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Brampton Library Blog

Category: Blog

It has been two years since our whole world was up-ended by the COVID-19 pandemic and Brampton Library had to shut its doors. I want to thank all of our customers, staff, and supporters for their continued commitment to helping the Library and the community thrive in difficult times. 

The Library did thrive during the pandemic. We expanded our Digital Library, introduced curbside pickup service, pivoted to virtual programs, launched our mobile app, and started interacting with you through chat on our website. When it was safe, we slowly re-opened our branches with limited capacity and services. Although it has been hard on our community and on our team, we’ve learned that the library is an evolving and flexible piece of social infrastructure, and that it plays an important role in fostering equity. That’s one of the reasons why as of January 1, 2022, Brampton Library no longer charges late fees on any of our materials. We’ve also learned that the resources we provide for borrowing are not the only thing people need the Library for. Our spaces, our programming, and our role in community gathering are also important, and we have missed these opportunities to gather in person.  

As covid restrictions are lifted, we are relaxing restrictions and re-introducing services. Wearing a mask is no longer required when you visit our branches, nor are there any restrictions on the number of people who can be in our spaces at one time. We ask you to respect the choices of others, including our staff, to continue to wear a mask as they choose. We will gradually re-introduce all of the seating you have been used to so that you can spend more time studying, reading, and relaxing. We will also re-introduce in-person programming to animate our spaces, starting with CBC My Brampton Day at Springdale Branch Library on March 30, We are looking forward to bringing back our popular in-branch family storytimes in the first week of April, and our makerspaces shortly after. By the fall, we hope to have our audio recording studio at Chinguacousy Branch Library fully operational, and are planning on offering after-hours study halls at select locations.

This is an exciting time at Brampton Library for other reasons, too. We have already released a new Facilities Master Plan that calls for doubling the amount of library space in the next 10 years, starting with the planning of a new downtown library as part of the Centre For Innovation project. Now, we are working on creating a new Strategic Plan, and we need your voice! You can complete our survey from March 28 until April 25, 2022. If you are interested in participating in a community discussion, or have other thoughts about the Library’s future role in our growing community, you can email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. As we recover from this pandemic, we want to know what we can do to help everyone feel that they belong at the Library.

Category: Blog

1. Join a virtual program with Brampton Library. Learn about exotic animals with Hands-on Exotics or play Virtual book bingo for your chance to win a prize. Go to our Calendar of Events to register for virtual programs.

2. Enjoy a walk on a snowy day with snowshoes! Borrow kids’ or adult-size snowshoes, free with your library card. Learn more about our Seasonal Activity Kits from our Library of Things collection.

3. Escape rooms may not be possible, but put it outside and it becomes an Escape game at the park. Head to Loafer’s Lake Park to enter the time loop and solve puzzles to rebuild your time machine! The escape game runs from March 1–31. No need to book a time, just dress for the weather and enjoy the game!

4. Not interested in “escaping” outside? Try our Virtual escape room, available from March 12–20! 

5. Check out City of Brampton's programs and camps for March Break. 

6. Stream a movie at home on Kanopy for free with your Brampton Library card.

7. Learn how to crochet or draw manga with video tutorials from Creativebug. Your library card gives you access to thousands of craft projects for free.

8. Teens can pick up the Take and make kit to create a kaleidocycle anytime between March 12–20 while supplies last.

9. Interested in getting outside? Borrow an Ontario Parks pass and snowshoes from Brampton Library and go for a walk in the snow.

10. Take a Story Walks at Chinguacousy Park or play our haunted Escape game at Loafer’s Lake Park.

Category: Blog

The last two months have been some of the most difficult and frustrating of the COVID-19 pandemic for all of us, and that is equally true for us here at Brampton Library. The Omicron wave has upended all of our expectations and assumptions, seeming to promise, in almost equal doses, increasing danger and a path out of the pandemic. 

For the Library, this phase meant that provincial restrictions reduced our capacity to welcome you to 50 percent. But we went further than that, limiting services solely to those that were transactional and brief in order to both protect the community and to respond to a higher than usual level of staff absences. At one branch, Mount Pleasant Village, we are reluctantly offering only curbside pickup service. 

We know that you miss our services, none more than the ability to use our spaces to read, study, and relax. Our feeling was that this sort of extended visit, in a setting where proof of vaccination is not required, would lead to a higher level of exposure than the community was comfortable with under the circumstances. 

We are immensely grateful to everyone in our community for their patience throughout this trying time. We are also heartened by the fact that the wave seems to have peaked and that hospitalizations have decreased. For that reason, we are hoping to restore some of the services you need after the Family Day weekend, in keeping with the province’s ongoing relaxation of restrictions. We are also looking to re-open our Mount Pleasant Village branch as soon as possible.

As I write this, I feel that we have been here before, announcing a return to normalcy, with our branches full of activity, programs, conversation, and quiet study. But like before, I cannot offer a definitive assurance of when that will happen. I can only assure you that we will build back our services as the conditions allow and as the community is comfortable. In the meantime, keep safe, and keep monitoring our website and social media pages for updates.

Category: Blog

Hello, Brampton!

Thank you for your patience during our closure of Mount Pleasant Village branch Library and our gradual resumption of the library services we know you need and appreciate.

Last week, we re-opened our branch study spaces at seven locations and tomorrow, Tuesday, March 1, 2022, we are delighted to announce that Mount Pleasant Village Branch Library will once again be open for regular hours and will also offer study space. Curbside pickup service at Mount Pleasant will no longer be available.

We invite you to enjoy these library services:

  • We are OPEN to serve you Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mount Pleasant Village reopens on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
  • Note: our South West branch is open Tuesday and Thursday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 
  • Browse and borrow items from our collections, including print materials, DVDs, magazines, and newspapers.
  • Use our spaces to study, read, and relax, within individual branch capacity limits.
  • Use our library Chromebooks while visiting our branches.
  • Use our library computers for up to an hour per day. Computer reservations are not available at this time.
  • Print, photocopy, and scan your documents. Printing is offered in black and white at 20 cents per page.

To keep our staff and customers safe, all COVID-19 health and safety protocols remain in place.

  • In accordance with the City of Brampton Mandatory Mask By-Law 135-2020, all customers and staff are required to wear masks inside our buildings at all times.
  • Customers should maintain a minimum physical distance of two metres whenever possible.
  • Staff will periodically clean high touchpoint areas.
  • Customers should self-screen before entering our spaces.
  • Customers are encouraged to use our self check-out kiosks to check out borrowable items.
  • Download and use our mobile app to check out items. Learn more about our app.

In closing, I invite you to visit your favourite branch library and reconnect with us. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. We look forward to inspiring connections with you.

Category: Blog

February is Black History Month. Black people have been present in Canada ever since explorer and navigator Mathieu da Costa arrived in Acadia with Samuel de Champlain in the seventeenth century. As a person of Acadian descent, learning that da Costa’s arrival even predates that of my own ancestors opened my eyes to a history that for so many has been invisible. 

For myself, and for Brampton Library, this is a time to reflect on the contributions and struggles of the Black community, and what can be done to turn a history of racism and exclusion into a present of recognition and inclusion. It is an opportunity to encourage and inspire conversations, even uncomfortable ones, about everyone’s role in correcting historical wrongs. 

This month, your library is a place to discover the legacy of Black Canadians with book and film recommendations, collaborative programming, historical content, and more, for all ages.

On February 15, from 7–8:30 p.m., we celebrate local Black culture through the eyes of our youth, in partnership with ResQ Youth International and Black Youth School Success Initiative (BYSSI). Learn about the influence of African music and language on pop culture, cook Jamaica’s national dish with Chef Horace Spence, and deepen your knowledge of history in the interactive portion. Please register for this program here.

Watch for our social media posts about local Black Canadian history and culture. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @bramptonlibrary. 

Enjoy Virtual Storytime on our YouTube channel. This popular program will share Black themes, authors, and illustrators every Tuesday in February at 10:30 a.m.

Lawrence Hill once remarked:  "Have we read our own authors … Do we know that the story of African-Canadians spans four hundred years, and includes slavery, abolition, pioneering, urban growth, segregation, the civil rights movement and a long engagement in civic life?" 

Accordingly, we suggest Jane Igharo’s Ties That Tether; Louisa Onome’s Like Home; Arts Walk of Fame inductee Ian William’s Disorientation; and Jael Richardson’s Gutter Child. These Black authors and their books will be recognized by the City of Brampton during Black History Month 2022 and you can find them in our branch displays, our online catalogue, on cloudLibrary, and on our mobile app.

And that’s not all! Our librarians have compiled wonderful reading lists and watching lists of books and films that will support you in your journey. Be sure to check out these dedicated online shelves on our website. Click here for books for adults and kids. Click here for e-books and audiobooks for adults and e-books and audiobooks for children. Click here for films on Kanopy. To get a library card click here.

To build your knowledge of Black history and culture now and in the months to come, look no further than your favourite Brampton Library branch. We want to be your neighbourhood champion.

  1. Digital Privacy Week 2022
  2. Family Literacy Day 2022
  3. Service changes at all eight Brampton Library locations
  4. Here’s Why Overdue Fines Are Over Forever

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