Toronto Public Library opens 100th branch in Scarborough

At the grand opening of Toronto’s newest library on Wednesday – the city’s 100th branch – a wide-eyed Pericles toddled over to his mom, clutching the classic children’s book The Wheels on the Bus.

With a big grin, the one-and-a-half-year-old climbed onto Katy Haralampidis’ lap in the children’s area of the new Scarborough Civic Centre location. Haralampidis said she brings her son to a library three to four times a week for story-time programs and reading sessions without the purchasing pressure of a bookstore and is thrilled to now have a branch around the corner.

“The library is our saviour,” she said.

It seems many Torontonians agree. More than 75 per cent use the public library in one way or another, according to Ron Carinci, chair of the Toronto Public Library Board.

But Toronto’s modern libraries are a far cry from their origin two centuries ago. Since the early 1800s, Toronto’s library system has changed from a private assortment of lending libraries to the public system we know today, featuring branches across the city where over 32 million items are borrowed every year.

And now, with the opening of its 100th branch, the Toronto Public Library is ushering in a new chapter in its history.

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THE EARLY YEARS

Once upon a time, a library was born in the old Town of York.

The year was 1810. Upper Canada, the predecessor to Ontario, was a region of British Loyalists, settlers and farmers from the south. Amid that different world, the private Toronto Library was founded at a home on Simcoe St. and King St. West in the town that would one day bear its name.

War was on the horizon, and soon enough the little library was looted during York’s American occupation in April 1813. The affair ended on a bittersweet note: That November, the commander of the American fleet – a fellow by the name of Isaac Chauncey – brought back two cases of the library’s books, along with an apology note.

It was the first chapter of Toronto’s rich library history: A story of war, growth and constant evolution.

In 1834, the Town of York became the City of Toronto, but changes to the area’s expanding collection of lending libraries and reading rooms didn’t follow until a half-century later amid a growing push for a free public library.

The Ontario Legislature passed the Free Libraries Act in 1882, and a similar by-law in Toronto was approved by a majority of voters the following year. With that, Toronto became one of the first municipalities in Ontario – along with Guelph – to create free public libraries.

The Toronto Public Library officially opened its doors on March 6, 1884, in a building on Church and Adelaide Sts., and opened its first two branches the same year.

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DECADES OF GROWTH

In the decades following, the TPL expanded its branch network across the city. Meanwhile, the entire pre-amalgamation region was growing, with 24 new libraries opened in Metropolitan Toronto in the 1960s alone.

Then, in 1998 following the city’s amalgamation, the seven separate boards across Metropolitan Toronto were merged into one library called the TPL.

The late ’90s also marked a shift towards digital offerings. The TPL launched a Virtual Reference Library in 1999, for instance, while a new online catalogue of the TPL’s collections offered the public access to nine million books, CDs and other materials.

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THE MODERN LIBRARY

When the city’s 100th branch opened to the public Wednesday, it featured all the trappings of a modern library, including free WiFi, public access computers and a Digital Innovation Hub with technology classes and an on-site 3-D printer.

“I think the library is a lot more than a book depository,” said Ron Carinci, chair of the Toronto Public Library Board. “It’s like the new living room. It’s a community hub. We offer more than books – there’s technology, there’s WiFi, there are areas to sit and read. It’s really a home away from home.”

Public libraries have changed and evolved over time, noted City Librarian Vickery Bowles. “We’re not just about books anymore – although that’s still the heart and soul of libraries – but it’s also about creating content, and that’s a really important part of what the public library does,” she said.

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Source: TorontoPublicLibrary.ca