Toronto Public Library

TPL surely has one of the ugliest logos around; especially for a city at the “centre of the universe” (that’s a Canadian thing for international readers) that sees itself as a trend-setting city (at least in Canada!). According to Wikipedia, “The Toronto Public Library is the largest public library system in Canada and the second busiest (by number of visits) in the world after the Hong Kong Public Library … In terms of circulation, the TPL is the largest in North America—over 1/3 busier than Queens Borough Public Library in New York (19 million circulated items).” So TPL is big, but what about quality?

TPL’s website is pretty bad, too (compare it with the recently redesigned Vancouver Public Library’s site). Moreover, TPL’s homepage says that the organization made improvements to its catalogue and website last week. I can’t imagine what it was like before if this is an “improvement.”

Nothing Library 2.0-ish jumps out from the homepage. So let’s check the link to “RAMP for Youth” as that might offer us something. Oh yes. There’s an “Express Yourself” link there. That must be it. No, nothing jumps out there either. This website is a mess, in my humble opinion. Under the “Drama Gallery” heading I see something called “Movie Magic: Movies Made by Teens.” Here is “Guests of War” by torontopopcorn, which ties in with the Kit Pearson trilogy:

Well, I suppose that’s cool if you’re a teen. However, the library itself (unlike the British Library or VPL) does not have a YouTube account.

TPL’s MYSPACE PROFILE: SO WHAT?

Finally, I see that MySpace and Facebook are part of TPL’s Library 2.0 strategy. Finding these links was difficult. The MySpace presence is here and the Facebook, here. TPL’s Facebook profile only has 53 “friends,” so it seems as though it is not the most popular kid at school.

The MySpace page says that RAMP is “Male, 88 years old, Toronto, Ontario Canada.” He’s also a Capricorn, if that interests you. That doesn’t seem too inviting to youth, does it? Their last login (as of 2008-04-10) was on February 27. So, who is checking messages? No one, it appears. RAMP has only five friends, so he’s even less popular on this social network than on Facebook. No one has made a comment to the MySpace profile, either. The MySpace blog for RAMP hasn’t been updated since January.

BTW, I was curious about that name, RAMP, so I fired off an email to the helpful virtual reference librarians in Toronto. Their response:

“Ramp, Toronto Public Library’s youth gateway, is not an acronym. The name was selected by teens because it evokes a sense of forward movement, excitement and exploration.” It’s nice that teens were actively engaged in naming their gateway.

As I was having so much difficulty finding Library 2.0 elements at TPL, I decided to fire off another question to their Answerline:

Just another quick question (I am a Library & Info Science student at UBC): what Library 2.0 media is TPL using? I notice that you have Facebook and MySpace profiles. Anything else? BTW, I see Ramp is sometimes RAMP in all caps. Which do you prefer?

Many thanks, once again.

Michael

Here’s what that fuzzy screenshot (I want to immortalize it, so I’m putting it in my blog) says:

Thank you for getting back to us.

We’re unfamiliar with the term “Library 2.0″ … perhaps you intended “Web 2.0″? If so, the Library does have internal bulletin boards and RSS feeds for staff, but the closest things we have so far for patrons are:

- RAMP bulletin boards (RAMP is indeed all caps): http://rampdiscuss.tpl.toronto.on.ca/webx 
- online book discussions: http://bookbuzzdiscussion.torontopubliclibrary.ca/ 

There are download services the Library subscribes to (noted on http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/ebk_index.jsp), but one might not consider these to be “Web 2.0″ services … although exactly what “Web 2.0″ is is a bit nebulous.

In any case, we hope this helps.

Toronto Public Library

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Answerline
Toronto Public Library, Research and Reference Division
416-393-7131
You have questions? We have answers. Give us a call.
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I’m beginning to think that if professional librarians don’t know what Library 2.0 is, then I don’t either.

“Nebulous,” indeed. Which brings me back to my main point: are we as librarians scrambling to keep pace with the “Digital Native” generation? Is the Google Generation indeed laughing at our feeble attempts to embrace their culture? Perhaps that’s a bit harsh, but as a report about Library 2.0 from the UK states: ”How much libraries want to engage with these technologies should be dictated by strong, local business cases supported by the needs and demands of their public” (my emphasis).

If we are to engage in the new social media, then we ought to have clear objectives and make our social networks the best they can be. This includes excellence in design, content, relevancy, and currency. Sometimes having nothing is better than having something if it’s not well thought out. It seems to me that we as a profession are having some trouble adopting, and adapting to, these new social environments.

BOTTOM LINE: Very Bad. Not only is it extremely difficult to find any Library 2.0 elements at TPL, when one does find them, they aren’t really worth the time. I wrote TPL’s Answerline because I thought it quite possible that I missed something during the two hours I spent (wasted, really), trying to find them. Compared to little Fonthill, Ontario, just a couple of hours south of Toronto, I think TPL needs to either get on the Library 2.0 bandwagon or just give up on it completely. Fonthill has applied Library 2.0 judiciously, and has focused its efforts into a great blog that is stimulating and creative. In contrast, TPL is a dog’s breakfast of nothing.

 

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