A Message from Toronto’s City Librarian – May 2020
To our valued customers,
As you know, we closed our branches on March 13, as provincially mandated for non-essential services, to support efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our communities. While our physical spaces are closed, we are still here for you, with a vast collection of digital resources and services you can access online 24 hours a day – from ebooks, eaudiobooks, movies and music, to online programs and learning tools. And it’s wonderful to see how much you value these services; we’ve seen a 46% increase in use of our online digital content since our temporary closure.
Over these past few weeks, we have been hard at work finding new and better ways to bring you more of the programs and services you want and need – and highlighting some of our most helpful and relevant resources to keep you and your families informed, engaged and entertained, as we all continue to navigate this difficult and uncertain time.
Throughout this time, we are continuing to build on our commitment – as outlined in TPL’s vision statement – to inform and inspire our city and its communities, making us all more resilient, more knowledgeable, more connected and more successful. This mission has never been more vital than it is today.
I am proud of the creative and collaborative ways our staff have stepped up to meet this challenge. Whether it’s developing new online initiatives, building new partnerships, or volunteering their time to provide for our most vulnerable residents, they are finding new and innovative ways to serve you and support our communities.
Here are some of the ways we’re working together to help you make it through this unprecedented time:
- Expanding our online resources and programming to help you stay informed, engaged and entertained: We are continuing to build our extensive collection of ebooks, eaudiobooks, comics and videos for the whole family, and online resources that support everyone’s interests, learning and development.
- Introducing a new series of live and online programs for audiences of all ages: Starting next week we’re introducing a broad range of new live and pre-recorded online programs and events to suit everyone’s interests, from storytimes and book clubs, to digital innovation and personal finance. This daily content will build on the great online programs we already offer as we continue to post engaging conversations from our Appel Salon on our YouTube channel, connect with you through our online reading challenge, and help you stock up on things to read, watch, listen to, learn and do during this time.
- Broadening access to our resources so that more Torontonians can benefit from them: We’ve introduced an Instant Digital Card that enables Torontonians who don't have a library card to access OverDrive, our largest collection of ebooks and audiobooks.
- Updating our homepage and newsletter to better serve you: As you may have noticed, we’ve updated our homepage on tpl.ca to make it easier for you to find and discover what you want and need during this time. The homepage will be updated regularly with engaging activities, reading recommendations by library staff, online program information and much more. We’ve also updated our newsletter, which we’ve renamed What’s On: Home Edition, to keep you up to date on the latest TPL has to offer virtually. If you haven’t yet registered, you can sign up on our website.
And here are some of the ways we’re helping to make a difference in our communities:
- Repurposing our closed library buildings as alternate service locations for city food banks to support some of our most vulnerable communities: We’ve partnered with the North York Harvest Food Bank, Daily Bread Food Bank and Second Harvest to set up food bank distribution from TPL branches across the city. Library staff also supervise and work on the front lines of these temporary food banks, and TPL is providing brand new books for children as part of the food hamper distribution.
- Loaning our tools and equipment to support COVID-19 medical efforts: We have loaned 10 Ultimaker 2+ 3D printers to a team at Toronto General Hospital to support their efforts to produce personal protective equipment for frontline healthcare workers fighting COVID-19. We also provided our supply of nitrile gloves and N95 masks, which are used in our conservation lab for handling rare collections, to the City of Toronto.
These are only some of the many initiatives we’ve been working on, and there is a lot more to come. We will continue to build on this work to support you, our city and each other through the tough days ahead as we continue to respond to ̶ and begin to recover from ̶ this crisis. I encourage you to stay up to date with our efforts at tpl.ca and on our social media channels on Facebook and Twitter.
I know I speak on behalf of all TPL staff when I say we miss seeing you, and look forward to welcoming you back into our spaces as soon as possible.
All the best,
Vickery Bowles
City Librarian
17 thoughts on “A Message from Toronto’s City Librarian – May 2020”
The TPL is one of the best run and most innovative public institutions that we have in Toronto. Kudos to how the Board and staff are managing during this difficult time.
As we begin to emerge from our self-isolation bunkers, I wondered how TPL might be approaching that phase of getting life back to normal. So or course I have a suggestion.
While libraries themselves might be shuttered to the public, why couldn’t the TPL offer a drop-off and pick-up service for books? The restaurant and grocery industries have embraced the concept, so why not books?
Any thoughts? And thanks to you all again.
Andrew Smith
Proud TPL member
I agree wholeheartedly with Andrew about pickup and dropoff: it can also continue well after the “stay home” and coronavirus have gone away…You could partner with a bank or Shoppers Drug Mart as a depot. Even a subway station if there are attendants.
My thoughts exactly. I don’t know why it’s not being done. Hopefully it is in the works.
Hello Vickery,
Are you able to help. I joined a book club at my alma mater commencing May 18th. I don’t have the book and am on a long waiting list through TPL which is expected to take 8 weeks for me to obtain access to a copy.
Is there any way I can obtain access by May 18th.
Thank you,
Susan
While I agree that this would be great, I think the problem is taking books back that have been in homes and handled by people over the loan period. It might be irrational, but there is fear of contagion. This is the same thinking that is preventing us from taking cloth bags into grocery stores these days.
I agree with you Janet. There is always that fear of contagion. I don’t think your point is irrational.
I understand other libraries are considering pick-up and drop off procedures. Obviously, some branches are not suitable for this process due to their physical layout unless borrowers can come part way into the building (for example the North York Central Library branch).
As may stack of books and DVD’s are just sitting idly on a shelf, I would like to return them and be able to access new material
As regards fear of contagion, I assume that all returned books will have to be “disinfected” by library staff before they can be shelved or borrowed again.
Mel
Agreed.
Definitely want the library to do this.
I have kids, and digital resources are aplenty, but not the easiest thing to oversee for little ones. Plus kids can easily max out on screens and buttons. For babies and toddlers, there are few options.
We want BOOKS! Books! BOOKS! Please!!
As for fear of contagion as books travel to and from library: there could be a 48-hour period where materials are kept in isolation – or however long it takes for the virus to die if it happens to be on library material.
Love the library. As the weeks drag on, I hope for more from them.
Thanks for your comments. We’re looking forward to getting back up and running again. We’ll be starting to offer curbside pick of holds in the coming weeks. Stay tuned and we’ll post more details as they become available.
Hi Susan – Unfortunately we are unable to make any changes to the holds queue but you may want to check out OverDrive’s Best Bets collection for popular titles. https://toronto.overdrive.com/collection/1015746
Thank you for this information re curb side pick-up. I can hardly wait to hear when it will begin at my local branch. The online feature of being able to read a book is good, unfortunately, I have not figured out how to “save” it so I many continue further reading of the book at another time. I haven’t found instructions posted on how this may be done.
Thank you also for your efforts at helping the community during this crisis.
I am very much looking forward to picking up some books to read! Hopefully, soon. I know that I do have some books that were in transit before the shut down.
I hope all of the good citizens of Toronto have not lost their library materials in the past months and are able to return them in good condition to the branch. Perhaps putting materials in a sealed zip lock bag when returning would help with contamination concerns? Leave them in there for a week before removal. Toronto can be proud of its great library system and its library workers. We all look forward to seeing them back at work and our local branches open once again.
I’m looking forward to curbside pickup. I can’t afford to buy any more reading materials from Amazon as it’s getting expensive but my urges for fresh material know no bounds! I don’t qualify for CERB as I’m working 2 days a week so I’m really having to stretch my budget to survive.
The library always has been my sanctuary and I’m hoping it is up and running soon. I’ll be happy to wait in line outside to get my “hold” books.
PS – I can’t do the digital versions of books as the backlight from the computer strains my eyesight, even on low. Plus, I work on a computer all day long. I need really pages to turn.
thanks kindly
Why can’t the drop off boxes be opened so we can at least return the books etc. we have been ready to return. One staff member could go in every few days and empty them.
It would be helpful to know well in advance which branches will be able to
have holds for pick-up. I am concerned that if my home branch is not one of those chosen that my holds will be arbitrarily sent to another branch that is much further away. If I knew in advance which libraries will have this service, I could decide to change my home branch to have a location convenient for me.
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