b. Apr. 12, 1913, Watrous, SK.; d. Nov. 28, 2010, Guelph, ON

1933 BA, University of Saskatchewan
Bachelor of Education
1947 BLS, McGill University

Teacher, Schools of Rural Saskatchewan
Officer, Royal Canadian Air Force
Librarian, London Public Library
1947-1950, Librarian, Welland County Library Co-operative
1950-1977, Chief Librarian, Guelph Public Library

Snell, John (1966). “First Steps to Building a Library”, Ontario Library Review 50, 2 (June): 61-62.

Ontario Library Association, President, 1958/1959
Institute of Professional Librarians, Board of Directors, 1960
Ex Libris Association, 1986-2010
Canadian Library Association
Guelph Historical Society, Charter Member
Guelph Little Theatre, life member
Guelph Rotary Club
Guelph Field Naturalists
Presto Music Club

Recognized at the 100th Anniversary of the OLA in 2001.

In the war “he was conflicted during this time in London due to the atrocities of war but at the same time he revelled in the cultural activities that were second to none. He attended the ballet, theatre and the symphony and wrote of them often in his journals. He saw among others Lawrence Olivier in Richard III and John Gielgud in Hamlet.”

John was Chief Librarian of the Guelph Public Library in “a period that saw the old Carnegie library torn down and a new one built in its place, and the very function of the library change from being a place simply to borrow books to becoming the cultural hub of the city. … Under Snell’s watch,the library was rebuilt, expanded, automated and a wide variety of multicultural selections were added to its collections to better reflect the changing city.”

Guelph Mercury, Dec. 2, 2010
Family tribute.