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Love Your Library But Don’t LOVE Your Library
In light of Montreal’s Fraser Hickon Library’s recent shutdown, it’s good to know Toronto’s own book havens are as strong as ever. On top of the newly introduced Museum and Arts Pass, the summer kids’ programs and all the help the library gives to incoming immigrants looking to get familiar with the city, the Toronto Reference Library provides a varied wealth of hard-to-wrangle books along side wireless, air conditioned luxury. Now this oasis at Yonge and Bloor is turning 30 and wants to hear your stories.
Conceptualized by Toronto architect Raymond Moriyama, the history of the TRL is long and rich (especially in its floor-coverings) and deserves to be deluged with appreciative stories. At the very least, you can dredge up the memories of late night cramming or the pure satisfaction of having a book delivered to the stacks by the magic research fairies.
The best stories will be bundled together and made into a booklet to commemorate the occasion. Submitting a story may mean putting down that 500-page opus you’ve been writing about your childhood in the county, but the tradeoff is actually having your words published in the library (which is really the next logical step to convincing some publisher to take said opus).
They do stress that the stories should be of a family nature so don’t bother submitting if yours involves a Midwestern investigative reporter with a vengeful moustache. This goes double for those who treat the TRL like a pick-up bar, relying on the mandatory whispering and blatantly showing off their well worn copy of Being and Nothingness in hopes of luring some unsuspecting book lover in. While this may have included us at some past point in time, Torontoist is proud to admit that, like the TRL, we too have grown up a little.
So crack open the word processors and start spinning your G-rated tales of bookish wonderment and appreciation!
Photo by hyfen.