Located just west of Bathurst on Bloor, Palmerston Library is small in size but hugely popular. Each time I visit this branch, it is packed to capacity with readers, web-surfers, and shelf-browsers.
At first impression, square angles and white paint seemed overly prominent at Palmerston, but what saved it from institutional blandness was a display of 2009’s Summer Reading Club illustrations near the entrance. These pictorial book reports contained time machines, fire engines, dragons, and volcanoes (among many other items).
To the left of the entrance, a wizard kite flew overhead in a floppy purple hat that was part-toque, part-nightcap. Wire-rim spectacles and a long gray beard reinforced his scholarly image, as did the reserved manner in which he had tucked his hands into drawn-on sleeves. (The wizard’s arms were actually more like implied limbs, for they served as the kite’s side flaps). The rest of the wizard’s body was one very long purple swoosh of kite material, spanning the children’s section diagonally.
The wizard had disappeared when I returned to the branch in 2012 to take some photographs. Having served the library for many years with distinction, the wizard’s tenure had come to an end.
When Palmerston opened in the early 1970’s, it was a children’s library. Almost forty years later, the children’s books are still plentiful, including lots of French ones, even though the branch now caters to teenagers and adults as well.
The adult section offered a plentiful supply of Korean materials and some Spanish ones. Also, a small Local History Collection displayed titles such as The Riot at Christie Pits, The Annex, and Honest Ed Mirvish: How to Build an Empire on an Orange Crate.
Honest Ed‘s brilliantly corny signs weren’t visible from my table near the computers, but I didn’t mind. My favourite aspect of Palmerston is its ability to provide a scholarly shelter from the bustle and noise of nearby Bloor Street. Palmerston, thank you for your peaceful atmosphere, children’s art, wizard kite, colourful books, and neighbourly attitude.
