'Little library' draws support
[attach]4787[/attach]There might be a steep hill to climb, but many have high hopes for the “little library that could”.
That’s what Councillor Mary Fragedakis dubbed the Todmorden Room at a public meeting at Bethany Baptist Church on Aug. 31.
Concerned the small library branch may face the chopping block as council prepares to make cost-cutting decisions this fall, Fragedakis said she called the meeting as a “pre-emptive measure” to ensure its survival and let the community know what’s at stake.
Earlier this year the Core Service Review report presented by accounting firm KPMG sparked an outcry from community members across the city.
The report, evaluating about 50 services provided by city agencies and boards, was commissioned earlier this year after city management announced a 2012 budget gap of $774 million. To make up for the apparent disparity, city manager Joe Pennachetti said municipal departments would have to cut back spending by 10 percent.
One of KPMG’s considerations was library branch closures. Public outcry grew louder when Councillor Doug Ford said he would support closures.
Fragedakis said she has particular concern for Todmorden Room, located in the East York Community Centre on Pape Avenue, due to its small size.
The city had already attempted to close it in 1999, when it was faced with a post-amalgamation structural deficit. That time, the East York community successfully rallied to save the branch.
The branch, one of the system’s smallest, boasts a collection of about 9,000 items. According to stats compiled by the East York Strategy, more than 25,000 people visited Todmorden Room last year, and it has a circulation of over 50,000 items.
Fragedakies said the statistics show the library is well used and though the nearby S. Walter Stewart library is nearby, her Ward 29 is currently under-serviced by branch libraries.
Speaking for seniors in the area, Pauline Adams, founder of the East York Strategy and Fragedakis’ constituency assistant, said many in the community aren’t physically able to travel to a branch further away.
“If we were to lose that library, where would we go? Consider that question,” she said.
Barb McCutcheon, an avid Todmorden Room user, said as someone with a physical disability, she finds Todmorden the only option in the area because it can be accessed by wheelchair at street level. And since it is housed in a well-used community centre, Wheel Trans also has more regular drop-off and pickup.
Though the Todmorden Room was the focus of the meeting, many in attendance expressed a desire to see all 99 branches of the Toronto Public Library remain open.
“Literacy is not gravy,” said one attendee, referring to Mayor Rob Ford’s gravy train election slogan.
Fragedakis said she called the meeting to let community members know what could be coming their way.
“Councillor Ford said he would close up libraries in a heartbeat, that there’s too many of them,” she said to the Town Crier after the meeting. “If this one is one of the smallest ones, why wouldn’t we expect something like this?”