Annual Report 2013 Read - Grow a City of Readers

This year's Keep Toronto Reading Festival focused the spotlight on the One Book community read: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The themes of this timeless novel -- media saturation, censorship, memory and storytelling -- were explored at dozens of events in every neighbourhood across the city. Read more.

Toronto Public Library launched Let's Get Ready for Reading, a fun and handy research-based guide for parents, caregivers and educators of children from birth to five. The guide was developed by our expert children's librarians and is full of book recommendations, rhymes, songs, finger plays, activities and reading readiness tips, all based on the Ready for Reading skills and practices. Read more about the event here.

National reading campaign logoIn May 2013, Toronto Public participated in the National Reading Campaign and promoted a "What did you read today?" contest for children by creating "What did you read today?" spaces in participating library branches where kids can post what they're reading and engage in discussions about reading in its many forms. Library staff will tweet pictures of their "What did you read today?" spaces, becoming eligible to win $1,000 in new books for their library. Read more here.

A new improved interface for Toronto Public Library's OverDrive e-collections features a streamlined design, easier check-out and a new format option called OverDrive Read that allows customers to read the same title on multiple devices in their browser without the need to download. Have a look.

Expert librarians develop booklists around themes such as Asian Heritage Month. Check out some of our recommended reads.

The 2013 theme was GO! -- encouraging children to journey to places near and far, from the backyard to other worlds, all through the joy of reading. Read more about the TD Summer Reading Club here.

Hachette Book Group (HBG) made its entire digital catalogue of more than 5,000 e-books available to Toronto Public Library in June. HBG joins the growing list of publishers including Random House Canada, HarperCollins Canada and many Canadian independent publishers making available popular and award-winning authors to the Library's expanding e-book collection. Read more here.

Kobo added to Toronto Public Library's retail affiliate program

Toronto Public Library is asking anyone considering buying books for their summertime reading to do so via its website. Kobo, a global eReading company headquartered in Toronto, has been added to the library's retail affiliate program, giving customers the option to buy e-books via torontopubliclibrary.ca by clicking "buy your own copy" on titles that are available in digital format. Customers will be directed to Kobo's website to finalize the purchase, and Toronto Public Library will receive a portion of sales and use the funds to support its collections and services.

More info here.

Logo_macmillanMacmillan has recently made more than 1,600 e-books available to Toronto Public Library. Macmillan joins the growing list of publishers including Random House Canada, HarperCollins Canada and many Canadian independent publishers making available popular and award-winning authors to the Library's expanding e-book collection.

Toronto Public Library customers now have access to hundreds of current and popular digital magazine titles for free with their library card. There is nothing to return, no extra fees or fines and no limits to the amount of magazines you can download. The issues are yours to keep until you delete them and can be read on a computer, tablet or smartphone. Customers are encouraged to try it out at tpl.ca/zinio.

Toronto Public Library announced the titles that top its distinguished First & Best Booklist, the selection of the year's finest Canadian books for children from birth to five years that help build early literacy skills.

The 2013 list includes a number of names familiar to First & Best including Barbara Reid (Welcome, Baby), Kathy Stinson and Dušan Petričić (The Man with the Violin), as well as newcomers Hélène Boudreau (I Dare You Not to Yawn), Anne Villeneuve (Loula Is Leaving for Africa) and Jessica Young (My Blue Is Happy). More info here.

There are now more e-books than ever to choose from at Toronto Public Library (tpl.ca/downloads), with the addition of 15,000 titles from Penguin Group and more than 5,000 titles from McGraw-Hill, including many of this year's bestsellers and popular science, business and learning materials. Read more.

Toronto Public Library reached a new milestone in 2013, with more than two million downloads of e-books and e-magazines. The Library is adding popular and best-selling titles on a daily basis to respond to this rapidly growing demand. Interest in e-books is expected to grow even more over the holidays as people receive e-readers or tablets and have a little more time to catch up on their reading.

We're taking this opportunity to remind readers of our e-book collection. Here's a list of some of 2013's top-circulating e-books that are available to borrow.