Toronto is a city of passionate readers and the library offers supportive environment for reading as the foundation of learning. Branches carry diverse material for different opinions, ideas and experiences. The library proudly supports readers of all ages by also offering expertise in literacy and literary exploration, and hosting a wide range of popular reading programs that introduce and promote the joy of reading starting from the very young. We have responded to increased demand for digital content by expanding access to new resources that offer music, movies and other language materials. We continue to advocate for improved access to Canadian digital content at reasonable costs.
Key Achievements
In 2015, we:
- Launched the Reach Out and Read program to promote childhood literacy in partnership with St. Michael's Hospital. We supplied 4,000 kits for the program which included tips for parents on developing their children's literacy skills and information on how to get a library card.
- Widely distributed the popular and award-winning Let's Get Ready for Reading Guide across Ontario. Bruce County Public Library gifted the guide to all newborns in their community.
- Added publisher Condé Nast to our emagazine collection, giving customers access to even more popular magazines including New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Wired.
- Reached 3.5 million digital content checkouts in 2015, which comprised of 11 % of circulation. Ebook circulation through our vendor Overdrive was the highest in the world with over 3 million checkouts.
- Launched a new French ebook service, giving customers more access to popular titles in French.
- Partnered with Kumon Math and Learning Centres to produce Great Reads for Kids, a booklist with over 200 recommended books for kids ages six to 12, carefully selected by TPL children's staff.
- Added Persian language to our popular Dial-a-Story service, increasing the availability of languages to 16.