Georgina Public Libraries

Georgina Public Libraries
Established 1986
Location 90 Wexford Drive, Georgina, ON L4P 3P7
Branches 3
Access and use
Population served 46,000
Other information
Director Mary Baxter, Director of Georgina Public Libraries
Staff 26 + 10 students
Website http://www.georginalibrary.ca

Georgina Public Libraries is a library system operating under the Town of Georgina Department of Leisure Services in Keswick, Sutton and Pefferlaw Ontario, Canada. It was founded when the Town of Georgina was formed from North Gwillimbury Township, the Village of Sutton, and Township of Georgina in 1986.

It has three community-based branches that serve the information, entertainment, and learning needs of clients through children, teens, young adults, and adult programs, services and collections. The branches share staff, collections, resources, and policies and work collaboratively to meet the needs of all communities within the town including Baldwin, Jackson's Point, Port Bolster, Sibbald Point, Virginia and Udora

History

Georgina Public Libraries evolved out of individual community libraries. Keswick's first public library was founded in the 1960s, and housed in the Optimist International Hall before being moved to a former post office building beside the fire fighters and police stations. Doris Brown was the first librarian and she led the library from its inception until her retirement in 1978.[1] Branches in Sutton and Pefferlaw served community needs but outgrew their physical space and the Town opened a new Pefferlaw Branch in 1989. In 1996, the Sutton branch was incorporated into a new shared facility with York Region's public and separate school boards on Black River Road. Keswick's branch moved to a shared facility in the Georgina Ice Palace on Wexford Drive and Woodbine Avenue in 2002. The library is a member of the Ontario Library Consortium.

Services

The library is growing to meet the demands of a developing community as Georgina becomes increasingly part of the expansive Greater Toronto Area; however, many programs and services still reflect small town interests. Ongoing programs include "Little Bookworms" for 0–3 years, "Story Hour" for 3–5 years and book clubs for kids and adults. Babysitting courses are offered for youth ages 11+ on a regular basis. The branches offer free Internet and computer access, as well as computer literacy courses. The collections of print and electronic fiction, non-fiction and reference material is always evolving and patrons may order interlibrary loans as well as enjoy reciprocal loan privileges with neighbouring library systems. The Keswick branch hosts a Service Canada outreach site and the York Region District School Board ESL class.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Advocate Staff. "Keswick's first librarian also had affinity for the arts." Georgina Advocate p. 11. Thursday, December 20th, 2007.

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