North York Central Library

Easily accessible via North York station (TTC) I decided to sign up for a library card as I rallied up a group of coworkers after a morning chat of the library perks we were missing out on.
Who doesn’t want to save money borrowing rather than buy! Growing up I spent countless hours each week scouring the painfully quiet aisles of movies, magazines and well of course books.
While I moved to Toronto last year I had yet to sign up for a card.
**TIP: Did you know that if you are not a resident but work in Toronto you can also sign up for a card? My coworkers had no idea. Work field trip had us headed to the library.
Who knew it would be so much fun?!
Sign up quick and easy, present your ID with Toronto address or pay stub/​letter of reference for those non TO peeps.
Sign up quick and easy. I will have to actually take out my first item to review the library.
Best of all it’s FREE!
Hold list already started…

Great library with a wide selection of books and nice quiet space
The staff is also quite friendly and accommodating as I had several questions for a thesis I was writing for my masters.
I’ll be back.

I had forgotten how big this library is!
Wonderful for those who want a little quiet time and use their study area. Make sure to go early. There are also a ton of free programs available. Ex: ESL, intro to internet, etc. Information is usually available at the help desk. I had forgotten how much stuff taxpayers pay for…
Unfortunately, I still owe the library a book & likely a $ 100 fine from decades ago. So I won’t be borrowing anything anytime soon. But will definitely be back to curl up in a chair to read a good book.

This library is pretty huge. There are multiple floors, comfy chairs, descent WiFi, and clean washrooms. There are few study rooms if you want to reserve one for group study sessions.
It’s really close to the food court in case you get hungry or need some coffee. Or you can walk to North York Centre for even more distractions!
Parking is a headache here especially if you are trying to stay for the whole day. So take the bus /​subway or just walk here.

Come here on many occasions whether by myself or with a friend to study and always find it productive. The staff is always helpful and friendly and I like how you can pick a room (if it’s vacant) to have some quiet study/​review time.
It’s a big library — 6 floors with a bathroom on each and various places to sit. May come back if I ever need a place to study or check out books, but a bit far for me!

I have such wonderful memories of this library. It was one of the first places my folks would drop me off and let me explore on my own when I was around 10 or 11, and I discovered so much about the city, the country, the world, and myself by meeting people from all over and sharing my love of reading and books with them.

North York Central is not my local library by any means, but I did make the cross-​town trek to check this behemoth out in all six floors of its glory.
Reminiscent of Bloor’s Toronto Reference Library in design, I’d say NYCL is the cozy younger sibling. Also, unlike the Reference Library, a lot more of the books are actually for circulation. Each floor is divided according to field of interest, with whole stacks devoted solely to business, and another level to science. The very top floor is also worth a gander with its impressive collection of microfilms. If you’re looking to study, I can vouch for the pin-​drop noise level of the upper floors. Plenty of natural lighting and seating, as well as power outlets. The occasional coat trees dotting the perimeter were well made use of during my February visit.
Super convenient location for those commuting by TTC as it is in the same complex as North York Center Station. There is also a bustling food court if reading makes you peckish (I know it make me… but then again, I’m always up for a bite) and I believe food is allowed in the library’s bottom floor study hall. Happy learning!

Beautiful space in the back of the North York City Centre. Rooms to study and hold events. Plenty of computers you can use that are connected to the Internet.
Not being a resident of North York of Toronto, I didn’t have a library card I could use to unlock one of the computer. Not a problem, the lady at the front desk gave me a code that I could use to log in.
Plenty of food options just outside the library, including a Starbucks and the Timmy’s.
It’s located on the subway line North York City Centre doubling as subway pavilion.

In terms of finding books, the selection here is quite thorough, as there are many floors divided into organized categories. However, if you are looking to get some studying done, this place is not for you. It is usually full of students, making it difficult to find a seat, let alone study. And don’t even think about using the «study hall». It’s loud, bustling, and not a place to get work done.

Oh NYCL, we’ve had a long history together.
This was the place that I would go to meet up with friends after school (In the private study rooms, that were windowed so teenagers couldn’t use them as makeout rooms). When I was a little older, I would tell my parents that I was going to this library, then go somewhere scandalous, like the mall or the movie theatre.
I was in the area with a friend, and he suggested we check it out again. He browsed the science fiction area and I went a bit nuts in the graphic novels section, pulling out two books I’ve never even heard of and taking them out (as was my old custom when I frequented the library.)
Since I’m a dumb iPhone reader now, I don’t carry my library card, but they were happy to use my driver’s license to find my info and check out the books for me. When we were leaving, I noticed that they now have self check out scanners, like at the grocery store, and self-​scan book returns as well. The future is now. We didn’t check out more of the place (upstairs, etc.) since it was closing soon.
After getting the books, we hung out in the food court in the building, resolving to hang out here next time we meet. Hopefully, this means a lot more book readin’ in my future!

it’s a library. if libraries can be star-​ranked i’m giving it four stars. I think I got most of my literary satisfaction from here. Has many floors. (5?), lots of sitting areas, people are kind of loud sometimes… if you REALLY gotta get stuff done, bring headphones. Staff are friendly here, helped me find stuff even when i almost gave up. I like it connects to the subway, so even when it’s a blizzard outside I can still get my book on the way home. :) good stuff!

Likes: spacious, love the first floor’s new colourful furniture, relatively clean bathrooms, plenty of restaurants, snack stores and coffee shops nearby on study breaks, you can bring your beverage in the library, free wifi, relatively quiet, lots of power outlets.
Dislikes: they frequently have announcements about watching your belongings or about certain events that take place at the library. They repeat themselves a couple of times, which can be distracting. Also, I don’t understand why the librarians don’t shut up when they see people studying quietly. It’s so ironic that people are «considerate to their neighbour», but (and excuse my French) the F-​ing LIBRARIAN can’t read their own giant memo on the tables.

Love this library! Perfect for everyone, whether you’re a parent with kids, student or just a retired senior looking to past some time.
This is the largest public library I’ve been too. I wish I discovered it earlier.
If you are a student, they have individual quiet study rooms for you and up to 2 other people if you require a more quiet setting to study. Also helpful are the poweroutlets!
The very bottem floor is the «study hall». This consists of rows and rows of tables just for studying.
This library is super convienent. Located right by the North York Centre subway station. They are even open on sundays! Although I wish their hours were longer.

Love this library. Well laid out and they have rooms where you can study, etc. Lots of computers available for folks. However … and people don’t hate me for saying this … too many screaming kids in the morning. I thought libraries were supposed to be quiet places …
Good variety of science fiction and non-​fiction.

I love the North York Public Central Library, they have many floors of books, everything is well laid out.
Perks:
1. Many Floors of books.
2. On the subway line, you do not have to go outside to get here from the Sudbway, it can be a little adventure to find your way to it without going outside, but if you know the area it is fairly easy.
3. They have rooms that they rent to different authors/​speakers that hold different talks here, most of which are free.
One of my favourite Personal Finance Authors Derek Foster had a talk here about a year and half ago that I went to attend, the room was nice, had comfortable chairs, the event was free and because of the design of the room it was easy to hear him even though I was sitting at the back and he had no microphone.

If you ever need a quiet place to study, this library has almost 7 floors of working desks for one to study, read, or do work. I used to frequent this area during my high school days to get tutored — the downstairs level is a quiet only area with individual cubicles.
What I really like about this library is the one piano room where you can practice! I believe its $ 1 for an hour and it is basically a small room with a piano.
Recently renovated so checkout is now automatic!

I love, love, love this library. It’s right off the subway line & has floors & floors of books, cd’s, dvd’s, etc. They have a great selection of multi-​lingual materials as well. And of course the students love this place as it has tons of study space. It’s been going through renovations, some of which are completed & looks really great. They’ve automated the book check out system, as well as the return system too. Wifi is free here but really slow!

This branch is probably my favourite branch of the Toronto Public Library System. Mainly, because it’s pretty much 6 floors of books, plus huge study hall in the basement.
Currently the HUB is under renovations for the last few months. But I love coming here to browse through their cookbooks sections, which is on the 5^th floor.
I normally use this location to pick up my holds, since it is the closest one to my office, but I find their browsery desk people are often quite helpful, in the sense, that if I can’t find a book in their catalogue, they are often willing to put in an order, if the book is popular enough and put me on the wait list for it at the same time.
There is a ton of natural light to be found throughout the library, but also they have a huge sheet music collection, in addition to the sound recordings; which can be found on the 2^nd fl.
But with the addition of the self-​checkout kisoks, you’re never really in waiting in line to check out your books for very long, they usually have 6 going at a time, in addition a staff member or two are normally hanging around to help out, if you get stuck.
Their catalogue is, also, extremely user-​friendly. I love being able to browse through it online; and when I find books I want to borrow, I usually simply click on the title, then the listing will provide me with the synopsis of the book, in addition to all branches that may have a copy of the book (or how many copies the library (on whole) has on order).

When I walked by North York Central Library… I didn’t realize how huge it is till I walked inside then looked up at floors full of stacks of books!
The foyer for sure is a sight to behold… with the skylights letting natural sunlight to filter through!
This place is as busy as a mall… but I do feel like I am in one of the biggest bookstores browsing and flipping through all these magazines and books. the good thing is I can stay as long as I like, never buy anything and no one is going to give me that look!
Tons of outlets, tables, comfy seatings for me to park myself using free WIFI.
Six Floors of reading materials and more… now this is one library that needs a floor directory!

North York Public Library is one of the reasons I never want my parents to move. I love going back home and dropping by the libs. Four stories of books, microfilm, movies, magazines, and stuffs! How I love North York Public Library!
They’ve got chairs to sit on, people are fairly friendly. There’s a computer room where computers are mostly hogged up by kids and unemployed people. Those kids will probably one day be unemployed people as they don’t go to school.
I was a minor celebrity here as I was the first person to get North York’s copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. My parents went to pick it up for me, and apparently a «crowd» of librarians gathered to see who got it first. They really didn’t expect a fobby middle-​aged Chinese couple, so my parents explained that their 20-​year-​old daughter was a huge loser and reserved it as soon as the reserve list opened up.