New Toronto

Closest major intersection Kipling Ave. and Lake Shore Blvd. West. Located on the west side of Eleventh Street, half a block south of Lake Shore Blvd. West.

Public Transit

TTC bus #110 from Islington subway station, stops at Lake Shore Blvd. West and 13th Street.
TTC streetcar #501 along Lake Shore Blvd. West stops at Lake Shore and 12th Street.

Parking

Free - parking off Eleventh Street

General Features

• Book Discussion Group: contact the branch for more information
• Book Drop - After Hours
• Pedometer Lending
• Seating for 45

Equipment for persons with disabilities

• Computer(s) with screen magnification software (Zoomtext)
• Magnifier - Hand held or stand

Technology

• Internet/Microsoft Office workstations (7)
• Wireless (Wi-Fi)

Collections

• Adult Literacy Materials
• Audiobooks on CD
• Large Print Collection

Language

• Large collection in Polish
• Medium collection in French (children)

1921	New Toronto Association Public Library is organized, 18 March. A volunteer-run library is located at 86 Lake Shore Road at the northeast corner of Sixth Street (in a small room in the rear of the New Toronto Municipal Office and in the same building as the Public Utilities Commission).
1923	Assets of the New Toronto Association Public Library are transferred to the municipally-supported New Toronto Public Library Board, established on 9 February.
1927	Town of New Toronto Council appropriates $15,000 for a library building, and construction begins in October on a site donated by Reeve William G. Jackson and Alexander Keith.
1928	New Toronto Public Library is officially opened on the west side of Eleventh Street, south of Lake Shore Road, 9 February. W. (Walter) Grayson Brown, Architect; David P. Gourlie, Contractor.
1941	Ina M. Keesee Children’s Library is opened, 22 June. As well as serving as the secretary-treasurer of New Toronto Public Library Board from 1921 until her death in 1956, Mrs. Keesee was the regent of the Lakeshore Chapter, Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, formed in March 1937 with the primary aim “to assist in the building of a Children’s Library”. Fundraising produced donations of $6,131.27, including $1,400 from the IODE; the town contributed the balance of $7,500.
1954	Reference and reading room wing addition, built at a cost of $43,000, is officially opened, 5 May. New Toronto is “pronounced the best small library in the province and its reference section the finest anywhere in a library of its size”. Ontario Library Review, 38 (August 1954), 219.
1967	New Toronto Public Library Board is taken over by the Etobicoke Public Library Board with the amalgamation of the Towns of New Toronto, Mimico and Long Branch with the Township of Etobicoke to become the Borough of Etobicoke.
1984	Etobicoke Public Library Board rejects a plan to close Long Branch and New Toronto branches, and replace them with one larger facility.
1993	The 1928 library, and the 1941 and 1954 additions, are demolished.
1994	New building is officially opened, 3 November. Moffat Kinoshita Architects. Recipient of a City of Etobicoke Urban Design Award, March 1996.
1998	New Toronto Branch becomes part of the Toronto Public Library with municipal amalgamation, 1 January.
2005	Hours open per week increased from 37 hours to 40 hours, 6 September.
2006	Closed 25 June for repainting, new carpet and shelf ends; landscaping done by Etobicoke Horticultural Society; enlarged Teen Zone with seating. Re-opened 11 July.

For booking information call 416-397-5969.

Meeting Room

• 693 sq. ft.
• Seats 50 lecture style. Seats 25 classroom style. Fire Code Occupancy: 50.
• Equipment:
  • chairs (50)
  • flip chart stand
  • tables (5)
  • kitchenette with mini-fridge

Meeting Room and wheelchair accessible washroom are located on the main floor.