Learn Develop a City of Learners
Experts agree that lifelong learning is essential to making people successful, especially through life's transitions, and is a foundation for economic prosperity, social cohesion and quality of life. The lifelong learning model emphasizes that people, throughout their lives, learn from experience, from non-formal instruction, and through self-directed and recreational learning.
In our city, free and convenient opportunities for self-directed and lifelong learning are much in demand. Youth in Toronto are experiencing a difficult transition from school to the workforce, newcomers are underemployed and older workers are working longer and entering second careers. For Toronto's children and its growing aging population, self-directed learning is needed to build the foundations for success, promote community and individual health and wellness, and keep minds young and old active and engaged.
Toronto Public Library is unique in its ability to provide broadly accessible opportunities for learning beyond formal education, throughout all stages and phases of a person's life, and makes those opportunities available wherever and whenever there is a need, reason or desire to learn.
Visit your public library on any day of the week and you will find… new Canadians gathering in small groups to study for ESL tests… high school and university students researching… retired men and women reminding us all that learning is a life-long pursuit.
These are our goals
- Provide easy access to the world's knowledge through collections in a range of formats, including information about Toronto's economy, history, communities and culture
- Enable self-directed learning and skills development to support Torontonians through all life's stages and journeys, including transitions from home to school, school to work, work to second careers, and retirement – supporting a better quality of life
- Help learners of all ages to build information and digital literacy skills to access and use technology and information successfully
Here's the Latest
What we've done recently to develop a city of learners:
Featured Programs
I am a student and use the library for all my research. Without the helpful staff, I would be lost. They are always willing to help. They are great people.