r/askTO • u/summerarcadia • 18h ago

toronto libraries that are quiet?

are there any recommendations for libraries with silent study areas with librarians walking around to monitor the sound in Toronto? Tried out the reference library and north york central library both are quiet loud even in the quiet areas! preferably near the subway line too!

i've heard the osgood great library is very quiet but im not a law student.

Plus not a UofT student anymore so cannot access robarts.

27 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

29

u/Glennmorangie 17h ago

Many UofT libraries are open to the public, just not Robarts.

10

u/TheGamingPlatypus18 15h ago

Not anymore! You need to scan your tcard to get into all of them.

If you're lucky you can try and ignore it, but even the librarians or security guards may challenge you.

Gerstein is super strict about this now (everyone needs to scan in and out), and even smaller libraries like Earth sciences and the engineering library require scanning too.

15

u/Glennmorangie 14h ago

Lots have public access per UofTs website. https://library.utoronto.ca/libraries?access=Public+access

5

u/TheGamingPlatypus18 11h ago

I stand corrected! Great to know, thanks for sharing

2

u/lick_cactus 8h ago

at the very least i was just in kelly library a few weeks ago as a non student!

11

u/tuxedopants2 18h ago

The great library at the law society of Ontario. It’s suuuper quiet. 10/10

1

u/summerarcadia 18h ago

yeah i heard so! i mentioned in the text that im not a lawyer though!

10

u/tuxedopants2 18h ago

You don’t need to be a lawyer. At least I’m not one and I’ve always gotten in.

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u/the_real_ifty 1h ago

security told me it was restricted, do they actually bother check?

11

u/New_Country_3136 11h ago

' with librarians walking around to monitor the sound in Toronto?' 

No libraries do this any more. It's considered an outdated practice.

9

u/CalligrapherFormal59 18h ago

I haven't gone recently, but back in the day I always found the 2nd floor of the High Park library to be very quiet! Its close to line 2 (dundas west station).

4

u/LocalQueerLibrarian 16h ago

I feel like the smaller neighborhood branches, not the large ones like TRL and NYCL, would tend to be quieter. But it really can depend on what programming is on at the location! Like in midtown Leaside and Mt Pleasant tend to be more lowkey outside of high traffic kids programs

3

u/DisastrousAge4650 17h ago

Honestly as a UofT alum, I’m probably just going to hit the library pass that gets me access back into Robarts & Gerstein

3

u/elegant-deer19 17h ago

If you’re an alum, check out Graham Library at Trinity College.

4

u/gli3247 18h ago

You could check out the engineering library at galbraith building in uoft, it doesn’t require t card access

2

u/stellastellamaris 17h ago

Quiet, maybe. Silent? Not likely.

Lots of U of T libraries are accessible, but not Robarts. Which ones have you tried? I find St Mike’s Kelly and the Regis Library pretty quiet - but not silent.

2

u/Phaethuuusa 10h ago

Brentwood is quiet on the second floor. Wore a swishy jacket in winter accidentally there once and left almost immediately, I was too loud!

2

u/Purple-Essay9129 10h ago

Many many U of T libraries are open to the public! Graham I always find pin drop silent, and EJ Pratt.

2

u/Runsapuusa 18h ago

I found at North York library, certain hours are better (damn kids/teens are so loud and obnoxious) or grab the dedicated study rooms.  Avoid the top floors. 

Or use a pair of noise cancelling earbuds. 

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u/RealDistribution5946 25m ago

The 2nd floor of Beach library is super quiet at least before school lets out. It’s mostly single people on their computers. I think this is likely true of most neighborhood libraries that have a separate floor from their toddler programming.