Videos:

Precarious Work in Toronto Public Library: Toronto’s Challenge

Film on Precarious Work:

City Council’s neglect of Our Public Library regrettably extends to the people who work there. Precarious Work at the Toronto Public Library: Toronto’s Challenge reveals both the dedication to public service and the struggle to make ends meet by the 50 per cent of TPL workers who work in jobs that are part-time, insecure and without the normal benefits, including pensions, of most other City workers.

This informative and emotional short film (19 minutes) features three such library workers, their union president, Maureen O’Reilly, City Councillor and Youth and Equity Advocate Joe Cressy and pioneering McMaster University labour economist Dr. Wayne Lewchuck. A must see for those who care about Our Public Library.

Our Public Library

The above video is a specially-commissioned (and sometimes provocative!) animated short film on the Toronto Public Library by James Braithwaite and Josh Raskin, who were nominated for an 2008 Academy Award for their video on a 1969 John Lennon interview by a 14-year-old, I Met the Walrus. The video won a 2009 Emmy Award and a 2010 YouTube/ Guggenheim Award.

Our Public Library is narrated by Toronto’s 2006 Scotiabank Giller Award Winner Dr. Vincent Lam. (4 min),  Vincent Lam’s most recent book, The Headmaster’s Wager, is both a Canadian and International bestseller.