14 Facts About Evelyn Evans

Evelyn "Eve" Alice Jane Evans CBE was a British librarian who founded libraries in Ghana and elsewhere.

Evelyn Evans worked for the local public library service from 1927.

Evelyn Evans returned to Coventry and she was employed at the Public Library until 1941.

Evelyn Evans was promoted to the Gold Coast Library Board in 1949 and served in that capacity for just a year, when it was recognised by statute.

Evelyn Evans was able to start the first library service and she became the first Chief Librarian in the Gold Coast; and in time she was the first Director of Library Services.

Evelyn Evans was an advisor to UNESCO and in this capacity she advised the emerging library services in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Ghana.

In 1961 Evans went on a "world tour" of libraries visiting many in Africa and other emerging countries.

Evelyn Evans left her role in the Gold Coast in 1965.

Evelyn Evans had developed a library service for children and she had always planned that the service would in time not be run by the British.

Evelyn Evans is particularly noted for her opposition to the established missionary and colonial educationalists in their selection of books aimed at children, arguing that the children's titles "would have depressed any children's library".

Evelyn Evans spent five years in Ghana persuading everyone that they needed a "proper library" system, but that definition was never defined.

Evelyn Evans assumed that the country needed a library system identical to the one she had seen in Britain.

Evelyn Evans created an approach that he planned would exploit radio to deliver literacy; but he lacked the political backing that Evans enjoyed.

Ghana's first President, Kwame Nkrumah, would give speeches supporting Evelyn Evans, he opened libraries and he wrote an introduction for her 1964 book.