Lost in the uproar over the slashing of TTC bus service is yet another attack on Toronto's libraries. According to a small item in today's Toronto Star, a firm of consultants has, after a cursory look at municipal finances, said that some branches should go dark. (Going dark is a theatre expression and what are libraries if not theatres of the mind?) I'm utterly appalled, not just because my own branch, Davenport on Shaw Street, is threatened but because closing libraries is among the worst things that can happen to a civic culture. It seems Rob Ford really does want back the bad old days of Hogtown.
The news of the potential closures comes on the heels of some sterling work from the Davenport branch. In the last 10 days it has delivered And the Show Went On - Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris by Alan Riding, and Four Lives in Paris and Published in Paris, both by Hugh Ford. So well done Davenport Branch. I appreciate your contribution even if the mayor, his toadies on council and the latest batch of no doubt highly paid consultants don't.
Oh, and if you're a francophone or francophile (or even if you're neither) check out Le Salon du livre de Toronto Nov. 30 to Dec. 3 at the Reference Library while you can. Who knows when Ford & Co. will want to close it down.
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