Permanent Collection

The Bloor-Gladstone Library has seen a lot of change. Located on the west end of Toronto, it’s been through influxes of immigrants from all over the world. Twenty years ago it was the Portuguese, spilling over from Little Portugal to the south. There are still remnants of their former dominance: Several nearby stores have bilingual signs, and some, like Loja do Espirito Santo, still disregard the need to communicate in English.

Today, art galleries that didn’t have a chance 20 years ago are popping up around the neighborhood, along with a few requisite brunch places towing hipsters. The area has also become more culturally diverse: A place advertising Caribbean cuisine (the words “Roti, Rice, Veggi, & Halal Dishes” scrawled on its window) is next to the Islamic Information Centre, which is flanked by Bangladesh Grocery & Video (now shut down and covered with newspapers).

The library isn’t immune to reinvention. It closed for renovations in the dying days of 2006 and reopened last summer. The classic brick facade is still there and a new modern addition, all glass and right angles, stands next to it. The inside has been completely gutted, and now there are rows and rows of computers (each and every one occupied, even on a weekday morning) where shelves of books used to be. Hindi DVDs share space with Vietnamese CDs, Tamil books, and Chinese gossip rags. It’s adapted to the neighborhood.

The Toronto Public Library system is even beginning to see videogames in a new light. It’s aiming to start its own collection. The manager of the collection department, Susan Caron, says that eight branches will get games from this generation of consoles.

Like any other collection at the library, the videogame section has to grow slowly. The library will look at which games are taken out and which aren’t. Year by year, the numbers will be crunched, and popularity will be the main metric for success. The hope is that the collection adapts to the needs of the neighborhood.

But what can the library do, beyond simply lending out games?