Georgina Public Libraries

Last updated
Georgina Public Library
GPL logo.jpg
Established1986
Location90 Wexford Drive, Keswick, ON L4P 3P7

5279 Black River Road, Sutton, ON L0E 1L0

76 Pete's Lane, Pefferlaw, ON L0E 1N0
Branches3
Access and use
Population served46,000
Other information
DirectorValerie Stevens
Staff43 including student and occasional staff members
Website http://www.georginalibrary.ca
Map
Georgina Public Libraries

Georgina Public Library is a library system with locations 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.

Contents

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 Library 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. Recent changes include a revamped children's area in Keswick, laptop stations in both Keswick and Sutton, and countless aesthetic changes. Various programs are hosted by Georgina Public Library for everyone from babies to adults. These range from Reading Circle and Tween Team in Keswick, to Sewing and Yoga in Sutton. As well, there are several annual programs held by the Children's and Youth Services around Halloween and Christmas. The branches offer free Wi-Fi and computer access, as well as computer literacy courses. The material collection includes fiction and non-fiction books for kids, teens, and adults, DVD's, audiobooks, e-books, magazines, newspapers, and video games. Patrons may also order interlibrary loans as well as enjoy reciprocal loan privileges with neighbouring library systems.

See also

Related Research Articles

Regional Municipality of York Regional municipality in Ontario, Canada

The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. It replaced the former York County in 1971, and is part of the Greater Toronto Area and the inner ring of the Golden Horseshoe. The regional government is headquartered in Newmarket.

Keswick, Ontario Unincorporated community in Ontario, Canada

Keswick (/ˈkɛzˌwɪk/) is a community located in the south central Canadian province of Ontario. Situated north of Toronto on Cook's Bay, Keswick is part of the Town of Georgina, the northernmost municipality in the Regional Municipality of York. In the Canada 2016 Census, the municipal population of Keswick was 26,757.

Georgina, Ontario Town in Ontario, Canada

Georgina is a town in south-central Ontario, and the northernmost municipality in the Regional Municipality of York. The town is bounded to the north by Lake Simcoe. Although incorporated as a town, it operates as a township in which dispersed communities share a common administrative council. The largest communities are Keswick, Sutton and Jackson's Point. Smaller communities include Pefferlaw, Port Bolster, Roches Point, Udora and Willow Beach. The town was formed by the merger of the Village of Sutton, the Township of Georgina and the Township of North Gwillimbury in 1971 and incorporated in 1986. North Gwillimbury had previously been part of Georgina but became its own township in 1826. It took its name from the family of Elizabeth Simcoe, née Gwillim.

Sutton, Ontario Unincorporated community in Ontario, Canada

Sutton is a suburban community located nearly 2 km south of Lake Simcoe in Ontario, Canada. The community was formerly a village but is now part of the Town of Georgina after amalgamation with it and North Gwillimbury in 1971. The Black River runs on the north end of the downtown. Highway 48 goes just south of the downtown. Sutton has a population of just over 6,000 people. Sutton is located about 1 hour north of Toronto.

Pefferlaw, Ontario Unincorporated community in Ontario, Canada

Pefferlaw is a community within the Town of Georgina, located 3 kilometres south of the southeastern shores of Lake Simcoe and in the eastern end of the town. The Pefferlaw River runs just south of the community's commercial district. Pefferlaw is passed on the north by Highway 48 and Lake Ridge Road to the east, and is serviced by Pefferlaw Road which links these two traffic arteries. Area code 905 is bounded to the west, but Pefferlaw along with Virginia Beach, Udora and Port Bolster remains in the 705 area code. The Canadian National railway passes through Pefferlaw and, until the early 1990s, served a train station in the community's commercial district. This railway links Toronto with Orillia and Northern Ontario with Via Rail transcontinental trains heading to Vancouver.

Udora, Ontario Place in Ontario, Canada

Udora is a small rural community in Ontario, Canada. It has a population estimated to be around 500 and is situated in the most south-eastern part of Georgina, split between York Region and Durham Region. The town was originally known as Snoddon Corners and was the location of the Snoddon Hotel.

London Public Library

The London Public Library (LPL) is the public library system of London, Ontario, Canada. All 16 locations city-wide offer services and programs for adults, teens and children residing in London and the surrounding counties of Oxford, Middlesex, and Elgin. The branches includes art exhibits, author readings, a summer reading program, and health-oriented activities.

Keswick High School High school in Keswick, Ontario, Canada

Keswick High School is a public high school in the York Region District School Board. It is located in Keswick, Ontario, Canada and serves Grade 9 to 12 students from the growing Keswick community. It follows the curriculum standards set by the Ontario Ministry of Education and was officially opened in September 2000.

Sutton District High School High school in Sutton West, Ontario

Sutton District High School is a public high school in the York Region District School Board with approximately 500 students. It is located in Sutton, Ontario, Canada and serves Grade 9 to 12 students. It is the primary secondary school for most communities in the town of Georgina, including Sutton West, Pefferlaw, and Udora. It had previously served the town's largest community, Keswick, but this changed with the opening of Keswick High School in 2000.

York Region Paramedic Services Ambulance service for York, Ontario, Canada

York Region Paramedic Services provides legislated land ambulance services and paramedic care for the local municipalities within York Region. Paramedic Services is a division of the Region's Paramedic and Seniors Service Branch. Prior to 2000, ambulance services were provided by 2 private operators, York County Hospital, Nobleton Volunteer Ambulance and Ontario's Ministry of Health. The patchwork of service also had York Region dispatched by 3 different Ministry of Health Communication Centres. Georgian CACC now dispatches the whole region on the Ontario Government leased Bell Mobility Fleetnet VHF trunked radio system. There are approximately 480 full-time paramedics serving the region. Paramedic Operations are based in East Gwillimbury, Ontario.

Peterborough Public Library

The Peterborough Public Library is a public library system that serves the community of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

Muskoka Lakes Library, Ontario, consists of the Norma and Miller Alloway Muskoka Lakes Library main branch in the town of Port Carling, and three small branches housed in the community centres of Bala, Milford Bay, and Walker's Point. Each branch library has its own unique history.

The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS), was a collaborative that was supported by the state of Massachusetts, that provided leadership and services to foster cooperation, communication, and sharing among member libraries of all types. WMRLS assisted member libraries in promoting access to services. It ceased operations on June 30, 2010 as part of a statewide merger of regional library services into a single entity. WMRLS existed in a state of dormancy from 2010-2017. The WMRLS corporation was dissolved in 2017.

The County of Brant Public Library is the public library system serving the communities in the County of Brant, Ontario, Canada. It has five branches located in Paris, Burford, Scotland, St. George, and Glen Morris.

Ventura County Library is a free public library system of 12 community libraries and a museum library in Ventura County, California, organized in 1916. At the time of its centennial in 2016, the system provided access to 412,715 physical volumes and more than 500,000 virtual items to its nearly 300,000 card holders.

Hershey Public Library

The Hershey Public Library is a full-service public library located in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Its mission is to promote and support reading, literacy, and lifelong learning.

Vaughan Public Libraries (VPL) is a public library system consisting of nine libraries in the city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada. It has a collection of more than 534,000 items and serves over 1.7 million visitors a year. VPL has ten branch locations, including three resource libraries. The Bathurst Clark Resource Library opened in 1994. Pierre Berton Resource Library opened in 2004. The newest resource library, Civic Centre Resource Library, opened in May 2016, and houses VPL’s administration offices. The latest branch, Vellore Village Library, opened to the public on August 11, 2018 and had its official opening ceremony on September 22, 2018. VPL serves the growing multicultural community of Vaughan by offering collections in Chinese, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Korean, Malayalam, Portuguese, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tamil, Urdu, and Vietnamese, in addition to French and English.

Halton Hills Public Library

Halton Hills Public Library (HHPL) is the public library system for the Town of Halton Hills, Ontario, Canada. Through its two branches and its website, www.hhpl.on.ca, the Halton Hills Public Library provides a range of services for Halton Hills residents. There are approximately 17,000 active cardholders, most residing in the communities of Georgetown, Acton, Limehouse, Glen Williams, Speyside, Norval, and surrounding areas.

Clearview Public Library is a public library serving the residents of the Township of Clearview, Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada, and through contracts to the residents of the adjoining townships of Adjala–Tosorontio, Simcoe County, and Mulmur, Dufferin County. Library branches are located in the communities of Stayner, Creemore and New Lowell. A drop box is located in the community of Nottawa.

Libraries and the LGBTQ community

In the post-Stonewall era, the role of libraries in providing information and services to LGBTQ individuals has been a topic of discussion among library professionals. Libraries can often play an important role for LGBTQ individuals looking to find information about coming out, health, and family topics, as well as leisure reading. In the past 40 years, advocate organizations for LGBTQ content in libraries have emerged, and numerous theorists have discussed various aspects of LGBTQ library service including privacy concerns, programming, collection development considerations and librarian/staff education needs, as well as special services for juvenile and teen patrons.

References

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

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Georgina Public Libraries at Wikimedia Commons