At the Library

View from the 4th floor

I like the atmosphere at Toronto Reference Library located in downtown Toronto. I am spending considerable amount of my free time here these days (as expected, I would say). It is a bit informal. Students can be found doing their homework in groups. Teenagers are busy in texting on their phones using open Wi-Fi offered by the library. People are reading, people are talking in low voices, but there is no pin-drop silence. They are allowed to bring in coffee, soft drinks and fast food. It is a huge library. Its five-story building and a collection of 4 million items makes it the biggest public reference library in Canada. It has around one hundred sub-branches spread all over the city. It has its own art exhibit space, a computer learning center, a language lab, quiet study rooms and even a piano practice room. Native language collections include more than 60 languages. I wish we could have something like that in Islamabad.

Directional sound speakers and TV area on the ground floor in the Browsery

Urdu section at Toronto Reference Library