Testimonials
Participating Ontario libraries have effectively leveraged the services offered by Bridge, utilizing data to inform action plans, needs assessments, and digital strategies.
The following Ontario participating libraries serve as notable examples, showcasing how Bridge has shaped their technology services and empowered data-driven decision-making.
“Markham Public Library has been a proud contributor to the Bridge Project since 2019. Bridge directly speaks to Markham Public Library’s outcomes with our Digital Literacy Strategy and allows us to support those important goals in our reporting and communication with stakeholders.
Without Bridge we wouldn’t be able to have direct comparators for access and literacy with other libraries in Ontario. It is so helpful, empowering and inspiring to see the work the library does through access to technology, through Makerspaces and through staff instruction and knowledge collected through one reporting interface.“
Markham Public Library (2023)
“The Bridge Toolkit provided us access to Patrons' and staff Surveys that guided our future technological needs and helped us understand where we stand compared to other library systems.
I am particularly impressed by how various meetings and workshops were organized to educate library staff throughout the implementation process.”
Milton Public Library (2022)
“Participating in the Bridge Project has given Oshawa Public Libraries valuable insights and important data in order to help us make better decisions.
We appreciate the user-friendly design of the Dashboard and the ease with which we can quickly toggle between looking at our own data and our data as compared to our provincial comparators and our peer group.
Finally, the data visualization tools allow us to quickly make sense of the information and use it to tell a story about how our customers use our space, services, programming, and technology”
Oshawa Public Library (2022)
"As a rural library, the Bridge program has helped us better understand patron experiences with our technology services. Bridge is an invaluable resource for small and rural libraries, which are often limited in what services they can offer; providing clear insight into what is working and what needs improvement."
Marathon Public Library (2021)
"We are grateful to be a participating library in the Bridge Project. The Bridge Toolkit has done the majority of the planning, research and implementation of the project which makes utilizing it for our community very simple and worthwhile.
If libraries and the communities they serve are to make a meaningful impact to close the digital divide, they need to have community-specific data to support their efforts. The Bridge toolkit makes it very easy for libraries to capture the necessary data they need to illustrate the specific gaps, challenges, and opportunities they have to create sustainable digital equity."
Guelph Public Library (2021)
"We can already see the benefit of this data-collecting program. We can see the technology services that our Patrons seem to gravitate around the most."
Wikwemikong First Nations Public Library (2018)
"We will be looking to continue to evaluate this in the future, and guide our future training, equipment and program offerings based on community needs and the outcomes we are trying to achieve."
Perth & District Union Public Library (2018)
"[The] pilot had a great impact on our library and our staff. It really showed us how so many people, in and around the community, depend on us for their everyday needs."
Mattawa Public Library (2018)
"Staff are now better aware of technology and services offered to the public and feel more comfortable speaking about them and working with the public."
Innisfil Public Library (2018)
"Previously, the importance of access to e-government in the library was only available in anecdotal form, and we now have numbers and percentages that support the need for that critical access...we can use this information to advocate to maintain or even increase the library's budgetary funding."
Kitchener Public Library (2018)
"This toolkit will be invaluable in reassuring staff, administration, board members and city administration that the access to technology - in its many forms - we offer to citizens is money and staff resources well spent."
Windsor Public Library (2018)