Were it not for the challenge posed by the Welsh language to an ostensibly neutral (but in practice Anglophone and British) professional ideology, the history of public libraries in Wales – characterised by a preponderance of small and poor authorities – might be regarded as little more than a depressing coda to the English experience. The development of public libraries in Wales falls naturally into the same three periods as in England: slow but accelerating growth in urban areas up to 1914; the extension of the service to rural areas and the virtual completion of urban coverage during the inter-war years; and what may prove to have been the Golden Age of the public library from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. These periods also broadly coincide with a significant change in the attitude of many librarians to the Welsh language, from an almost total neglect of the needs of Welsh speakers to a commitment to provide as comprehensive a service as the economic limitations of Welsh-language publishing permitted – and, finally, to attempts to overcome these limitations by actions which went far beyond any earlier vision of the role of the public library.

Nineteenth-century Wales displayed little enthusiasm for public libraries. Between 1862, when Cardiff became the first local authority to adopt the Acts, and 1894 there were only twelve adoptions. At least six of these were prompted by the offer of a gift or the prospect of acquiring cheaply the assets of an existing institution. Although such inducements might help persuade ratepayers to adopt, they did not always work: Llandudno rejected adoption in 1889 despite being offered a library worth £2,000.