Never in my life did I think I'd have beef with my local library branch, but if you're gonna have…read morepride displays in your windows and trans/non-binary inclusivity signs outside your washrooms, maybe ensure that people aren't gender-policing patrons who just want to pee after checking proofs for two hours. Anyway, I'll be working from home today.

Me and My Yelp Friend walked by Maria Shchuka Library and have no idea what it is?! The structure…read moreitself looks so out of place in this neighbourhood..... Who is Maria Shchuka? She was the Head Librarian from 1979 to 1996. Love the big windows letting the natural sunlight filtering into the building. Nice comfy and colourful armchairs. Free WIFI.... Me dreaming about one day a library named after me? :)

Port Credit library is a small library in Mississauga (part of the Mississauga library system…read more Obtaining a library card was quick and easy with your government ID. The staff was super nice and answered all my questions. They have a nice computer on site to search through the catalogue to reserve and hold book titles as this location is small and doesn't stock much. There is a meeting room you can book out and two handicap accessible bathrooms, however, there was no toilet paper and the stall was quite dirty. There is limited seating in the library. As the library was an open room, I imagine it could be a bit noisy to study. There was a small section of books and DVDs for sale to support the local library. Overall I would suggest reserving a hold on the book you want ahead of time and using this as a pickup location.

I have been to Port Credit Library twice. The first time was while I was in the area for ribfest a…read moreyear ago. I was early and decided to walk around the area. I found this library and walked in. I wanted to get a Mississauga library card. You can get one for free if you are either a resident of or work in the city. I qualify for the latter. What I didn't know, which one of the librarians had pointed out, was that I needed to provide a paystub as proof. Going to a ribfest, having a paystub with me wasn't in the cards. I thanked them and ultimately opened a card at the Burnamthorpe branch instead. My second time was recently. My manager was doing a search and stumbled upon a free music concert held at Port Credit Library. He asked us if we'd like to attend. After a lunch outing with my development team had shifted from Thursday to Friday, my intern and I were free. It's helpful that I have been here. My manager said that we would need to park on the street. The library has a parking lot. However, for ribfest, folks ended up parking here and you then have no choice but to seek parking elsewhere. I knew that it wouldn't be busy on a Thursday, especially with ribfest's absence in November. I drove a colleague and my intern over to the library. Sure enough, there was ample parking and chose a spot. We then walked in. My manager had driven two other colleagues. They were waiting in the lobby. He asked me whether we should go in. Um, yeah! It's first-come, first-served seating. The seats were attached. We got a row and sat down. Harp & Holly were performing. They are a trio, although my manager said that there are five of them. I'll stick with the trio, as their faces were on the informational sheet handed to me when I walked into the room. They play Christmas songs with a new age twist. My manager said that they were different. I thought that they were amazing. One member plays the harp. One sings, and plays violin and viola. The third plays the drums, bells, acoustic guitar, and sings. My manager tends to research everything about any person, place, or trio in this case. I am the opposite. I'd rather experience things without a whole lot of background. I did manage to find the trio's Christmas album on Google Music. I added it to my playlist. This trio was great. They gave us background history about their songs, themselves, and Mississauga. They played so beautifully. The harp solo was soothing and incredible. I admired the violin and viola playing, which made me want to pick up the viola again. The drums and guitar parts completed everything. They have lovely voices. They are calm and soothing. They harmonize well. My favourite song, Carol of the Common Cold, was the encore. It was hilarious! Two of them were holding tissues during their performance. My favourite lyric is "Think of the snot / Go get your shot." It's a fitting motto at work when the office cold happens,. The room that we were in was cozy. This library is medium in size. I can't comment on the books or media items that you can borrow. I do like it for such artistic performances. (450)

I was at Thornhill Community Centre for Happy Cute Mart a few Saturdays ago. When I was first there…read morein June 2024, I eyed visiting this library at this community centre. Sadly, I did so much damage at Happy Cute Mart that going in with bags of plushies and purchases wasn't in the cards. Don't get me wrong. I did do damage earlier this month at Happy Cute Mart, but I had a single bag full of purchases this time. It was easier for me to haul it into the library. This part still feels a bit embarrassing to me. I had a Markham library card in the 2000's. I stopped going to Markham libraries for some inexplicable reason. When I changed jobs in 2010, I ended up getting a Mississauga library card because I worked in this city and I could get one for free. I've been going to Mississauga libraries a lot more and neglecting my homebase ones. Well, I fixed that issue. I walked into this library and headed to customer service to get a new Markham library card. The woman who helped me was great. She first did a search with my phone number to see whether I was in the system. I didn't think that I would be. She confirmed that fact. Presenting my driver's licence was enough to get a free Markham library card. You need to be living or working in Markham (Thornhill is a part of Markham for a library card) to get a library card for free. My driver's licence had my current home address. All was well. On a piece of paper, she asked me to enter my e-mail address and phone number. She then entered everything into the system and activated my library card. I thanked her. I then went browsing around this library. My first impression of it? It's huge. There are three floors. The main floor has a lot going on. Cookbooks and audiobooks caught my attention. This library has extensive movie sections. Yes, plural. You can rent DVDs and Blu-ray disc movies. There was a bin full of items for sale. Although it was labelled a book sale, it had records, audiobooks, and more. The main floor also has a computer lab. If you don't have a laptop with you, you can use any desktop computer in this room. There were study rooms on all three floors. They were getting a lot of use when I was there on a Saturday afternoon. The top floor has teen books. The lower level has kids books. For adults, you're on the main floor. It's where I was for the majority of my self-tour. You can check out your books and more at one of the kiosks. It's like going to the grocery store kiosk, except that you scan your library card, and then your books or other materials that you are about to borrow. I loved dropping by this library. I spent roughly thirty minutes doing a self-tour and looking at books, DVDs, and more. I'm so glad that I have a Markham library card again. I look forward to returning and borrowing items soon. (447)

A facelift! A makeover!…read more New shelves, New layout... and Tons of Tons of Comfy Armchairs! (Maybe they read my review?) Those huge windows makes some of the sitting area feels like a Sun room! Staffs are so friendly and ask if I need any help.. as apparently they relocated some of the collections to different area of the library.. There are so many different quiet spots with cozy seating! I can stay here for a few hours and just chill!

The Lillian H. Smith public library is a large library with 2 floors. It is especially great for…read morechildren's books, on the ground floor. One side has fiction and DVDs and the other side has non-fiction (including academic books). They have books that other libraries don't have. There ar plenty of seats for reading books on sight. They have self-serve terminals for checkout. They are more sophisticated that other branches in that you can actually login and make reservations and pay over-due fines (there is a credit card terminal along side each station). The entrance doors are self-opening. In front of the entrance are two impressive dragon statues. Just inside the entrance is an information plaque explaining the history of Lillian H. Smith. There is a large Chinese section as well. The librarians are courteous. There is free WiFi.

The exterior of Lillian H. Smith Library is quite impressive! And those 2 dragon statues guarding…read morethe front door.. and more security guard inside to make sure we behave. The collections here are impressive.. especially for Chinese language books... have a lot recent best sellers and 7 days loan newer material. Lillian H Smith is different from other Toronto Public Library branches because it has special Children's collections that other branches doesn't have... With free Wifi everyone are happy... especially me!

I used to visit this library often for a few reasons. I used to attend Cantonese classes a couple…read moreof blocks away on Saturdays when I was in elementary school till grade 10. After classes, I would often come here to borrow books or music before hopping on the streetcar to head home. This library sits on the northwest corner of Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Street East, in the heart of Chinatown (it's called east Chinatown these days, but I've always called it the Broadview one). It's steps away from the old Don Jail. This library branch is also a Toronto heritage site. As a high school student, there were two libraries where my friends and I were asked by libraries to quiet down. I was a quiet student, but collaborating with others caused a lot of laughter. We got reprimanded for laughing too loudly. At Riverdale library, a couple of friends and I were practising our skit for Chinese school with puppets. Something was so funny that we all laughed out loud. The librarian on staff at the time was not amused. I didn't have a chance to go inside on Saturday. I am sure that things have changed inside since I was last there what feels like eons ago, but the exterior looks the same to me. It has reopened, but with reduced hours. It's open from 9 am till 8:30 pm, Monday through Thursday. It's 9 am till 5 pm, Friday through Saturday. The fact that it's currently closed on Sundays is reminiscent to the hours it had when I was an elementary student. There isn't a dedicated parking lot for this library. You can park on a side street for free, or pay for parking on either Broadview or Gerrard Street East with Green P. I never thought about parking as a student because I was always riding the TTC. I remember a large selection of Chinese books and music, in addition to a decent selection for fiction in English. I hope that the variety is still great. On Saturday, there was a security guard standing in front of the main entrance. It's nice to know that this library is taking precautions to ensure that everyone is healthy and safe during this pandemic. (282)

The refusal to help incident that happened at this library on Nov 29/24 is merely a tip of an…read moreiceberg of the Toronto Public Library bureaucracy & relatively heartless & selective rules/policies overrule humanity culture based on my personal grievance & all negative experiences with Toronto Public Library, top to bottom. This little girl is super fortunate to get at least some media attention & an obvious meaningless ''apology'' from TPL within days comparing to all the disappointments, harassments, intimidations, insults, refusal to really listen or help that I have encountered for over 16 years with this arrogant institution. Countless of much more serious & on-going occurrences have simply ignored by not only TPL Board of Directors, but also the Mayor, City Manager, Ombudsman, Integrity Commissioner, city councillor & the media by and large. I absolutely realize that many traditional Canadian values such as compassion, genuine help to a needy fellow human being, personal integrity, honesty, sense of fairness & common justice are already long gone & disappearing for decades & seeming ONLY EXIST IN POLITICAL SPEECHES & PUBLICATIONS FOR PEOPLE TO SELF INDULGE & CHEER ABOUT, AT LEAST IN & AROUND TORONTO AS I HAVE NOT EXPERIENCE IN OTHER PARTS OF CANADA FOR OVER 40 YEARS In my one & a half decades of dealing with Toronto Public Library & their many so called Directors & Managers with fancy titles , I have been personally experiencing much incompetency, cunning acts & tactics, dragging & ignoring strategies, lying, bully & even censorship, threats & oppression from high management of Toronto Public Library simply because I keep voicing out ( I really do not think I would get any help at all from whoever EVEN IF I CRY like this little girl) my legitimate grievances & on-going concerns & their total failure to provide a very basic safe & quiet area for people who find excessive ongoing human noises intrusive & annoying & hostile/aggressive library users disruptive & unsafe to be nearby The Toronto Public Library Branch Operations & Customer Experience Director Mohammed Hosseini-Ara has been successful in his censorship & threatening in pushing an already socially & financially marginalized senior into further isolation by avoiding using our tax funded public library & resources. 16 years of absolute disappointments & intimidations is enough.

This is a small neighbourhood library with an open floor plan. I was there on a late weekday…read moreafternoon, and it was quite loud since there were many children there. Perhaps at another time of day, one could read or study in relative quiet. There are two individual washrooms out front before entering the library. There's also a table with books and magazines for sale. Magazines are $0.50, paperbacks are $1, and hardcovers are $2. On the lower level, there was a vaccination clinic happening on that particular day.

2024-The Homeless Live Here All Day Long. Security Guards don't do anything except talk to each…read moreother and wouldn't be able to intervene if help was needed. It's very loud and people occupy the washrooms for so long that the staff is constantly knocking on the washroom doors to get the homeless out. It's more of a homeless retreat than a library. Try to go in there and concentrate. The library staff are nice, but pretty loud as well, which is quite funny imho. Not the best environment for children and the smell in there can get really bad. I've had to leave on afew occasions because of the B.O smell in there. Seems like no one who should care about all of this, does. It is Parkdale so I guess I should expect it.

It's a large library with lots of events - for children and otherwise. It can get crowded due to…read moreits location. Some after school club activities were good. Shoutout to librarian TIffany. It's great that they provide kids with snacks, thanks to the donors. My kid doesn't attend these every week, but for the ones she has attended, half were good, half were not. Some activities were not well managed: There was a time where my kiddo won a prize from a bingo game, she took a Frozen puzzle from the table after someone put it down, but that person's mother took it from her hands. My daughter cried and the librarian wouldn't do anything about it but give her a different keychain. Another time, the website listed a limit to how many kids could attend a specific after school club project, but they didn't enforce that limit. Even though, my daughter was one of the firsts to go in, they didn't call our table until the very last. She was quite upset with getting only two of the tubes (and other kids at our table only got 2 as well) instead of 3, that other kids who came later were able to get. They should have given out the tubes as people entered through the door instead. There were fighting over the colours too of the paper that covered it - maybe the kids could cover the tubes themselves. Another time, on the website, it said a Taylor Swift activity for all. Turns out the activity was only for teenagers, which my kid was too young for. She left disappointed.

I've found this library a nice, quiet space to work out of on days when I don't need to be on any…read morecalls. It's situated in a great neighbourhood with a lot of restaurants to go to for lunch and coffee shops to go to when you want a break. It's also not far from transit, so you could easily get here and leave. The only thing I think is missing from here is a meeting space where you could talk without disturbing others, however, given the size of this library, I understand why creating such a space likely isn't a priority.

I just love hanging out in libraries, especially when they are modern and new! The newly renovated…read moreMarkham Village Branch is triple its original size...they almost torn down the original and rebuilt it from scratch... Everything is so new here... so spacious... with 12 feet high ceilings, large floor to ceiling windows... it is really good place to chill or even take a nap at one of their individual comfy armchair... Of course free WIFI access... good reliable and high speed and you never even get logged out ... and numerous outlets... And you can bring in a coffee/water/pop or whatever and you don't need to buy anything... and no one will give you mean looks even if you park yourself here for hours.. (uploading photos to yelp or writing reviews) Yes I am writing my 800th yelp reviews right now! Oh almost forget they do have good selections of books and DVD... I have not buy a copy of books for years.. I either put a hold and reserve them online for later pick up or I will just grab some good interesting read off the shelves... Not only I saved money and so much more environmentally friendly too.. Of course during school year, there will be a lot of high school students hanging out studying in groups... that do bring back memories......

The bathroom has shit on the toilet seat I mean it's not…read morethere fault but still nasty But good selection of books