Margaret Ridley Charlton

Margaret Ridley Charlton (December 10, 1858 – May 1, 1931) was a Canadian medical librarian, scholar, and author who was a founding member of the Medical Library Association. As Assistant Librarian of the McGill Medical Library from 1895 to 1914 and Librarian of the Academy of Medicine in Toronto from 1914 to 1922, she played a key role in modernizing medical libraries and establishing librarianship as an autonomous profession. In 1898, she co-founded the Association of Medical Librarians, which became the Medical Library Association in 1907, paving the way for the field of medical librarianship and other specialized library associations. Charlton was also a scholar and author, writing for historical sketches, book reviews, as well as authoring children's books.