ht. Libr. Rev. (1980) 12, 79-82

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF METROPOLITAN CITY LIBRARIES (INTAMEL) TORONTO CONFERENCE, 1978

( I) Public Libraries in the Metropolitan Toronto Area

H. C. CAMPBELL

The foundation of free public library service to citizens of Toronto was laid on March 6, 1884, when the doors of the Toronto Public Library opened to the public in the former Mechanics Institute building on Church and Adelaide under the terms of the newly approved Public Libraries Act of the Province of Ontario. The Library’s stock of books consisted of 21 000 volumes, including an allocation of 3000 volumes for children.

In 1884 also the first of two branch libraries was opened. During the first year of the operation of the Toronto Public Library the book circulation was 179 506.

During those foundation years, financing was the greatest problem for the Library Board. Year after year, the library’s budget was cut by the City Council. The Library Board retaliated by threatening to close the branches.

In 1900 enough funds were still not provided and the Library Board was forced to sue the City to obtain sufficient funds for operation. Things began to look better in 1903 when an offer of $350 000.00 was received by the Library Board from Andrew Carnegie for a new central library building and three branches. The City of Toronto had to guarantee a grant of not less than $35 000.00 per year for their support and the provision of suitable sites. In 1904 property on the corner of College and St George Streets was purchased and the cornerstone of the Central Reference Library was laid on November 27, 1906. The building opened on September 8, 1909.

Plans for three branch libraries, financed with the Carnegie funds, were also drawn up, and all were completed by 1909.

By 1908, more and more citizens were clamouring for library

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services, and space was becoming a problem in the Central Library. The question of special provision for books for children was also urgent and needed attention.

In 1911 the Library Board completed arrangements for the building of a new branch library at the corner of Bloor Street and Gladstone Avenue. The new library was to be the first wholly financed by the city, and was to include a Children’s Room.

GROWTH OF THE CITY BY ANNEXATION

Starting with the annexation of the village of Yorkville in 1883, the city of Toronto had progressively annexed many neighbourhood districts. Between 1903 and 1912 fifteen communities were annexed, including Deer Park (1908), Dovercourt (1910), Earlscourt (1910), East Toronto (1903)) and West Toronto (1909). The citizens of these and other areas were clamouring for libraries, and it was the plan of the Library Board to extend service into most areas as soon as it was financially possible.

Preparations for branches in the Beaches, High Park and Wychwood areas were begun, and were all opened in 1916. The Beaches, High Park and Wychwood Libraries provided service to citizens in the east, west and central areas of the city and were all similar in plan and design. They struck a new note in library architecture: “The old world look is enhanced by the kind of brick, by the ancient lamps in front and by the iron chandeliers used for the modern electric lighting.” On the ground floor of each there was a room for boys and girls. The room was “lined with books, the windows all being above the stacks, and a great fireplace, as in the room above”.

In 1919, funds were provided to purchase sites for two new branches for the districts of Earlscourt and East Toronto. The Earlscourt Branch was opened in its new quarters in 1920. The Eastern Branch was opened in 1921.

By 192 1 various settlement houses had appealed to the Library Board to establish deposit collections. High school rooms, a service to young people, were introduced in several branches.

The Toronto Public Library system had by now progressed from humble beginnings with a central library and two branches to a system having a reference library, a municipal reference library, a central circulating library and thirteen branches.

In 1922, a landmark in Canadian library history was achieved with the opening of Boys and Girls House. The Library Board had purchased property and a house adjacent to the Central Library and the building

INTAMEL TORONTO CONFERENCE 81

was furnished as a library for children. The provision of such a library solely for children was quite a novel idea in Toronto, and one which was welcomed not only by boys and girls but adults as well. The new library contained, in addition to the lending library, a story hour and club room, a high school reference library, and the special collection of books for parents.

From 1922 to 1930, five additional branches were established, namely, Northern, Gerrard, Riverdale, Danforth and Runnymede.

Northern Branch, which was formerly located in St Paul’s Hall on Yonge Street, north of Bloor, not far from here was moved to a new location on St Clement’s Avenue in 1922. Gerrard Branch, at Gerrard and Ashdale Streets, was established in 1924. Riverdale, at Broadview and Gerrard, was opened in 1928; Danforth, at Pape near Danforth Avenue, in 1929; and Runnymede, at Bloor and Glendonwynne, in 1930. They were all adult branches with children’s rooms, but in the case of Riverdale, originally erected in 1909, a special children’s library was built alongside the existing adult circulating branch.

In 1926 the first public library branch in a school in Toronto was established. That marked the beginning of a period of cooperation between the library and the schools which continued to 1960. The library in the school was not a school library in the academic sense but was a public library branch with a smaller stock than would be found at a regular branch.

The period of the 1930s and 1940s was characterized by a lack of money and books, yet it was a period which saw the greatest flux of readers to the Toronto Public Library and new libraries developed in adjacent municipalities. It was a very trying period because money was scarce and financing difficult. Budget cuts were standard and there was insufficient money for staff, books or further expansion.

In 1946, there were in addition to 17 TPL branches, eight other community libraries in Leaside, Humber Bay, Long Branch, Mimico, New Toronto, York, Swansea and Weston (seven had merged by 1967).

In the period after 1946, expansion and progress once again became possible. The economic situation improved, and more staff were hired; salaries, pensions and sick pay benefits were also increased.

In 1945, plans for a new branch library in the north end of the city, at Yonge Street and Lawrence Avenue, were approved. It was opened on January 5, 1949.

In 1950, the Board acquired property at the corner of Alvin Avenue. and St Clair Avenue East, for a new building which opened in 1952. People in the Parliament and Carlton Streets area were also clamouring for a library, but the library was not built until 1955.

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By the mid-1950s the Toronto Public Library had in addition to a central library, seventeen branch libraries, Boys and Girls House, libraries in three hospitals, a reformatory, and in a home for unmarried mothers. In addition, there were deposit libraries in twelve homes for the aged. Also, there were branches in 32 schools, plus East York Central and six East York school libraries were administered for these branches.

In 1955, Metro Toronto, combining 13 municipalities, was created. By 1967 the 13 Metro Municipalities had been reduced to six, and a Metropolitan Library Board had been established.

By that date Toronto had 23 branches out of a total of 56 in the Metropolitan area:

East York 4 Etobicoke 10 North York 12 Scarborough 8 York 4

In 1967, under the provisions of The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto Act and The Public Libraries Act, the Metropolitan Toronto Library Board was created to provide central reference library services, promote inter-library lending, establish and operate a central service for selection, acquisition and processing of library materials, and provide other coordinating services to the local library systems. Unlike regional library boards elsewhere in the province, which are supported wholly from provincial funds and do not offer direct library services, the Metropolitan Toronto Library Board receives 80% of its revenues from the Metropolitan levy and operates a direct public library service with its own equipment, collections, buildings and staff.

The Metropolitan Toronto Library Board is a relatively recent innovation and has contributed satisfactorily to coordination and sharing of common services. It has successfully promoted the adoption of a common users’ card for all public libraries in Metro, and inter- library loans are now so well organized that a specific transportation system operates for this purpose. The Metro Library Board has built a new Central Reference Library, and has several specialized collections such as the Music Library, the Business and Municipal Reference Libraries, and the Language and Literature Centres. It also provides technical assistance to the local library systems in audio-visual equip- ment and has published several useful bibliographies. The simultaneous existence of well-established systems in each of the area municipalities has resulted in an overall service that is comprehensive, flexible, and sensitive to variations in community needs.