fulfill the public library's core mission to provide universal access to information? An account of the first ten years in the life of one of the world's most important science fiction and fantasy collections, the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy raises central questions: where did it come from?; how and why did it find its way into the Toronto Public Library system?; and how have the elite collection and the egalitarian public library system accommodated themselves to one another? This study addresses questions about the relationship between a donor and the institution to which her collection has been donated. It examines conflicts between the mission of a specialized collection and an institution dedicated to providing all people with equal access to information. And finally, it addresses the changing relationship between the public library and the communities it serves.