Objective:

This article studies the library inspection activity in Argentina during its initial phase (1914-1924).

Methodology:

Based on the interpretation of reports prepared by the inspector Manuel Borton, among other documents, it analyzes: 1) the bureaucratic organization of the inspection and its difficulties in relation to the library knowledge of the time; and 2) the quantitative and qualitative results left by the extensive tour that Borton undertook during 1921 in the province of Buenos Aires and the north of the country (Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Salta and Jujuy).

Originality:

This is a topic that has been little explored in academic literature. We examine new sources from a perspective that favors an anthropological approach, without renouncing an understanding of the inspection system as a whole.

Conclusions:

Borton formed an inspection methodology characterized by low technical significance and a high level of interpretation of the Argentinean library reality.