Dear Friend,
We have good news! Our Public Library is well into the process of reopening.
You can now place holds and schedule pick-ups at 70 branches across the city. In addition, in-branch computer access is available at 17 of our branches. For more information, see TPL’s Reopening Plan.
Library Workers are dedicated to serving you safely. Behind the scenes and in-branch, Library Workers have been working hard to keep the premises, equipment, and library materials clean and safe.
More Good News
In more good news, we’re pleased to report our Staffless Libraries Videos won a couple of awards!
Canadian Association of Labour Media (CALM)
Winner: Best short video, made for TV broadcast or online distribution
Winner: Silver Cube for Illustration
If you haven’t had a chance to watch the videos, you can check them all out on the Library Workers YouTube Channel. Don’t forget to subscribe!
However, despite the accolades and the 10,000 email messages supporters of our public library have sent, the chief library bureaucrat Vickey Bowles, has unilaterally decided to keep Staffless Libraries in Toronto.
Honestly, we’re disappointed but not surprised. Vickery has a track record of making decisions in the dark.
Read Vickery’s one-sided announcement to keep Staffless Libraries.
Interesting to note is that nowhere in Vickery’s report does she mention the outpouring of opposition to Staffless Libraries.
Her claim that the Staffless Library experiment was a “success” is based on deeply flawed statistics and an embarrassingly unscientific survey.
We will continue to fight Staffless Libraries, especially since Mayor Tory has already begun talking about cuts to our public library to deal with COVID-related deficits. For those of us who support the biggest and, we think, the best public library system in North America, we can’t let this happen.
We are gearing up to fight these cuts and you can help by sharing this message to encourage your friends and family to join OurPublicLibrary.to
Yours sincerely,
Brandon Haynes
OurPublicLibrary.to
