History
In 1830, a library was established in the York Mechanics' Institute. In 1884, the collection became the Toronto Public Library. Between 1907 and 1916, ten libraries were built with funds from the Andrew Carnegie Trust. Several of these Carnegie libraries continue to be used by the public library; one, the original Central Reference Library, is now the Koffler Student Centre at the University of Toronto.
Prior to the Amalgamation of Toronto in 1998, each of the former municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto operated their own public libraries. They include:
- Etobicoke Public Library: in the City of Etobicoke, which established 1950 with 13 branches
- North York Public Library: in the City of North York, which established 1955 with 19 branches
- York Public Library: in the City of York, which established 1967 with 6 branches
- East York Public Library: in the Borough of East York, which established 1967 with 5 branches
- Scarborough Public Library: in the City of Scarborough, which established 1955 with 19 branches
- Metro Toronto Public Library: across Metropolitan Toronto, which established 1967 with 1 branch
- Toronto Public Library: in Old Toronto, which established 1883 with 33 branches.
When the Government of Ontario amalgamated the former municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto, the individual library boards and the Toronto Reference Library merged into the Toronto Public Library. The merger caused the Toronto Public Library to become the largest library system in North America, serving a population of 2.3 million people with 98 branches at the time.
In 2004, a new library was opened in the St. James Town neighbourhood of Toronto, bringing the total number of branches to 99. A new branch is scheduled to open in Scarborough City Centre in 2014.
The Toronto Public Library is among the municipal services whose budgets may be extensively cut under a review launched by mayor Rob Ford. The Municipal Affairs branch closed in September 2011, bringing the number of branches to back to 98.
Read more about this topic: Toronto Public Library
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