2017 was another busy year for Toronto Public Library, despite the temporary closure of our busiest branch, North York Central Library.
Significant trends include:
- Electronic circulation increased 12.2%
- Physical circulation decreased 9.0%
- Virtual visits fell 15.6% due to a change in how traffic to tpl.ca and OverDrive is counted
- Electronic information requests increased 21.4%
- Programs offered increased 4.2% and program attendance remained stable (4.8%)
- Wireless sessions increased 24.4%
Influencing factors include the introduction of year-round Sunday service at six branches, the opening of three new youth hubs and a 35% increase in eLearning resources. With an increase in personal devices used to access library wifi, the demand for library wireless and quality service has grown.
Factors that contributed to decreased usage in certain areas included renovations & closures of 10 branches, a methodology change in how virtual visits are counted resulting in an overall decrease and the temporary closure of North York Central Library, which normally accounts for 8.7% of total visits. Finally, statutory holidays also had an impact with a total of 345 days of services in 2017 compared to 349 in 2016.
Key 2017 Achievements
As described in the strategic plan expanding access. increasing opportunity. building connections, we have outlined six priorities to focus on from 2016 – 2019.
Below are key 2017 achievements in each of these areas:
1. Advancing our digital platforms
- Debuted new mobile-friendly TPL customer account interface with new account functions including more user controls and status alerts, list functionality and saved items. Customers are now able to save items they discover on the website into a “wish list” and organize their saved items to their liking.
- Incorporated augmented reality (AR) elements into the Vice & Virtue TD Gallery exhibit. Hidden AR elements incorporated throughout the space enhances the customer experience by blending the real world artifacts with rich interactive content, such as videos and animations.
- Launched new Overdrive website with key enhancements including a more simplified borrowing process, new browsing options (improved subjects, collections and more featured content), and renewals.
- Offered a new way to browse popular nonfiction topics, such as parenting, the environment, arts and photography, health and wellness, and much more. Customers can browse the entire list of thousands of new titles, or zero-in on one of 18 topics.
- Launched LawDepot and PressReader. LawDepot allows customers to create do-it-yourself legal forms specific to the province of Ontario and Canada. PressReader provides online access to today’s newspapers and magazines from over 100 countries in over 60 languages, including Globe and Mail, National Post and Toronto Star.
2. Breaking down barriers to access, driving inclusion
- Piloted the Community Librarian Project successfully. The project places librarians in communities reaching vulnerable individuals at their point of need, and connects them with relevant library service. The project has led to the use of targeted fines forgiveness and the piloting of a library card profile for persons who are precariously housed. Our work was also featured in the poignant CBC short doc Secret Path: Freedom to Speak. TPL librarian Marie Belanger and a group of inmates at Toronto South Detention Centre reveal how studying the graphic novel has had a profound impact on each other.
- Increased Sunday Hours at six new branches (Albert Campbell, Barbara Frum, Brentwood, Fairview, S. Walter Stewart and York Woods branches) in July and August. Sunday service is popular and well used with 57,597 visits on summer Sundays and 64,096 items circulated in 2017. Toronto Reference Library averaged more than 500 visits per hour and Sunday summer visits to the newly rebuilt Albion Branch increased 62 percent over 2016. There were over 17,000 uses of the Library’s wireless service across the city on summer Sundays.
- Played a significant role in helping in supporting of Syrian refugees in the city. The Library participated in many information sessions educating participants about library resources and services, fines reduction, job search information and Library Settlement Partnerships.
- Expanded MAP Performing Arts Passes, offering customers in Neighbourhood Improvement Areas of the city free access to Toronto’s music, theatre, comedy and film events at venues, including Canadian Stage, Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema and The Royal Conservatory of Music
- Expanded Children’s Summer Programming. As part of our mandate to increase access to in-branch services on Sundays, Sunday programming for children age four to eight at 13 branches was added. A Mini Makers program allows children and parents to take part in fun, hands on activities that encourage problem-solving, explore STEM concepts and promote lifelong learning.
3. Expanding access to technology and training
- Extended availability of popular digital resources in our Enhanced Learning Centres. Video and audio editing software, 3D design and advanced digital design software (including Adobe Photoshop, Premiere and Illustrator) are now available at Cedarbrae, Fairview, Maria A. Shchuka, Northern District, Richview and S. Walter Stewart branches. This free access to new technology supports a range of opportunities for Torontonians of all ages.
- Expanded access to Pop-Up Learning (PULL) kits - a collection of emerging technology that moves to different branches each month. Each kit has a dedicated Digital Design Technician who is responsible for delivering programs, staff training and outreach. Staff help animate the equipment by offering new and free programs across the city. Programs include experiences in 3D design, computer programming, robotics, game development, virtual reality and electronics. In 2017, three additional PULLs were added, doubling the total to six. They were responsible for almost 1,400 activities and reached 17,000 people.
- Launched new Digital Innovation Programming including virtual reality, digital privacy serial workshops, robotics and circuitry, electronics and more. This initiative increases digital literacy by exposing children to new technologies, developing a basic understanding of how they work and providing opportunities to use these tools creatively. In 2017, we added 3 new Digital Innovation Hubs at Albion, Agincourt and Downsview branches. In total, the Hubs delivered 500 programs with 6,600 participants.
- Launched second phase of the Wi-Fi Hotspot Lending Pilot with an upgraded unlimited data plan. Participants were recruited at pilot locations and the program is made possible by a donation from Google.org and Rogers, and Poverty Reduction Strategy funding from the City of Toronto.
- Lead a team of libraries in implementing a Technology Assessment Toolkit in their communities. The library engaged Nordicity to conduct a study on technology access in public libraries and its outcomes for Ontario Communities. The toolkit aims to enable public library systems to: measure the outputs (i.e., availability and usage) and outcomes of their technology services; identify priorities for technology services based on evidence; benchmark their technology service levels with other public libraries in Ontario; and, understand how prepared frontline staff are to support technology services.
- Partnered with Cisco Canada’s non-profit Networking Academy and the City of Toronto’s Employment and Social Services, to provide online and in-person IT and business courses to help those aiming to upgrade their job skills, as well as those working to attain professional certification.
4. Establishing TPL as Toronto's centre for continuous and self-directed learning
- Launched Brainfuse for online tutoring for Toronto students. Brainfuse is a new eLearning platform that connects professional tutors with students in grades K-12 offering live online homework help.
- Expanded the Your Health Matters partnership with Toronto Public Health (TPH). A wide variety of TPH programs and services are held in libraries and the partnership extends into communities, particularly through interagency networks in priority and NIA areas. There are public health nurses reaching out to vulnerable adults at Toronto Reference Library and several other branches; TPH staff meeting in libraries with pregnant and new mothers to provide coaching on nutrition; and nurses working with youth in our Youth Hubs.
- Released How to Spot Fake News, a simple guide developed by librarians as a resource for staff and the public who need help identifying fake news, finding reliable information and guiding others. The guide encourages Toronto residents to be more thoughtful and critical when looking at information sources.
- Launched suite of summer programs promoting wonder among children 6-12. Summer Wonder is an exciting suite of library programs and services for children age 6-12 and their families, piloting at Agincourt, Albion, Cedarbrae, Fairview, S. Walter Stewart and York Woods branches. These programs and services promote wonder, creativity, and discovery, and offer fun learning experiences every day throughout the summer to support children for when they return to school in the fall.
- Launched new partnership with the ENRICHES collaborative. This group of Toronto Seniors Strategy supporters led by Sinai Health, has resulted in a series of interactive digital health workshops in branches focusing on the needs of family caregivers. A collaboration with Toronto Employment and Social Services (TESS) also provides job search and skills training for adults 45+ in four library branches.
5. Creating community connections through cultural experiences
- Concluded another successful year in the Bram and Bluma Appel Salon at Toronto Reference Library. Guests included high-profile artists and thinkers like Eden Robinson, Heather O’Neill, Margaret Atwood and Elan Mastai, and international literary superstars like Paul Auster, Etgar Keret, Roxane Gay and Mohsin Hamid.
- Built relationships with Indigenous communities to develop culturally relevant programs and services supporting the library’s Strategies for Indigenous Initiatives. This included holding a Indigenous Readers’ Services Conference for staff, “Keepers of the Stories”, an Indigenous Writers Gathering co-organized with Cherie Dimaline featuring high-profile writers from the Indigenous community, launching an Indigenous Canada MOOC Learning Circle, and forming our Indigenous Advisory Council who continue to provide feedback and guidance on the direction of Indigenous Initiatives.
- Continued to add to our Chinese Canadian Archive collection including noteworthy acquisitions from novelist Judy Fong Bates, journalist and writer Jan Wong, historian Arlene Chan, community activist William C. Wong and Valerie Mah, the first principal of Chinese descent at the Toronto District School Board.
- Developed a recreational program for adults with intellectual disabilities in partnership with Community Living Toronto at Parliament Street and Fort York branches. The program provides a positive, welcoming library experience for adults with intellectual disabilities. It provides participants with exposure to the library and our resources and services and helps keep them socially engaged.
- Celebrated Freedom to Read Week, an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom. Library staff also hosted an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit on March 1 as part of the week. Close to 120 people attended programs held at six branches during Freedom to Read Week.
- Celebrated tenth anniversary of the Sun Life Financial Museum + Arts Pass (MAP) Program. The Library hosted a celebration event at the Toronto Reference Library to honour the ongoing support of the program’s title sponsor, Sun Life Financial, as well as the participation of our venue partners, including the Aga Khan Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, Bata Shoe Museum, Black Creek Pioneer Village, City of Toronto Historic Sites, Gardiner Museum, Ontario Science Centre, Royal Ontario Museum, Textile Museum of Canada and the Toronto Zoo. Since the inception of the Sun Life Financial MAP program, more than 1.5 million Torontonians have benefited, borrowing 750,000 passes.
- Monthly girls book club called A Room of Your Own at Lillian H. Smith got the opportunity to visit Mayor Tory at City Hall. The girls told the Mayor a bit about the book they were reading and had a conversation about books and what it is like to be Mayor. A Room of Your Own, formed by club facilitator Tanya Marie Lee, gives teen girls ages 13-18 the opportunity to share their curiosity, ambitions, hopes and frustrations with their peers. The club also came to the attention of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's wife, Sophie Grégoire, who sent them an inspiring video message about strength, beauty and perseverance.
- Celebrated, Toronto Reference Library’s 40th anniversary with a series of programs and blog posts featuring collections and highlighting the history and architecture of the building. The activities and accompanying social media generated lively discussions about what TRL has meant to some of our customers.
6. Transforming for 21st century service excellence
- Piloted light therapy lamps at two TPL branches, Brentwood and Malvern, for customers who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and other light deficiency disorders. This project aims to provide access to light therapy lamps for Torontonians who might not otherwise be able to afford it.
- Strengthened relationship with the Open Data Institute Toronto. Library staff and a group of participants from the second annual hackathon, held at Toronto Reference Library, continue to meet weekly to create a booking calendar app that will improve access to the unique equipment and spaces found in the Library’s Digital Innovation Hubs. In addition, two post-hackathon programs were developed to continue the conversation around open data and poverty.
- Re-opened Agincourt Branch with exciting enhancements to the second floor that include light-filled spaces, an expanded teen zone, two new programming rooms, a new staff workroom, more laptop counters and study spaces, and a new welcoming public lounge area.
- Doubled Eglinton Square Branch size. The renovated branch includes a community meeting room and more room for library materials in Chinese, French, Tagalog and a Hindi DVD collection.
- Won a Toronto Urban Design Award. The library, along with LGA Architectural Partners / Phillip H. Carter Architects were the winners of a Toronto Urban Design Award of Excellence for the Scarborough Civic Centre Branch in the category of Public Buildings.
- Re-opened Albion Branch to great fanfare. Opening celebrations included visits by Mayor John Tory, who addressed an audience of enthusiastic library-goers, as well as City Librarian Vickery Bowles, Board Chair Ron Carinici and Board member Councillor Sarah Doucette. The Mayor spoke to the crowd about the role of the Library in this community and the exciting programs and services offered. Customers were treated to entertainment that included a local Ubuntu drum and dance group, a magician to dazzle the young folks and a DJ who added even more energy to the celebration. Among the many great features, the new branch includes the Library’s seventh Youth Hub, which was full of teens busy checking out their new space.
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