libraries
Freedom to read week
The week runs from February 26 to March 3 each year. It's organized nationally by the Book and Periodical Council but celebrated across Canada and around the world. PEN Canada, a group that assists writers facing censorship and persecution, also supports the week. Individual events are held at independent bookstores and libraries to draw attention to the issue of censorship, specifically banned books.
Community READ-IN: because the cuts leave us out
Nov 27 2011 - 3:00pm
Nov 27 2011 - 5:00pm
Location
Bloor-Gladstone Library
1101 Bloor St West
Toronto, ON M6H 1M6Canada
43° 39' 36.0468" N, 79° 26' 2.5764" W
See map: Google Maps
Join us for an afternoon to celebrate public services and protest Ford's cuts!
Mayor Rob Ford and his supporters at City Hall plan to make serious cuts to all aspects of city services and the workers who provide them. Already every City department (except the Police) has been ordered to cut their 2012 budget by 10%. Community centres are now charging fees for previously free programs like family swim. The TTC has been forced to reduce service frequency on already packed routes. Libraries are planning to reduce hours. Ford is so determined to destroy good, public jobs that as early as January, we could see a lock out of city workers. And that is only a small sample of what's to come, unless we work together to Stop the Cuts!
Contact name:
Davenport Committee
Contact email:
Public services, good jobs, healthy communities - a community forum
Nov 23 2011 - 7:00pm
Nov 23 2011 - 10:00pm
Location
Ralph Norton Community Centre
765 Queen Street East 2nd Floor
Toronto, ON Canada
43° 39' 33.2928" N, 79° 20' 51.5544" W
See map: Google Maps
Rob Ford's slash and burn agenda is all about privatizing and reducing public services, eliminating good jobs, and undermining communities. Come to an important community meeting to hear how these attacks will affect us in the East End, and how we can oppose the Ford Agenda.
Speakers include:
Maureen O'Reilly, President of the Toronto Library Workers, CUPE 4948
Effie Vlachoyannacos, Chair of Federation of Metro Tenants Associations
Mark Ferguson, President of CUPE 416, City of Toronto outside workers
For more information: eastendersps@gmail.com
Contact name:
East Enders for Public Services
Contact email:
How the Ford brothers mire us in a privatizing mentality
Here's what I find so unsatisfying about arguing with the Ford brothers. It all gets conducted on their ground. They said there was gravy and there isn't. So they lose that one. They said they won't cut services and they will. They lose that one, too. But we're still talking gravy and savings. It's their turf.
What else is there to discuss? Ah, that's when you see the genius of the Ford position. We are a society that has largely lost sight of the fact that there is anything to debate in politics except how to save money. So even when they lose, they win -- by reinforcing the ground rules. Don't credit Rob and Doug for inventing this mindset. It's been drummed into the public ear for decades by think-tanks, pundits and politicians. But the Fords reproduce it ably.
July 15, 2011 |
Torontonians have spoken about their libraries and the message is “Don’t close our libraries and don’t privatize them,” according to a Forum Research poll conducted on July 4, 2011.
In praise of words, not books
Speaking writer to readers, I want to register some year-end thoughts on climate change in the realm of reading.
Begin with technology. Canadians can finally buy Kindle e-readers. I know there are people who'd rather these had never got here. They say they'll miss the tactility of print on paper, the rustle of turning pages, etc. Yet this may pass. When computers first appeared, I constructed a complex argument against writing with them -- something about it being anti-creative. Then, one day, the prices dropped and suddenly I couldn't recall my objections.
The future of books in the digital age
A battle is raging over the future of books in the digital age and the role that libraries will play. One case now before a U.S. federal court may, some say, grant a practical monopoly on recorded human knowledge to global Internet search giant Google. The complex case has attracted opposition from hundreds of individuals and groups from around the planet.
August 25, 2009 |
Funding cuts for B.C. libraries, announced last week by the B.C. Liberal government, are not as deep as first feared but will still have a negative impact on public libraries throughout the province.