William Frederick Poole (24 December 1821, Salem, Massachusetts – 1 March 1894) was an American bibliographer and librarian.

From 1856 to 1869 he was librarian of the Boston Athenaeum, where he inspired the careers of Charles Evans, William I. Fletcher, and Caroline Hewins.

Poole built the initial Chicago collection in part through persuading friends in the academic community across the United States to donate volumes.

It did not hurt that his appeal suggested many books had perished in the great Chicago fire of 1871, even though the disaster had occurred two years before the city had begun a library.

[4] While he was a moving force in the modern library movement, Poole's ideas ultimately put him on the wrong side of history.