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Artwork General

Two Meditative Collages by Catherine

Noreia’s Birthday Sufi (2008)

Divine Grief (2010)

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Artwork General

Nature Collages

 

“Floral Bird and Bunny” by Catherine Raine 2010

“Bordered Forest Steps” by Catherine Raine 2010

“Swan Woman,” by Catherine Raine 2010 (Lacy Goose from Karel Teissig’s Illustration of Aesop’s Fables, 1971)

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Artwork General Poems and Prose Poems

Jenny’s Purple Meadow

During a memorial service for my childhood friend, Jenny Smith Carr (1969-2010), I gave her eulogy with this meadow image projected on a screen behind me. I found the Swiss meadow photo in the Picture Collection of the Toronto Public Library, but there wasn’t any reference to the photographer who took this calendar picture.

Eulogy for Jenny Smith Carr: Jenny’s Purple Meadow

Several months before she died, Jenny asked me if her cancer made me think about my own mortality. “Sure it does,” I replied. “You’re a part of me.” She will always be a part of me, a precious patch of Jenny-ness that inspires and sustains me.

When I visualize the color and texture of this Jenny-patch in my soul, I see three translucent paddles in primary colors. Jenny is the red paddle. I’m the blue paddle. And the purple place where we overlap is the part of Jenny I get to keep, a purple meadow of shared memories, experiences, values, and giggles. Jenny’s meadow is a clearing in my mind, a sunny expanse of wildflowers surrounded by an ancient forest.

My hope for all of us who were blessed to love Jenny is to visit our clearings often, for they are sacred sites of Jenny’s spirit that death cannot destroy. This afternoon, I’m taking you with me to Jenny’s purple meadow, where stories flower beside a purple stream, among irises and daisies, and in the hollows of warm stones.

Take this wildflower over here. It’s a story set in the late nineteen seventies. Jenny and I are trick-or-treating along Mill Street in Liberty, Missouri. As radical young questioners of gender roles, we have disguised ourselves as housewives. We have put pink curlers in our hair and wrapped ourselves in padded polyester bathrobes. Fuzzy slippers pull the satirical outfit together. At one fateful house on Mill Street, the woman who answers our knock is dressed exactly like us, down to the last curler. She gives us a few pieces of candy but no compliments on our cute costumes.

More Jenny memories come from Camp Oakledge in Warsaw, Missouri, where I spent two summers sharing a canvas tent on a wooden platform with Jenny and other Girl Scouts. One afternoon, Jenny and I canoed for three miles across the Lake of the Ozarks to a hamburger shack perched on a dock. I still remember how good that burger tasted because we had powered ourselves across the waters, earning our lunch with our oars.

On February weekend in 1982, Jenny and I went camping in Dearborn, Missouri. We shivered together in a tent that we had placed on the slope of a hill. When camp leaders organized a midnight hike, Jenny opted to stay in the tent, but I walked to the edge of a clearing in the woods and drank in the vast bowl-shaped meadow all blanketed in deep snow. The dark ring of trees circling all that open space was a visual prayer. When I think of Jenny, I remember this winter meadow. Like her, it is spiritually refreshing and elegant.

The starry sky of the night hike also calls to mind a special star-gazing event that Jenny’s close friends planned for the purpose of sending out beams of love to our dying friend. At exactly 10 pm (EST), wind chimes, lightning, singing locusts, clear skies and cloudy ones greeted us from Arizona, Missouri, Ohio, Connecticut, and Ontario. As I studied the opaque heavens, I thought of my love for Jenny, and the memory of her telling me how much the biopsy needles hurt her made me cry.

Jenny is beyond the needles now, beyond pain, beyond fear. She’s a gorgeous bird of paradise that flies between drops of rain that bless us. And she’s in every compassionate thing we do. Her purple meadow is alive with sensitivity, laughter, and thousands of witty words. We protect it when we share stories of our beautiful Jenny.

Jenny’s Purple Iris, Catherine Raine 2010
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Toronto Public Library Pilgrimage of 100 Branches

Toronto Reference Library Picture Collection: A Surprising Source of Comfort

Yesterday I received news that a dear childhood friend had died. As Jenny’s terminal illness progressed over the past few months, I found myself thinking of forest clearings and how much she loved nature. I wanted to make a memory collage that included meadows, so I went to the Picture Collection at the Toronto Reference Library and pulled out a lovely fat folder labelled “meadows.” I was amazed at how much it comforted me to look at those beautiful pictures. I felt connected to Jenny and to our shared experience of camping in Northwest Missouri and the Ozarks.

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Toronto Public Library Pilgrimage of 100 Branches

Deer Park’s Improved Woolen Castle

In 2010, I received a kind e-mail from April Quan, the artist who had created the woolen castle for Deer Park Library in 2000. For many years, April used her creative skills to make toys from natural materials as a fundraiser for her children’s school; thus, Deer Park chose the perfect architect for an interactive toy in its children’s section.

While describing the history of the cloth fortress, April told me that three pennants and some doll figures had been plundered from the castle in the early aughts. Mention of her delightful castle in my 2010 blog post about Deer Park motivated the artist to restore the missing features and return the textile chateau to its original glory. It makes me happy that my library blog played a role in the castle’s evolution!

April’s email also revealed the origins of the soft sculpture’s materials: “The wool is recycled fabric from the big Goodwill store that used to be at Adelaide and Jarvis . . . (the store had) a perfect winter coat just waiting to be turned into stone. . . . The turrets and grass were skirts from the same store.” I loved how Ms. Quan saw the makings of a fairy-tale building in ordinary woolen coat and some skirts from the Goodwill.

Three Huzzahs for April Quan and The Restored Woolen Castle!

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General

Elliot Lake Library: An Ontario Treasure in Algo Centre Mall

On a recent weekend visit to Elliot Lake, a local friend indulged me in a visit to Elliot Lake Library when we could have gone directly to the lake. She took me inside the town’s quiet 1980’s mall, where we found a wonderful Bibliothèque. It was much larger than the Toronto mall libraries I’ve visited, such as Woodside Square, Eglinton Square, Maryvale, Steeles, Bridlewood, Black Creek, and Bayview.

With large glass windows facing a wide mall corridor, this library contained spacious east and west wings. The entrance was on the west side, which housed non-fiction, reference, and a collection of computers. A quilt tapestry showed off Canadian-themed appliqués, and across the room was a giant dream catcher and a display of fishing rods, tackle, and thick booklets in English and French about fishing regulations. Another large section was devoted to Mining Environmental Assessment Reports.

Crossing over to the east wing, I discovered an entire wall devoted to livres en français. My initial surprise at this made me realize that I had mistakenly associated small towns with monolingualism. To my knowledge, the only Toronto Public Library branch with a comparable French collection would be North York Central.

Opposite the French section was a fairy-tale mural painted by L. Finn in 1992. Springing from the pages of a children’s book were a host of classic characters: Ali Baba, Alice in Wonderland, Puss-n-Boots (who was struggling to remove his famous footwear), Little Red Riding Hood, and Babe the Blue Ox.

Not far from the lively mural, a family reading area featured a plastic globe with a talking airplane, two rocking chairs (one large and one small with painted jungle animals), and small mats with triangular wedges for upper-body support.

Before exiting Elliot Lake Library, I bought four National Geographic magazines for a dollar. Although it felt odd to leave a library without checking out any books, lack of borrowing privileges could not diminish the happiness of visiting my most northerly branch to date!

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Artwork General

Semi-recent Collages

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Toronto Public Library Pilgrimage of 100 Branches TPL Talks and Programs

Blog Talk at Kennedy/Eglinton Library

I’m blogging live from Kennedy/Eglinton branch with Joan, Raymon, and a few others. I’ve been talking about my library blog and details like the window seats and tall grasses!

I’ve just asked the participants at today’s event what they like about the library. Joan likes the smell and the feel of books, the printed page. Raymon likes the resources such as the ProTech computer lab. He also likes the self-checkout. One person liked the library’s friendly appearance and the helpful staff. The lady sitting behind him was amazed by the huge collections and size of North York Central Library. Finally, another participant has encouraged me to write a book!

I really enjoyed this opportunity to share my blog with Kennedy/Eglinton patrons. Thank you for inviting me!

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Toronto Public Library Pilgrimage of 100 Branches

Remaining Libraries to Describe More Fully

This morning I was thinking about which library to visit next for the blog. Way back in 2007, my first posts were more like notes than paragraphs. Before I sign off on the library blog project for good, I’d like to expand these early posts and add a few pictures. The following are the branches which await a second visit: Parliament, Saint James Town, City Hall, Toronto Reference Library, Lillian H. Smith, High Park, Leaside, Agincourt, Highland Creek, Port Union, Morningside, Cedarbrae (post-renovation), Guildwood, Cliffcrest, Bendale, McGregor Park, Victoria Village, Albert Campbell, Dawes Road, Main Street, Beaches, Jones, Pape-Danforth, and Riverdale.

Some branch descriptions need to be separated into individual posts, and others require more editing and expansion. The libraries that fall under these categories are Barbara Frum, Bayview, Fairview, Don Mills, Flemingdon Park, and Burrows Hall.

Finally, I’d like to do a post each on the two special collections at Lillian H. Smith branch.

No beaches for me this summer unless you count Beaches Library!

Categories
Toronto Public Library Pilgrimage of 100 Branches

Face Time on Shelf Life!

The April 2010 edition of Toronto Public Library’s Shelf Life, has a short article about my library blog. Check it out!

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Toronto Public Library Pilgrimage of 100 Branches

North York Central (West Side): Gateway Services (2010 Visit)

Located on the west side of the first floor, Gateway Services is devoted to TPL-card-carrying youth. It features the Young Adult Collection, a computer Learning Centre, and The Hub (a teenager-friendly space for study and socializing). Within The Hub’s zone is a tall gazebo that shelters a red-tiled wall in the shape of the letter “S” (mirroring the red wall on the first floor of the east side) and four jukeboxes. Dominating the north wall of Gateway Services is a mural in chunky faux-graffiti font that spells TORONTO PUBLIC LIBRARY.

On the day of my visit, Gateway Services lacked neither patrons nor activity. Even though the players of intense chess games in progress had not seen their teens for decades, their gently mocking banter radiated youthful energy. In The Hub, a bona fide adolescent was bent over a laptop while perched on the red upholstered bench affixed to the curving interior wall. Another student slouched on the floor, his back supported by the same structure. And a group of friends crowded round a low table, deep in conversation.

Four old-fashioned jukeboxes stood near the undulating red bench under the gazebo. Exuding a 1950’s vibe, these Rock-ola Nostalgia beasts boasted carved wooden arms and an extensive range of music. When I studied the jukeboxes’ song selections (each one matched to a capital letter and a number to punch in), I beheld artists like the following who were paired on the same white rectangular label: LeAnn Rimes and Prince, Luther Vandross and Amy Grant, Ozzy Osbourne and Elton John, The Beastie Boys and Simon and Garfunkel, R.E.M. and Reba McEntire, plus Janet Jackson and The Cranberries.

Gateway Services was my last stop after having visited the entire North York Central facility for the second time. Despite the energy needed to cover six large floors of this branch, enthusiasm did not quail. Before I embarked on my second exploration, I had no idea the North York Central contained a music room, a Legal Aid office, a sound effects collection, a second-hand bookstore, and a galaxy mural on the 6th floor. With varied resources around every corner, North York Central is a massive attraction for fans of the Toronto Public Library.

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Toronto Public Library Pilgrimage of 100 Branches

CBC Radio Interview

Early yesterday morning I got to talk about my library blog on CBC Radio! I was thrilled and a little nervous, but host Matt Galloway put me at ease at once. Thank you Matt for an engaging and fun interview!

If anybody would like to hear the interview, please check out http://c-raine.com/catherine-cbc-20100315.mp3.

It’s been an excellent season for the blog’s publicity, as it was also featured in last Thursday’s Torontoist. Toronto loves her libraries!

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Toronto Public Library Pilgrimage of 100 Branches

Library Blog Interview!

I was delighted to meet Vit Wagner, Publishing Reporter for the Toronto Star this afternoon. We spent half an hour at a café talking about my quest to visit and write about all 99 Toronto Public Libraries. Afterwards, there was even a photo session in front of Saint James Town Library, courtesy of Star Photographer, Tara Walton. After this experience, I am now no longer allowed to wail to my husband, “Nobody reads my blog!”

Update: and here it is – Burning through the branches.

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Toronto Public Library Pilgrimage of 100 Branches

Art-Friendly Mount Dennis Library (Weston Road and Eglinton Avenue West)

A striking mural stopped me in my tracks as I walked through a side passageway to the entrance of Mount Dennis Library. I saw a man and a woman facing each other in the middle of a green field. A community of daffodils gathered in the foreground, and two trees framed the scene, transforming actual pillars into brown trunks. Painted wooden creatures had been riveted to the surface of the mural, creating a bulky appliqué effect. The riveted animals included a seagull, a cardinal, a raccoon looking at a ladybug, a wolfish dog, a bee hive on a branch, and a chipmunk (also on a branch).

After I passed through the main doorways, I noticed a curious detail on the vertical jamb between the two doors. Someone had painted a giraffe’s head near the top of the jamb, its ears and horns jutting into the lintel. Yellow and orange dots cascaded down the length of the jamb, suggesting a long neck. I liked how the artist had seen a giraffe in the shape of an ordinary door jamb, celebrating whimsy in the day-to-day experience of passing through a door.

The main floor of Mount Dennis branch was one long rectangle in soft cream, demure yellow, and brown. With wide aisles and plenty of open space, the interior was restful. High windows facing Weston Road provided a sunlit view of a wooden trellis that called out for grape vines and a paint touchup, echoing some interior shabbiness in which paint was peeling here and there. I also noticed that water damage had taken out a chunk of the ceiling near the checkout desk. However, the main level was still a pleasant place to borrow materials in English, Spanish, Korean, Portuguese, or Vietnamese.

The basement level contained the children’s section and a series of giant wooden jigsaw pieces on the east wall. My favourite puzzle piece had a dark red background and was decorated with a diverse circle of children’s faces surrounded by painty handprints in green, purple, black, yellow, and blue. Lining the walls of a narrow corridor just outside was an art display called the “100 Dreams Project,” which complemented the jigsaw piece. Inspiring kindergarten artists such as Adesh, Ashanti, Caleb, Demetri, Issacher, Jenny, Jah-Shy, Lotus, Megan, Shivani, Yasmin, and Zipporah had painted kites, monsters, ice-cream cones, volcanoes, babies, guinea pigs, and a purple ball on small square canvases.

With its welcoming and art-friendly vibe, Mount Dennis Library served as an ideal host for the exuberant 100 Dreams exhibit by students from Dennis Avenue Community School. Long may they colour the walls with their dreams!

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General Toronto Public Library Pilgrimage of 100 Branches

Northern District Library (Pre-Renovation)

For a description of what Northern District Library was like in 2009, 2012, and 2015, please see the post linked below.

The Evolution of Northern District Library (1975)

Categories
Artwork General

Shadow Box

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Toronto Public Library Pilgrimage of 100 Branches

And now for Goldhawk Park, Steeles, and Bridlewood Branches

The previous post described the first two libraries out of the five Stewart and I visited a couple of weeks ago, and this post focuses on the remaining three.

Goldhawk Park branch resided in its own square building and seemed less trendy than Woodside Square. However, Goldhawk Park’s location on the edge of a large park gave it a scenic advantage, as Woodside patrons had to make do with a Food Basics parkingscape for inspiration when they looked up from their books. So much reading in my childhood may have made me fanciful, but to me Goldhawk Park looked like a scholarly chalet of a marginally-alpine village on the Markham border. Resting on the rim of a pasture dotted with fir trees, the chalet offered a chair and a newspaper to weary literary pilgrims.

As I made a quick tour of the facility, I accidentally disturbed a seniors’ coffee afternoon in progress. Recovering my cool after a swift exit from the meeting room, I sat down at a table in front of a park-side window. When I had my fill of admiring the vast open field with blowing snow, I walked through the main area, noting the shelves of books in Hindi, Tamil, and Chinese. All in all, I liked the unpretentious and comfortable atmosphere of Goldhawk Park.

Pushing on to Steeles Library, the peaceful natural setting gave way to the frenetic parking lot engergy of Bamburgh Gardens Shopping Plaza. Stewart dropped me off and went to find a parking space while I investigated the fourth library of the afternoon.

Steeles Library was located on the left side of a concrete walkway leading to the mall. The branch was very compact, and the homey impression created by its lime green walls heightened by the presence of several stuffed creatures on top of a high shelf: a gorilla, Tweety Bird, and Marvin the Martian. Like Woodside Square, Steeles had lots of Chinese New Year decorations and an enthusiastic crowd of library-users, with nearly every chair occupied by a reader. It was cheering to see so many folks consuming words instead of mall-products.

The fifth and final library of the day, Bridlewood, was a tenant of a mall with the same name. This branch resided in a big white square room around the corner from the bulk food store and Jasmine Chinese Food. In comparison to Malvern and Woodside Square, Bridlewood appeared more old-fashioned due to its handmade decorations and non-automated check-out desk. In this respect, Bridlewood reminded me of the library in the small town where I grew up, especially when I saw the large paper snowflake cut out by hand and a poster made from black construction paper and photocopies of cartoons.

The most prominently low-budget decoration had to be the rocket that hung from the ceiling near the youth section. A roll of brown construction paper formed the body of the rocket, and the pointy head of the missile was also fashioned from this paper. The initials “TPL” were written on the rocket’s side beside a blue globe, each letter cut from brown paper with a larger outline of the letters in aluminum foil as background. Yet more aluminum foil flared out in streamers from the hind end of the rocket. Though the time may have come to retire this particular ornament, I agree with its message that reading can transport you around the world and even into space.

In addition to the rocket, other noteworthy features of Bridlewood branch included a blue toadstool table, books in Chinese and Urdu, and a romance title “Beauty and the Beastly Rancher.” I didn’t end up learning what made the rancher so beastly, but I was very glad of this beautiful Saturday afternoon spent at five great libraries. As the number of Toronto Public Libraries I’ve visited continues to skyrocket (now up to 59!), I grow more and more impressed with the services they provide to local communities. It makes me proud to carry my blue library card in my wallet! Long may the TPL flourish!

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Toronto Public Library Pilgrimage of 100 Branches

Fifty two Toronto libraries visited! Books all OVER the city!

Downsview branch was my 50th library, a large and self-contained building with an enormous main floor and smaller basement level, similar in set up to Don Mills Library. As I entered Downsview library, my head tilted back in appreciation of the wealth of light and space above the shelves. I felt like I was in an extraordinarily spacious white tent.

As I walked through the aisles, I noticed the big Spanish, Italian, and French collections, as well as smaller ones in Gujurati, Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Vietnamese, Bengali, and Chinese. A group of animated teenage boys were playing cards in the magazine section. A stuffed toy parrot supervised a display of books about the outdoors.

In the southwest corner of the main level was the children’s zone. It was separated by a low wall with a special entrance in the form of an eight-foot high red cylinder with a large circular opening for a gate. I don’t think the cylinder was supposed to be a rocket or a tomato — just some liminal space to pass through into magical world of reading. A librarian had posted lots of chicken jokes high on the walls of this section: “Why did the turkey cross the road? Answer: To show he wasn’t chicken.”

I wanted to finish looking at the library quickly because it was almost four o’clock, and there was another branch to visit before the Saturday closing time of five o’clock. Picking up the pace, I strode over to the staircase that led to the basement. Just at the point where the landing curved to meet the first flight of steps, there was an open space between the landing and the set of windows spanning both floors. Two blue butterflies hung from the ceiling of the main floor in this open space, supporting strings that dangled all the way to the basement level. Paper cranes in red, pink, yellow, blue, and green clung to the two long strings, creating an origami cascade down to a book display of summer reading below.

The basement level was more down-to-business, what with its careers section, shelves of adult non-fiction, and extensive ESL and literacy collection. I selected a pronunciation book for one of my classes and scooted past long rows of dark green bookcases for a quick check-out. Thus endeth my fiftieth library encounter!

With the countdown to closing time getting closer and closer, it was fortunate that the next library I visited was a small one. Consisting of one square room in a community centre near Avenue and Wilson, Armour Heights branch had a very sheltering feel to it, especially with its substantial brick fireplace on the east wall. A long low eave spanning the length of the fireplace had been been converted into a reading bench. The bench was covered with inviting cushions, teddy bears, a tiger, zebra, and other assorted animals. A wooden chest with a Peter Rabbit decoration completed the cozy scene.

With only ten minutes left before closing, only two other library patrons besides myself remained. One beleaguered staff member was trying to deal with a querulous gentleman who seemed to feel the Toronto Public Library was persecuting him. He complained of being fined for books he had actually returned, and he condemned young librarians at another branch for not “giving a damn” and even laughing at him. I didn’t care for his loud, bullying tone, as he informed the woman at the Armour Height’s checkout desk that he’d even gotten people fired who didn’t respect him. She did her best to calm him down by being sympathetic, saying that the library system wasn’t perfect and she’d had similar problems. It was a relief for all of us when he finally left (not without asking the librarian’s name). I exited just after him and wasn’t overly surprised when he didn’t hold the door for me.

Later in the week, I visited library number fifty-two, Saint Lawrence branch. Located on Front Street near Sherbourne, Saint Lawrence’s entrance was through a public courtyard. Five gray pillars resting on beige marble bases held up the ceiling of the one long room. Four of the pillars were bare, but the one near the checkout desk was partly covered with flip-chart paper on which someone had drawn Egyptian hieroglyphics. I saw owls, snakes, herons, eyes, some Cleopatras, and ankh symbols on the paper.

The usual library sections were represented, along with one on local history. A framed 1867 map of Toronto showed the importance of the local neighborhood to the founding of our city. Another special feature of Saint Lawrence branch was a puppet theatre set into the wall. Paper vines, flowers, and clouds decorated the space around the square opening, along with a smiling sun and a castle (both in felt). A felt vine dangled in the air of the performance space, reminding me of “Jack and the Beanstalk”. Opposite the puppet theatre was a large cardboard castle-structure that had three arches and was plastered with notices about summer reading.

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Toronto Public Library Pilgrimage of 100 Branches

A Walking Tour of Urban Affairs, Sanderson, and College/Shaw Branches

A few days after the Mount Pleasant Library visit, I walked from the Eaton Centre to Ossington and Bloor, taking in three libraries along the way.

The first library I visited that day was Urban Affairs inside Metro City Hall. A blue and green banner alerted me to its presence, and I walked up a short flight of stairs into the quiet.

Judging from its silence and spaciousness, this branch was clearly more of a research than a community library (although there were lots of helpful leaflets about community events strewn about the tops of cabinets). With Urban Affair’s special Toronto Collection, microfilm machines, law and legislation section, and stacks of urban-themed magazines and journals, it reminded me of a time in my life when I was consumed with postgraduate research. (I used to spend hours in the University of Glasgow Library and other research libraries in Edinburgh, Leeds, and Cambidge when I was writing a Ph.D. thesis about Edmund Gosse’s Father and Son).

I admired Urban Affairs’ extra-wide tables, four appealing study rooms, meeting room, and the view of the busy intersection of John and Wellington. A few sleepers could be discovered face down in their papers, their breathing only mildly affecting the hush that was sometimes broken by the rustle of turning pages and the tapping of keyboards.

It was slightly disorienting to be in a Toronto library with no movie section, no ESL shelves, no storytelling schedules or librarians trying to herd patrons into a single line. The no-nonsense atmosphere didn’t encourage me to linger, but I was very sad when Urban Affairs closed in 2011. I would have liked to have had the chance to take some photographs of this serene branch.

The next two libraries I saw on my 2008 walking tour, Sanderson and College/Shaw, had very different vibes from Urban Affairs. Please click on the name-links in the previous sentence to see updated posts of these two branches!

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Toronto Public Library Pilgrimage of 100 Branches

Three More Libraries on My TPL Pilgrimage!

Let me tell you about them.

Don Mills Library–lobby featured a pillow embroidery display and a potted pine, main level was a massive room with orange walls, and the basement level offered substantial reference and career section.

Flemingdon Park Library–a small room housed within a larger community centre, very warm atmosphere with distinct but not unpleasant smell of chlorine from the pool next door, every computer unit hosted an absorbed library patron, separate glassed-in room for the ESL and Literacy collection.

Burrows Hall Library–like Flemingdon Park and Saint James Town, this library is part of a community centre. The centre includes a Chinese theatre, outside of which sit two large stone lions. Near the entrance to the library was a Christmas tree and two reindeer, one big room constituted the library, a Chinese dragon tapestry decorated the south wall, high ceilings, impressive multi-lingual section. I bought three discarded books from a collection of about thirty. This library seemed new and spacious, and it was uncrowded on a Saturday afternoon.

A big warm thank you to Stewart who has been the driver and fellow library pilgrim for most of the sites described so far!