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Coordinates: 43°40′18″N 79°23′12″W / 43.671752°N 79.386697°W / 43.671752; -79.386697
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Toronto Reference Library
Map
General information
Address789 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario
CountryCanada
Coordinates43°40′18″N 79°23′12″W / 43.671752°N 79.386697°W / 43.671752; -79.386697
Completed1977
CostC$30 million
ClientMetropolitan Toronto Library (now Toronto Public Library)
Design and construction
Architect(s)Raymond Moriyama
Structural engineerRobert Halsall and Associates Ltd.

The Toronto Reference Library (previously the Metropolitan Toronto Central Library and Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library) is a six-floor research and reference library branch of the Toronto Public Library in Toronto, Canada. It was designed by architect Raymond Moriyama for the cost of C$30 million and opened in 1977.

Its collections contain over 1.6 million volumes and 2.5 million other materials (films, microforms, maps, fine art, ephemera, etc.), totalling over 360,000 metres (1.2 million ft) of manuscript materials. It is the largest of the Toronto Public Library's 99 branches, the largest public reference library in Canada,[1] and the third largest library in Toronto, after the Robarts Library of the University of Toronto and the Scott Library of York University.

History

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Mechanics Institute

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Carnegie library

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The Central Reference Library at St. George and College streets, as it appeared circa 1911.

At the end of the 19th century, Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie financed numerous libraries and other cultural institutions in communities across Britain and the United States. This phenomenon did not go unnoticed in Toronto: in 1895, The Globe reported on Carnegie's recent $1 million gift to the city of Pittsburgh and called on Toronto and "its wealthy citizens" to follow his example.[2] By April of 1902, at least 13 communities in southern Ontario had received Carnegie grants, including Ottawa, Windsor, Guelph, and St. Catharines, as well as cities outside of Ontario that included Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver, St. John, Halifax, and St. John's.[3]

In January of 1903, Toronto's application for Carnegie library funds was accepted, and the city was offered $350,000 for a new central library building and 3 additional library buildings, conditional upon the city supporting the library with at least $35,000 per year and providing building sites.[4] The amount was much larger than the application committee had expected and the Public Library Board was strongly in favour of accepting the offer, with only one dissenting board member.[4] At the time, a new central library was sorely needed, as the building that was currently in use as the central branch had been built in 1854 and was never intended as a public library.[4] Not only was the building too small for the growing collection, it was also deteriorating quickly, with frequent leaks, inadequate heating, and a dangerously high risk of fire.[4]

Although several groups and individuals in the city were opposed to accepting the gift, mostly based upon Carnegie's involvement in the Homestead Strike[5] or the notion that Toronto should be too proud to accept the gift,[4], many were in favour of expanding the public library, with The Globe proclaiming "There can never be too full or too accessible a reference library in a city like Toronto."[6] In late February, the Council voted to accept the gift.[7] The City Council, Board of Control, and Property Committee took almost two years to debate where the central library should be located, with most of the discussion centred around an uptown vs. a downtown site.[8] In December 1904, the Council finally approved the purchase of the lot located on the north-west corner of St. George Street and College Street, mostly due to the proportion of the lot size to its cost.[9]

Relocation

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Need for a new building

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Planning

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The idea of a new reference library came about in 1968, when the library board announced that it planned to build a $12 million, 24-storey regional library and head office on the corner of Yonge Street and Orchardview Boulevard. The upper floors were to be rented as commercial office space, with more floors allocated to for library use as need expanded.[10] By early 1969, the budget had increased to a reported $17 million, and the Old City Hall (at Queen and Bay) was "high on the list" of potential sites.[11] North York was also suggested as a possible location, especially by politicians from the area, because of its proximity to Highway 401 and the relatively lower land prices, though this suggestion was criticized as being "not central enough".[12]

The library board included $2 million in its 1970 budget for the acquisition of a site near the Yonge subway in the downtown area, and planned to spend $15 million for constructing and furnishing the library, with a minimum of 400,000 square feet (37,000 m2) of space, over the next few years.[13][14]

By December of 1970, the library board was frustated with the two-year delay and expressed a desire to appoint architect Raymond Moriyama, who reportedly beat out 68 other architects for the contract,[15] to prepare designs for the new building. However, chief librarians from the city and borough library systems were unhappy with the board, claiming that the building would "become functionally obsolete in a decade or so" as computers influenced the way libraries were used; they wanted the board to perform a study of the issues concerning the library systems in the city and determine what type of building would be required.[16]

In November of 1971, the Ontario Municipal Board approved spending money to aquire land for a building.[17] In December of the same year, Moriyama and his team of consultants recommended three sites on the Yonge subway line: Yonge Street and Asquith Avenue, the preferred location; Yonge and Church Street; and Yonge and Gerrard Street.[18] On April 6, 1972, the Metro Library Board decided on the first location—the Yonge-Church-Asquith-Collier block, which the vice-chairman William Archer called "the ideal site"—and requested that the Metro Property Department begin negotiating with the various owners of the property.[19] In November, the Metropolitan Toronto Council approved the site.[17]

Setbacks and criticism

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In 1974, Moriyama's preliminary proposal called for "a glass box-like structure 100 feet high", a design that alderman Karl Jaffary called "simply awful".[20] Several Toronto architects, though not Moriyama himself, criticized Jaffary for his comments, stating that he was neither an expert in the field nor specific enough in his criticism.[20] Jaffary responded in turn in a letter published in the Toronto Star on January 18, specifying his criticism of the decision to have five storeys in the building, each the equivalent height of two normal storeys, stating that "a lot of empty space [in the library] ... is not needed for any purpose."[21]

Mel Lastman, then mayor of North York, also criticized the building design, calling it a "monumental blunder" and "a giant warehouse".[22] He criticized the planning of a new central reference library when Toronto already had "a countless number of reference libraries", including the Robarts Library, built just the year before; he also predicted that the building would cost $40 million by the time it was finished and "an astronomical $80-million" after twenty years of debenture.[22][23]

Moriyama responded to the criticism by saying that he "[couldn't] get upset at derogatory remarks" and welcomed discussion about the library and its design, stating that he was less concerned with the building itself as with "the essence of ... why it's being built".[24] However, he also pointed out, "without using it as blackmail", that rising construction charges were costing taxpayers about $125,000 to $135,000 a month.[24]

Restricted by their budget and bylaws concerning building heights, the Metro Library Board requested that Moriyama look into alternative designs, and a city committee conducted a planning study to come up with possible alternatives for the design of the library. In March, the Toronto Star reported that the future of the library was in danger of being "scrapped" if an agreement could not be made by the committee, because the library board was not prepared to go over its $30 million budget.[25]

While researching, Moriyama and his team consulted with "librarians, local businessmen, library users and non-users, politicians, planners, building authorities, systems analysts, engineers and even weather experts"[26] about the location and the building.


Moriyama spent seven years on the project.[15][26]

Several strikes delayed the opening of the library; it officially opened on November 2, 1977, almost two months late.[15]

28 miles (45 km) of shelves (at opening)[15]

Library patrons working at tables in April 2008.

Reaction

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The library opened in October of 1977 "to rave reviews from book-lovers"[27], and by 1979 had already been described as a "well-loved" building.[28] Just before its official opening, Marjorie Harris visited the building and wrote an article about it in the Toronto Star, reporting that its librarians "love being in [Moriyama's] building" and extolling its design, saying:

The library is a triumph, echoing an earlier period of architecture. It's broken the bleak, windstripped corner of Bloor and Yonge [...] Walking in, the first sensation is one of breathing — the whole building is breathing softly, seductively. There's an interior street, a fountain [...] Serenity is combined with activity — work is going on, voices float through space. There is nothing harsh. How these elements blend is part of Moriyama's talent for melding sensual, sculptural forms with spaces that let the mind soar — 10 storeys high in the main lobby.[15]

In 1980, writer Leon Whiteson wrote an article about the building in the Toronto Star, describing the "metaphor that organized the design of the library"[29] as one of an empty cup, quoting Moriyama as saying that in our society “we focus on the empty cup, forgetting that the essence is the emptiness inside.”[26] This empty cup is illustrated in what Whiteson calls the "open heart"—the vast atrium that spans the height of the building—and is an illustration of Moriyama's saying that “ ‘the mind should be a bridge making linkages across emptiness’ ”.[26] Whiteson went on to praise Moriyama as a "poet of space",[26] and in his 1983 book Modern Canadian Architecture, he described the library as "highly popular with users of all ages, as a meeting place as well as a reference source."[29]

Revitalization

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As part of the renovation, a new "European-style" café run by Balzac's Coffee Roasters will open at the street level.[30]

Special collections

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Arthur Conan Doyle Collection

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Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Arthur Conan Doyle Collection is a rare[31] collection of materials related to the life and work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the famous fictional character Sherlock Holmes. It contains over 5,000 volumes of Doyle's work, including first editions and translations, as well as over 3,000 items ranging from posters, periodicals, films, photos, files and clippings to artifacts and other memorabilia.[32][33][34]

The collection is located in a small, wood-paneled room, decorated in a Victorian-era style meant as homage to (though not a recreation of) Holme's celebrated study at 221B Baker Street,[32] complete with overstuffed furniture, desks, faux fireplace, bearksin rug, rack of pipes, and magnifying glass.[35] It is the only public library collection in the world dedicated to Conan Doyle, and believed to be world's largest public collection of Sherlock Holmes memorabilia.

The collection was founded in 1969 by employees of the old central library on College Street, Cameron Hollyer and Elizabeth Perry, when the two stumbled across 500 copies of Conan Doyle's books in a rare bookstore and convinced the library to buy them for $2 each.[36] Soon after, the library acquired the collections of Arthur Baillie, Harold Mortlake, S. Tupper Bigelow, and Nathan Bengis; these included several rare editions of The Sign of the Four and cost, in total, $18,000.[37][38] The collection was officially opened in January 1971.[33][38]

Hollyer remained the room's curator until his retirement in 1991.[36] He explained the collection's existence as a result of Sherlock Holmes' mysterious draw, comparing him to Santa Claus: "We don't want to challenge the idea that Holmes is a real person. But we are ready to admit that he is not."[33]

The collection also includes numerous translations—in "40 or 50 languages"[39]—of Conan Doyle's books, a testament to the "world-wide popularity"[34] of Sherlock Holmes. Indeed, the collection attracts many tourists,[35] and despite its limited weekly hours, was estimated in 2000 to receive around 350 visitors a month.[33]

In 2004, the library acquired several items directly from the Conan Doyle estate, including the personal journals of both Conan Doyle and his wife, Lady Jean, from their visit to Canada in 1914.[40] The journals, for which the library paid approximately $14,000, contain "jottings about [the couple's] impressions about Canada," including an early draft of Conan Doyle's poem "The Athabasca Trail", which was used in promotionals for Jasper National Park in Alberta.[40] The library's manager of special collections called the journals "a great thing to have for Canada."[40]

TD Audubon Collection

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Plate 306 of Birds of America, depicting the Great Northern Loon.

The most valuable single publication[41] in the Toronto Public Library's collection is a copy of John James Audubon's Birds of America, a four-volume, double-elephant folio set of 435 hand-coloured, life-size prints made from engraved plates featuring 1,065 birds of 489 species.[42] About 200 original copies of the original book were produced between 1827 and 1838, and it is believed that only about 120 complete copies exist today—one of which was sold in 2000 for $8.8 million, currently the highest sum ever paid for a printed book.[43] In addition to its rarity, Birds of America is important as an excellent historical example of nineteenth-century illustration as well as a "landmark" in scientific publishing.[41]

The library's copy originally belonged to the eleventh mayor of Toronto, George William Allan, and was purchased from his heirs in 1903 for the price of $1,900 by the then-Chief Librarian James Bain, who successfully convinced city officials that the book was worth the high cost.[41] It is currently housed in the Toronto Reference Library, where it was on public shelves as recently as 1984.[41] In 1996, under financial duress, the library considered selling the book but a $1.2 million donation by Canada Trust (now TD Canada Trust) allowed it to remain in the library's collection.[44]

Baldwin Room

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The Baldwin Room is a collection of books, manuscripts, ephemera, and pictures related to Upper Canada and early Toronto. The collection was named after Robert Baldwin, a leading political reformer in Upper Canada and pre-Confederation Premier.

The collection of printed ephemera contains over 28,000 items, some dating as far back as the 18th century, including war posters, campaign literature, broadsides, handbills, restaurant menus, and train tickets. The collection also contains more than 24,000 books, periodicals, and pamphlets published before 1900 that feature Canada or Canadian authors. Among the most valuable of these items is a 1512 edition of Chronicon, by Eusebius of Caesarea, as well as an large set of the Relations des Jésuites de la Nouvelle-France (or Jesuit Relations) dating from the 1600s.

The Toronto Star Newspaper Centre

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The Toronto Star Newspaper Centre, formerly the Newspaper Room, is a newspaper reading room in the basement of the Toronto Reference Library. Previously described as a "dim and crowded" area, the room was the recipient of a C$2.5 million gift from the Toronto Star newspaper in 1999, which supported the renovation of the centre.[45]

Talks between the newspaper and the library foundation had begun in February 1998, leading up to the announcement of the donation on March 26, 1999.[45] The gift included $900,000 for expansion and refurbishing of the reading room as well as a 20-year commitment for free copies of the Toronto Star at all 99 branches of the system, which has saved the library an estimated $50,000 annually.[45] The building was completely redesigned and made a third larger by architect Ajon Moriyama, the son of the library building's original architect, Raymond Moriyama.[46] It officially opened on November 27, 2001, when it was renamed in honor of the newspaper.[46]

In 2001, the library subscribed to 84 worldwide newspapers in 45 languages.[46] The centre also includes seating areas, Internet terminals, and microfilm machines.

Urban Affairs

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The Urban Affairs Library (formerly Metro Urban Affairs Library) is a collection related to municipal and urban affairs, with an in-depth focus on the city of Toronto. Its collection contains more than 90,000 books and government documents and 195,000 microforms, as well as maps, newspapers, and other materials.[47]

The library first began as the Municipal Reference Library in the old City Hall in 1911 and was transferred to the public library system in 1968. In 1992, it was merged with the Metropolitan Toronto's Corporate Library and officially opened to the public in the new Metro Hall on John Street on October 27, 1992.[48]

Performing Arts Centre

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The library's large central atrium, which spans all six floors.

References

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  1. ^ "Agents of Change at Toronto Reference Library". CNW Group. November 5, 2007. Retrieved April 7, 2009.
  2. ^ "Musical and literary endowments" (Toronto Public Library card required). The Globe. November 6, 1895. p. 4. ProQuest 1415566564.
  3. ^ "Carnegie's generosity: His Canadian gifts appreciated by librarians" (Toronto Public Library card required). The Globe. April 1, 1902. p. 7. ProQuest 1354095614.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Carnegie's offer to Toronto: $350,000 for public library buildings" (Toronto Public Library card required). The Globe. January 28, 1903. p. 10. ProQuest 1353869683.
  5. ^ "Reject Carnegie offer: Labor council meet to discuss library gift" (Toronto Public Library card required). The Globe. February 6, 1903. p. 12. ProQuest 1353767525.
  6. ^ "Mr. Carnegie's offer" (Toronto Public Library card required). The Globe. January 28, 1903. p. 6. ProQuest 1354017057.
  7. ^ "Council accepts Carnegie offer" (Toronto Public Library card required). The Globe. February 24, 1903. p. 8. ProQuest 1353743806.
  8. ^ "A long wrangle over library site" (Toronto Public Library card required). The Globe. November 25, 1904. p. 12. ProQuest 1353966826.
  9. ^ "To Caesar city will now appeal" (Toronto Public Library card required). The Globe. December 16, 1904. p. 8. ProQuest 1354070677.
  10. ^ "$12 million head office for library". Toronto Daily Star. February 13, 1968. p. 19.
  11. ^ "Travel allowance cut; librarians told to spend more time at home". The Globe and Mail. March 8, 1969. p. 29.
  12. ^ "Keep the library in the city". Toronto Daily Star. January 8, 1969.
  13. ^ "$2 million in budget to buy library site". The Globe and Mail. December 13, 1969. p. 5.
  14. ^ Baker, Alden (November 30, 1970). "A library's search for its role". The Globe and Mail. p. 5.
  15. ^ a b c d e Harris, Marjorie (October 23, 1977). "Moriyama: 'Not my library, it's yours'". Toronto Star. p. D6.
  16. ^ MacKenzie, James (December 8, 1970). "Proposed new library labelled an instant antique". The Globe and Mail. p. 5.
  17. ^ a b "Pointless hold-up of our new library". Toronto Star. January 16, 1974. p. C4.
  18. ^ Baker, Alden (December 3, 1971). "New reference library urged in Metro". The Globe and Mail. p. 5.
  19. ^ "Board decides on site in downtown Metro for $20 million library". Toronto Star. April 7, 1972. p. 25.
  20. ^ a b MacGray, Ken (January 8, 1974). "Architects irked that aldermen dare to criticize". Toronto Star. p. B1.
  21. ^ Jaffary, Karl D. (January 18, 1974). "Library includes unnecessary empty space, he says". Toronto Star. p. B5.
  22. ^ a b Aboud, Raymond (January 15, 1974). "New library termed a 'monumental blunder'". The Globe and Mail. p. 5.
  23. ^ "New library is called an 'elegant warehouse'". Toronto Star. January 15, 1974. p. A13.
  24. ^ a b "Library architect 'can't get upset' by critics of plan". Toronto Star. January 30, 1974. p. B1.
  25. ^ "New library plan could be scrapped". Toronto Star. March 5, 1974. p. A6.
  26. ^ a b c d e Whiteson, Leon (October 18, 1980). "Metro Library: 'Empty cup' or architect's work of art?". Toronto Star. p. B5.
  27. ^ "The week in review". Toronto Star. October 30, 1977. p. A9. The new $30-million Metropolitan Library opened Monday to rave reviews from book-lovers.
  28. ^ Levine, Sylvia (October 4, 1979). "Young artists meet mayor". Toronto Star. p. G6. He has designed such well-loved buildings in Toronto as the Ontario Science Centre and the Reference Library.
  29. ^ a b Whiteson, Leon (1983). Modern Canadian Architecture. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers. pp. 172–175. ISBN 0888302487.
  30. ^ Cordileone, Elvira (October 13, 2011). "Standing out in a crowded coffee market". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on November 2, 2011. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
  31. ^ Cook, Maria (May 7, 2002). "Opposing visions for a 21st century library". The Ottawa Citizen. p. F1. It offers rare collections such as the Arthur Conan Doyle and Canadiana collections...
  32. ^ a b "Library to receive Doyle manuscript". The Globe and Mail. May 19, 1993. p. C1.
  33. ^ a b c d Rehak, Peter (June 14, 2000). "Curator shared his passion for Holmes". National Post. p. A20.
  34. ^ a b Serge, Joe (August 28, 1989). "Sherlock Holmes easily detected among library's multi-lingual gems". Toronto Star. p. C2.
  35. ^ a b Chapman, Martha (August 19, 2006). "Museums that oink, moo and have a rocking chair for two to curl up in". The Ottawa Citizen. p. L2.
  36. ^ a b Blackduck, Alison (June 12, 2000). "Librarian a hero to fans of Sherlock Holmes". Toronto Star. p. B4.
  37. ^ "The tales that Hollyer tells". The Magic Door. Friends of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection. 2000. {{cite journal}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  38. ^ a b "Footprints of the Hound" (PDF). Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections. 5 (4). University of Minnesota: 1. December 2001.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  39. ^ Batten, Jack (April 7, 2002). "Sherlock's Strand: A 26-year-old Michigan man honours the journal that brought Holmes to millions". Toronto Star. p. D15.
  40. ^ a b c Cowan, James (November 18, 2004). "Conan Doyle saw greatness in Canada". National Post. p. A9.
  41. ^ a b c d Bentley Mays, John (July 29, 1989). "Restoring Audubon's masterpiece". The Globe and Mail. p. C13.
  42. ^ Morris, Chris (November 1, 2008). "Rare Audubon books back in N.B." Times & Transcript.
  43. ^ Home-Douglas, Pierre (March 4, 2010). "Birds of America". Montreal Gazette.
  44. ^ "TD Audubon Collection". Toronto Public Library. Retrieved March 15, 2010.
  45. ^ a b c Ho, Tanya (March 27, 1999). "Reference library given gift of words: Star's $2.5 million donation to expand newspaper room". Toronto Star. p. 1.
  46. ^ a b c Small, Peter (November 19, 2001). "Old newspapers never looked better: Toronto Reference Library's reading room gets a makeover". Toronto Star. p. A02.
  47. ^ "Urban Affairs Library". Toronto Public Library. October 17, 2008. Archived from the original on November 16, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
  48. ^ "Library officially opens" (Toronto Public Library card required). The Globe and Mail. October 24, 1992. p. A21. ISSN 0319-0714. ProQuest 385372985. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
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