“A tale of two countries’ libraries”: Canada’s libraries doing much better than U.S. counterparts

This September 20, 2009 article in the Toronto Star – A tale of two countries’ libraries – is a great read. It shows how successful Canada’s public libraries are and the quotes from Faculty of Information Senior Fellow Wendy Newman are not to be missed. I count it a blessing that no Canadian library I know of is in danger of being shut down.Here’s a quote to get you started on the article:

Contrary to what you might have heard, libraries are not in a terminal state of decline, “they’re not even sick,” says Wendy Newman, a senior fellow at the University of Toronto’s faculty of information, formerly library sciences, now known as the “I School.”

“Libraries are back big-time, they’re having a renaissance.”

Circulation was up 27 per cent this summer across Ontario’s 330 systems and 1,000 branches. Toronto, already the largest system in the world with 99 branches, is expanding with two more.

“We’re not intimidated by the future at all,” laughs Shelagh Paterson, executive director of the Ontario Library Association.

This is good news by any measure and it is great to see these facts acknowledged in the Toronto Star.

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3. What Bookish Charities Serving Developing Countries Can Teach Us