Hours and Locations

Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books

Virtual Reference Library

Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation & Fantasy

Local History Resources

Historicity: Toronto Then and Now

City of Toronto

Toronto's Carnegie Libraries

1830
York Mechanics' Institute established "for the mutual improvement of its members in useful Scientific knowledge...A library of reference and circulation will be formed."

1834
Town of York became the City of Toronto, and the York Mechanics' Institute was renamed Toronto Mechanics' Institute. To educate workers (mechanics), the Institute provided a library and offered classes ranging from philosophy and music to science, electricity and architectural drawing.

1861
Toronto Mechanics' Institute moved into its new home at the northeast corner of Church and Adelaide streets. Designed by F. W. Cumberland & G. W. Storm, the building contained a library with a separate reading room, a lecture hall and a large music hall.

1882
Free Libraries Act passed by the Ontario Legislature

1883
Free Library By-Law approved by a huge majority of Toronto voters, Jan. 1. Toronto and Guelph were the first municipalities in Ontario to create free public libraries. Alderman John Hallam led the Toronto campaign.

1884
Toronto Public Library officially opened in the Mechanics' Institute building, Church and Adelaide streets. John Hallam, the first chairman of the Board, led the ceremonies. Two branches, Northern and Western, were also opened in 1884.

Invitation to opening of Toronto Public Library, March 6, 1884

1885
Books in German and French bought, the beginnings of the library's multilanguage collections. Works in Russian, Yiddish, Italian and Lithuanian were added in the 1910s for recent European immigrants.

1887
Policy to collect Canadiana established. James Bain, the first chief librarian, began building the library's special collections of publications and manuscripts documenting Canada.

1903
Carnegie grant of $350,000 for a new central library (1909) and three branches: Yorkville (1907), Queen & Lisgar (1909-1964), and Riverdale (1910). A second Carnegie grant of $50,000 built Beaches, High Park and Wychwood branches (1916). Libraries at West Toronto (Annette Street, 1909), Weston (1914), and Mimico (1915-1966) also were constructed with Carnegie funds.

Toronto's Carnegie Libraries

Letter offering Carnegie grant, Jan. 23 1903

1909
Toronto Reference Library opened at College and St. George streets with 97,788 books.

1909
Open shelf system adopted allowing borrowers in the branches to retrieve books themselves instead of asking library staff

1911
Municipal Reference Library opened in City Hall. This was the start of special services for civic officials and business people.

1912
Dewey Decimal system of classification adopted for all books except fiction. The Library also prepared and published An Extension of the Dewey Decimal Classification applied to Canada.

1912
Children's services started with the hiring of Lillian H. Smith to head the Children's Department; story hours inaugurated

Children's services at Toronto Public Library (Toronto Archives)

1922
Boys and Girls House opened on St. George St. It was the first library devoted exclusively to children in the British Empire.

1923
Canadian Catalogue of Books started, an annual list of "books published in Canada about Canada, as well as those written by Canadians." Toronto Public Library continued to prepare and publish this forerunner of Canada's official national bibliography for 28 annual installments. The National Library of Canada took over the project in 1951, renaming the bibliography, Canadiana.

1927
Chief librarian George H. Locke is the first Canadian to be president of the American Library Association, 1926-27. During his presidency, the American Library Association held its annual meeting in Toronto, June 1927.

more information ...

1930
Central Circulating Library added to the Reference Library

1930
Library service extended to homes for the aged and hospitals

1939
Miltary Camp Library established at Exhibition Place for the troops in training there. During the First World War, Toronto Public Library had been the first library in North America to provide this service for soldiers.

1949
The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books presented to the Toronto Public Library Board by Edgar Osborne; the collection represents English children's literature from the 14th century up to 1910

1950
Etobicoke Public Library Board established. With the amalgamation in 1967 of the Township of Etobicoke with the towns of Mimico, New Toronto, and Long Branch, the Library Board had ten branch locations, increasing to 13 by 1997

1955
North York Public Library Board established with a bookmobile and two small libraries on Yonge Street. It embarked on a tiered model of service with a central library, and regional and satellite branches; by 1997 it had grown into a system of 19 library locations

1955
Scarborough Public Library Board established, bringing together the Agincourt, Highland Creek and Scarboro library associations. By 1997, it had developed into a system of 19 libraries including neighbourhood and community branches, and three district libraries

1967
Public library boards at Forest Hill (est. 1954) and Swansea (est. 1923) amalgamated with Toronto Public Library Board, when their municipalities became part of the City of Toronto

1967
The Township of East York and the Town of Leaside amalgamated to form the Borough of East York. The East York Public Library Board established, amalgamating the public library boards of the former Township of East York (est. 1946) and the Town of Leaside (est. 1944). By 1997 it had five branch locations.

1967
Borough of York Public Library formed bringing together library facilities from York Township and the Town of Weston; by 1997 it had six branch libraries.

1967
Metropolitan Toronto Library Board established. The Central Library collections and other special collections were transferred from the Toronto Public Library to the new Metro Board.

1970
Judith Merril donated to the Toronto Public Library her collection, the beginning of the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy

1977
New Metropolitan Toronto Library opened at 789 Yonge Street at Asquith Avenue

1997
The City of Toronto Act (Bill 103) passed by the Ontario Legislature, amalgamating the seven exisiting municipal governments of Metropolitan Toronto

1998
Seven library boards in Metropolitan Toronto united into one library called the Toronto Public Library, with 98 locations, the largest public library system in North America serving a population of 2.3 million

1999
Integrated online catalogue of the Library's collections completed, giving unified access to nine million books, magazines, CDs, CD-ROMs and other materials in a hundred different languages

1999
Virtual Reference Library launched, providing Internet access to information on key subject areas through a series of gateways, digitized collections and research databases

2000
Installation of more than 400 Internet workstations acquired through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

2000
Strategic Plan prepared to guide Toronto Public Library into the new millennium

2001
Toronto Public Library was the world's second most used public library by circulation after Hong Kong

2001
Launch of Historicity: Toronto Then and Now, an award-winning Internet gateway to the history of Toronto and its neighbourhoods

2002
Leaside Branch, officially re-opened on June 11, 2002 is Toronto Public Library's newest building, replacing the old Leaside Branch (1950)

2003
Toronto Public Library hosted the American Library Association Conference, June 19-25