The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio) - How Libraries Meet the Needs of Communities

Episode Date: April 16, 2025

Over the years, libraries have become more than just places to borrow books or bring your kids for storytime. They offer newcomer services and advice -- a place where new Canadians can find community and learn about their new home. They have youth hubs where teens can meet and stay occupied, and plenty of children's programs that foster learning through play. They provide free wifi, and offer refuge from cold in winter and heat in the summer. We take a look at Albion Library and find out why it's become an important second and third space for some. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Renew your 2.0 TVO with more thought-provoking documentaries, insightful current affairs coverage, and fun programs and learning experiences for kids. Regular contributions from people like you help us make a difference in the lives of Ontarians of all ages. Visit tvo.me slash 2025 donate to renew your support or make a first-time donation and continue to discover your 2.TVO. He was like a father figure to me. Unfortunately, found myself in a very vulnerable position. This is a story about a psychiatrist in Toronto accused of abusing two of his patients, which he denies.

It's also a story about a system that is supposed to protect patients. From TVO Podcasts, I'm Krisha Collier, and this is The Oath. Subscribe today wherever you listen. I grew up in Rexdale from kindergarten to sixth grade and one of the things that really made me love the neighborhood was how connected it was to civic services. I think the library has been most helpful and here is the library that you have an open space, there is a lot of sunshine here. There is a particular portion I like to stay to just absorb the sunlight. I like the staff.

They're knowledgeable. They are friendly. You feel welcome. I think Brexdale exists in such an isolated corner of the city that a lot of people don't get to appreciate how tightly knit our communities actually are. When I was growing up there, there were Jamaicans, Latin communities, there was a large Sikh community as well that was coming up, Italians, and diversity as our strength is not something that just exists

in the core of the city, it's everywhere. And despite not having the same resources like a connected subway system, we still function quite well out there. So on this side we have the shared circulation and reference desk, where customers can come and get help either with checkouts, ask reference questions, kind of just talk to staff. And then straight ahead of us across from the shared desk is we have the self-checkouts. So customers can come here once they've borrowed their items and they want to check them out, they can get straight to doing that themselves or they can ask us for help at the circulation desk. Hi, my name is Rhonda Kubosco.

I'm the assistant branch head at Albion. I actually started working in libraries when I was in my school as a page. So I got to experience kind of like the library at that point and I just fell in love with it because I got to, you know, kind of see how necessary it was for the community. So then once I graduated from my undergrad at U of T, I went to McGill and I got my Masters in Information Studies. We're the district branch, so we are the biggest branches in our district. So we are definitely one of the busier branches. We have a lot of

people come in for tech help. We also just have a bunch of different services and service points which is why we're busy. So for example we have a library settlement partner so called LSP for short. She works for the Rexdale Women's Centre, so we have a partnership with them where she comes in and she provides services to newcomers. So they book appointments with her if the people need help with like citizenship, where they've just arrived and they need help accessing resources, she's like the expert. One of the reasons why newcomer services are important to libraries is because they give an opportunity to parents and children of immigrants to not only learn of Canadian culture, but to participate in it. One of the things that I love about the library is that you go to the front desk and they will work with you to figure out what you need, whether or not it's in English, French, Spanish, they have the resources. You just have to figure out a better way of communicating

when you don't share the same language. Ultimately, when we want to integrate newcomers into Canada, a place where there's no one set Canadian identity, we need to be able to share the different cultural resources that make you a part of the mosaic instead of trying to assimilate people into a one-size-fits-all view of how you should be. When you think about newcomer relationships a lot of people don't think about how kids act as translators to get services for their parents while

they're working or while they're in school. And it's really important that libraries have these services so that not only the kids can start to learn about English culture, what it means to be Canadian, but it also gives them an opportunity to be embedded into the community. I can definitely appreciate the diversity. There are so many ethnic groups passing through here, so it's like a community feel. As an international student, I appreciate the diversity. There are so many ethnic groups passing through here,

so it's like a community feel. As an international student, I don't feel as if I don't belong. I see that persons from different walks of life are here also, so it's like a family setting. We have people who come in to use our digital innovation space. We also have a youth hub. So it's one of, TPL has a bunch of different youth hubs. They're an after school program. It starts at 13, but you know, they just got a belly to host.

So it's an after school program. We provide snacks, we provide video games, we provide different activities. And it's just a space for like kids who go after school, you know, feel safe. We always have staff in there. So like mentorship, all of that. So the youth hub that exists in Rexdale was a project that I worked on with the Toronto Youth Cabinet and it was important to me to get a youth hub in the library because a lot of us kind of forget how important that transition, that puberty-filled transition from 12 to 18 is you're not a kid anymore.

You're learning how to become an adult and if there's not designated spaces for that, you lack direction to decide your development. And one of the reasons I really push for that is because there's a lack of teenage spaces. There's a lack of narratives that are appropriate for coming of age, and it's because a lot of our media now just focuses on adult products. And without that space to negotiate what your growth will look like, we have a lot of teenagers just acting like adults before they're adults. From what I understand, I just wish the city would focus more on libraries more than thinking they're adults. From what I understand, I just wish the city would focus more on like libraries

for more than thinking they're just libraries, is thinking of them as also pseudo rec centers in which if you put money into them, you could really engage a lot of neighborhoods, right? Like I know this Albion branch has a youth hub, the one directly behind you, that caters to the youth for the evening. And I really believe that, shoot, if stuff like that is really pushed forward in places like this,

that it's just beneficial for everybody. Part of what makes the library great is providing these different resources to different people who might not have access, right? So right now, you kind of can't exist in the world without having access to the internet. not have access, right? So right now you kind of can't exist in the world without having access to the internet. But also internet is expensive, people have you know different means, there's different struggles, but like you can't even

essentially get a job at this point if you don't have access to the internet. So one of the things that TPL does is we have what's called the Wi-Fi hotspot program, which we lend to mobile hotspot devices and people are able to borrow them for a period of six months. So the way the project works right now is we get referrals from different community agencies to kind of do the vetting for us. They essentially just give us a name and they're like this person needs a hotspot to raise and I'm like alright we can put them on the list. Part of the reason why you know usage is going up

is I think people recognize that and they recognize that honestly, the library is just a really important third space where you can go and not have to spend money. My name is Sonia Chima. I am one of the children's librarians here at Albion. I have been working here for almost 10 years, but I've been in the system for about 16.

And I do many children's programming. I go out for outreaches to the daycares, R.D. owns and into the schools. We have the children's nonfiction, children's fiction on that side. We also have like leading to reading, which is where we have volunteers who come in to practice with children who need help reading. We have English materials as well as multilingual children's. So we have the children's computers and we also have a roller coaster.

So what this is is that we have this set out all the time. So children are able to take the pieces, build them together to make a roller coaster. One of my favorite things is this big light bright wall. You can change these different colors so you can use them to make different images. It's fun for kids, it's also fun for adults like me. It's unique about Albion Library and the community that it is culturally diverse. It's very passionate, engaging, and very appreciative of all the services that Albion Library offers.

Patrons of all ages come to the library to attend the library programs. They also frequently visit the library whether to borrow library items, to socialize, or to study. And it's just the staff cares and the community knows. They know when they come to the library they are struggling with something whether it's related to a computer or anything else they will come and they know that they can rely on us and because of that there's an unfeigned mutual respect between the staff and the community members. This is like the

heart of the I think the Albion community. When this library was being renovated, they did not close down the old building because the community wants the library. That's how important the library was. So while this new building was being constructed, the old building was still up and running. I think we only closed down for a few weeks to transfer everything from the old building to the old building was still up and running. I think we only closed down for a few weeks

to transfer everything from the old building to the new building, but it was just that that's how important the LPN library is for the community. There's a reported rise in violence in Toronto libraries. Between 2022 and 2023, incidences of violence were up 71%. What do you attribute that to? I'm not surprised that it's happening because you have a lot of people experiencing sickness whether that's

social isolation, substance abuse, congregating in one area, not getting help for that need. So it's really disheartening because the people that have to deal with it is the library staff. We can't get the police involved until violence happens. So it really puts everyone at odds with each other and it creates an environment of mistrust. So it's not surprising, but it's a consequence of us constantly devaluing social services, social workers, people that work in care systems. Toronto Public Library's Safety and Security update from January 2025 addresses the violence

issue in this way. After several years of significant increases, the number of safety and security-related incidents at branches leveled off in 2024. In 2024, Toronto Public Library, TPL, continued to invest additional funds in safe and welcoming spaces initiatives, including library safety specialists, guards, security and surveillance systems and other resources. These steps are having a tangible, positive impact in branches across TPL. Working in partnership with TPL staff, union and other stakeholders, TPL will continue to implement further actions in 2025 to foster safe and welcoming space at all library locations. The library should support the school. The schools should support the health care centers.

It's a connected web that requires that we advocate for each other's needs in wages, equipment, and just future investment in growing these spaces. So I would really hope that Ontarians, when we think about what we value, it's not just our property taxes and our property value, it's the seeds that we'll plant for the trees that our kids will sit under.