Toronto Public Library
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Toronto Public Library is the largest public library system in Canada and the second busiest (by number of visits) in the world after the Hong Kong Public Library. It can trace its roots back to 1830. The Toronto Public Library consists of 99 branch libraries and has over 11 million items in its collection. In 2005, the TPL loaned over 30.4 million books, CDs, and videos. In terms of circulation, the TPL is the largest in North America - over 1/3 busier than Queens Borough Public Library in New York (19 million circulated items).
Contents |
[edit] History
In 1830, a library was established in the Mechanics' Institute of what was then the town of York. In 1884, this collection became the Toronto Public Library.
Between 1907 and 1916, 10 libraries were built with funds from the Andrew Carnegie trust. Several of these Carnegie libraries continue to be used by the public library; one, the original Central Reference Library, is now the Koffler Student Centre at the St. George Campus of the University of Toronto.
When, in 1997, the Government of Ontario amalgamated the six former constituent municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto into one city, the five peripheral public libraries (Etobicoke Public Library, North York Public Library, York Public Library, East York Public Library, Scarborough Public Library) in the area were merged into the Toronto Public Library. In 1998, the Toronto Public Library became the largest library system in North America serving a population of 2.3 million people with 98 branches and a collection of over 9 million items.
In 2004, a new library was opened in the St. James Town neighborhood of Toronto, bringing the total number of branches to 99.
[edit] How to use it
Patrons can borrow an item from the Toronto Public Library by either visiting a branch or putting it on hold via its official website to pick it up later when the item becames available. Patrons can check out up to 50 items at a time and place up to 50 items on hold also at a time.
It is possible to roughly control when you will receive an item by going online and inactivating a hold when you get close to the front of the line, and then activating it again when you're ready to receive the item. The item should come to a branch near you in roughly a week or so. However, your hold will expire if more than two years pass after you order your item.
Books can be held for up to three weeks before they must be returned, and movies (whether on video or DVD) can be held for up to a week.
It is not possible to take or order anything from the central Reference Library - all of the items in it must be browsed, viewed or listened to within the confines of the building. This is also the case for some items in other branches. However, one can use the photocopying machines that are present within most libraries to copy the pages that you need, and there are also printers that can print information which is stored on film (the North York Central Library, for example, has a large collection of historical Canadian newspapers stored on rolls of film going back to, in some cases, the late 1800s).
[edit] Special collections
- The Arthur Conan Doyle Collection [1]
- The Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy [2]
- The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books [3]
- There are other several specialized branches in the Toronto Public Library system who cater to the many language needs of Toronto's diverse cultural mosaic.
[edit] Fleet
TPL operates a fleet of mobile libraries to communities with special needs. The concept was previously used in the library systems of the former cities of North York, Ontario, Scarborough, Ontario and Toronto.
- Ford E350 or E450 mobile bus libraries
[edit] Bibliography
- Penman, Margaret (1983) A Century of Service. Toronto: Toronto Public Library. ISBN 0-919486-73-8
