Parkdale

General Features

• Book Drop - 24 Hours
• Express Checkout
• Individual Study Rooms
• Light Therapy Lamp
• Parkdale Community Information Centre
• Piano/Practice Room
• Seating for 120
• Sun Life Financial Musical Instrument Lending Library

Equipment for persons with disabilities

• Book stand
• Computers with screen magnification software (Zoomtext) (2)
• Large print keyboard
• Large trackball mouse
• Magnifier
• Natural spectrum lamp
• Page turner
• Wheelchair accessible furniture

Technology

• Internet/Microsoft Office workstations (23)
• Scanner
• Wireless (Wi-Fi)

Collections

• Adult Literacy Materials
• Audiobooks on CD
• Large Print Collection
• Local History Collection
• Rita Cox Black & Caribbean Heritage

Language

• Large collection in Chinese - Adult
• Medium collection in French, Tamil
• Small collection in Hindi (DVDs only), Polish, Tibetan - Adult, Vietnamese

Year	Details
1880	Parkdale Library Association and Mechanics' Institute established, November.
1881	Library opened, 1 November. Located in school-house of St. Mark's Church, Cowan Avenue, east side, south of Queen Street West.
1888	Relocated to Town of Parkdale's former council chamber and municipal offices, Queen Street West, south side, east of Cowan Avenue.
1889	Town of Parkdale annexed to Toronto, 23 March. Books and furniture of Parkdale Library Association and Mechanics' Institute transferred to TPL, 10 May.
1890	Relocated to Dundas Street Branch, opened 25 January. Rented premises, Dundas Street (now Ossington Avenue), west side, just north of Queen Street West.
1903	Carnegie Corporation of New York granted $350,000 to TPL for new central library and 3 branch library buildings. Toronto's Carnegie Libraries - Queen and Lisgar
1907	Site acquired Queen Street West, southeast corner Lisgar Street.
1909	Dundas Street Branch closed March 15. Queen and Lisgar Branch opened 30 April. Architect Robert McCallum, City Architect.
1962	Site acquired for Parkdale Branch, Queen Street West, southeast corner of Cowan Avenue.
1964	Queen and Lisgar Branch closed. Relocated to Parkdale Branch, opened 28 February. Resource branch for region, also housed Languages and Literature Centre. Gordon S. Adamson & Associates, Architects.
1970	Community Information Post opened.
1990	Learning Centre opened.
1993	Closed 21 June for carpet replacement. Reopened 5 July.
1998	Closed 7 December for retrofit. Bookmobile stop provided during closure.
1999	Reopened 26 June.
2007	New hours, 8 January. Hours open per week increased from 60.5 to 65.5.
2016	The Sun Life Financial Musical Instrument Lending Library opened in April. It is the first of its kind in the city, and also the first in public libraries across Canada.