Toronto Reference Library Users Tell Their Stories
To celebrate the library's 30th anniversary, we compiled a booklet of library users' stories, available at the Reference Library from November 2nd. Here are a few samples:
Hassan Santur
"I started coming to the library in around 1997, when I started school at York University, and I found a lot of books that I couldn’t find in other libraries. I love the way the library looks – it’s a very inviting environment, and I really enjoy coming here.
"I work across the street, and on my lunchtime, this is a good place to do some reading and some research, and I’m a writer so that’s really handy.
"I’m an aspiring novelist, and one of the things I love about this library is that they do the writer in residence program. The first real, living, human writer I ever met was Dennis Bock, the writer in residence back in 2003. He saw the first short story I ever wrote, and he was so encouraging that I figured, if he thinks it’s good, then I guess I should just continue doing it.
"I just recently finished my first novel, so hopefully one of these days I might do a reading here, who knows? That would be a nice payback, I think."
Lena Schuck
While I was pregnant, the only name I wanted to name the baby, if he was a boy, was Dante. Unfortunately, my husband, and co-namer, did not agree. Everyday, we would haggle over names, fighting and disagreeing and knowing, that when the baby did come, it would have to be a boy (in girls' names, we found perfect accordance).
To add conviction to my name, I decided to learn Italian, but because of limited time and a tight budget, I did it here. I learned Italian in the language centre on the fifth floor.
I started in August when I was already huge with a baby that ended up weighing almost nine pounds. And five days a week, for an hour each day, I would study with the music listeners and the ESLers, talking quietly to myself in the microphone. "Io voglio chiamare il mio figlio Dante."
The baby came on a Sunday in November and just as I suspected, he was a boy. But before there was any debate, before I had to plead and bargain, my husband called our son Dante. "Mi piace che il nostro figlio si chiama Dante."
(He said that he let me "win" because labour looked hard. I believe it was my burgeoning skill at the romantic language Dante helped establish 700 years ago.)
Even now, I am still learning, though the days I could bring him quietly in the snuggly are now gone. Now, I borrow storybooks in Italian and we read them together. "Io leggo i libri con mio figlio di nome Dante."
Muhammad Moin Uddin
"Today’s a very good day for me, because today I completed three years in Canada, and my career started here in the Toronto Reference Library.
"So far, this library has changed my life three times. I’m a foreign medical graduate, and two months after I came to Canada from Pakistan, I was studying for my license, and trying to get a job somewhere. I was sitting here looking at newspapers, and there was a girl over here whom was doing the same, and she asked me a few questions regarding my career. I said to her, "Yeah, I’m a foreign medical graduate and I have been teaching in other countries." So she guided me to a private career college, and I went there, they assessed me and asked me to do an exam, and I passed the exam and started teaching there. So since then, I’ve been teaching, and from what I understand, I’m a very lucky person to get a job in my profession, in just a couple of months - just because I came to the Toronto Reference Library.
"I also have an interest in writing poetry, and one day I came here and saw an advertisement regarding a poetry competition. I was not expecting that anybody would publish my poetry; it was really highly competitive. But I said I could just try it - I had written some poetry related to my wife and my marriage. So I just submitted it, and forgot it. After two months I got a letter that my poetry had been selected, and they were going to publish it. I didn’t believe it, and I emailed them and asked if it was true, and they said, "You wait, maybe you’ll win the prize." Well, I didn’t win the prize, but they published my poetry in the book. So I feel proud of myself; it was a big achievement for me.
"So, first I got a job, second, I got my poetry published through this place, and the third thing was that it got me started on my hobby, which is swimming. I’ve always wanted to swim, but I didn’t know how, and I wanted to learn about the rules and regulations. I went to an institute, and I asked them about it, and they said they would charge this much money for a course with an instructor. So I came back here, and I went to the reference desk and said, "Could you please guide me to an institute where I could learn about swimming?" And he said, "Why don’t you use our materials here?" I said, "What materials?" He said, "We have videocassettes and all that." I didn’t realize that the reference library had videocassettes about swimming! So I went to the desk, and they gave me three or four cassettes, and now I’m always going swimming, and I’m very happy with it. This is the third thing in my life that I got from the Toronto Reference Library.
"I don’t know about the future, but I am hopeful that I will get more from this library. I would say, especially after three years, that it’s beyond my expectation. I thought it was only a place for study, but today I realize it’s more than that: we have to explore it. Newcomers can take a lot of benefit, not just for academic purposes, but for lifestyle, hobbies, culture, language, a lot of things. The Toronto Reference Library really helped me out, and I will never forget it. Today, I refer most immigrants to the Toronto Reference Library. It’s a place where you can find your new pathway through life."
Corinne Baranger - (French)
Je suis venue m’installer à Toronto en 2002 et la bibliothèque de référence a toujours été le lieu où j’ai trouvé les ressources nécessaires et utiles non seulement à mon installation à Toronto mais aussi pour mes loisirs.
J’ai découvert ce lieu lorsque j’étudiais l’anglais, j’ai alors utilisé les ressources offertes au cinquième étage depuis les livres de grammaire jusqu’au laboratoire de langue.
Ensuite j’ai cherché un travail, j’ai alors fréquenté assidûment le troisième étage en consultant les annuaires, les nombreux livres contenant de multiple exemples de curriculum vitae et lettres de motivation. J’ai aussi utilisé les autres ressources électroniques disponibles.
Puis j’ai décidé de démarrer une entreprise, j’y suis alors allée pour consulter les outils statistiques afin de développer mon plan d’affaires et assister aux ateliers proposés qui m’ont aidé à mieux comprendre le milieu des affaires ici et donné de nombreuses idées.
Étant nouvelle dans le pays, j’ai rapidement constaté que le rapport à l’argent était très différent c’est pourquoi j’ai assisté aux ateliers sur la façon de se constituer un portefeuille de valeurs, une épargne retraite et bien d’autres sujets de la vie quotidienne qui m’ont été très utiles.
Dès mon arrivée au Canada, j’ai rejoint plusieurs associations dont la société d’histoire de Toronto, de nouveau je suis allée à la bibliothèque pour y trouver des ouvrages relatant l’histoire de la ville et de la Province .
Chaque fois que j’avais des difficultés avec une recherche, je me suis adressée à l ’un des bibliothécaires qui m’a toujours renseigné avec professionnalisme.
J’aime aussi visiter la salle d’exposition où de façon régulière sont exposées des œuvres me permettant de découvrir un peu mieux la ville où je vis.
Un étage que j’affectionne aussi est la salle des journaux, c’est un espace qui a été réaménagé il y a quelques années et qui est devenu un endroit très confortable.
Je m’y rends pour lire les journaux de mon pays ou consulter les archives en ligne des journaux de Toronto.
Pour des recherches plus générales ou des projets de vacances je me rends au second étage et feuillette les livres pleins de photos sur papier glacé me faisant découvrir tous les pays du monde.
Dans le cadre de mon activité professionnelle je fais des traductions et ne dispose pas toujours de tous les outils nécessaires à la maison je vais alors au cinquième étage afin de consulter les dictionnaires et autres livres de grammaire à ma disposition.
La bibliothèque de référence est le lieu où j’aime aller si j’ai un ouvrage à consulter, un rapport à étudier ou à écrire.
Son vaste espace central me donne l’impression de pouvoir respirer au contraire de beaucoup de bibliothèques où l’on se retrouve à étudier au milieu des rayonnages de livres avec le sentiment d’être oppressé par ceux-ci.
Définitivement je peux dire que la bibliothèque de référence est mon endroit préféré à Toronto.
Corinne Baranger - (English)
I arrived in Toronto from France to settle in 2002 and the Reference Library has always been the place where I found the resources to help me with my settlement and ideas for my leisure time.
I discovered the place when I was studying English using the books and other audio-visual materials on the fifth floor.
When I was looking for a job I frequently used the third floor consulting directories, books with many examples of résumés and cover letters. I also used the other electronic resources.
Then I decided to start a company; I went there to study statistics and other resources to develop my business plan and to attend workshops which gave me the understanding of doing business here and many ideas.
Being new in the country, I quickly realized that the way people deal with money is very different here so I attended workshops like: how to build a portfolio, a pension plan and many other useful topics related to daily life.
As soon as I moved here I joined some organizations like the Société d’histoire de Toronto. Again I went to the library to find books related to the history of the City and the Province. Every time I had difficulties with my research, I asked a librarian who always answered in a professional way.
I also like to visit the exhibition room on the first floor where on a regular basis are displayed art pieces allowing me to better know the city where I live.
A floor I really like is the newspaper room, it is a space that was renovate d few years ago and became a very comfortable place. I go there to read newspapers from my country or to consult the archives accessible on the computer.
For general search or vacation projects I go to the second floor and look at books full of pictures on glossy paper that give me an overview of the whole world.
Part of my professional activity is translation and sometimes I need more tools that I don’t have at home so I go to the fifth floor to look at the dictionaries and other grammar books available.
The reference library is a place where I like to go if I want to read, to study some reports or to write. The large central space gives me the feeling I can breathe, on the contrary to many other libraries where I feel oppressed by the shelves full of books.
Definitively I can say that the Reference Library is my favourite place in Toronto.
