We are excited to announce that a significant milestone has been reached in developing our new library. On December 16th, we achieved substantial completion, an important step that signifies the near-finalization of construction. This achievement means that site works, deliveries and installations no longer require vendors to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) while on-site, signalling a safer and more accessible environment as we transition to the final stages of the project.
Happy 2025 readers! I and our HOTS bloggers are hoping you’ve had a stellar start to the new year, perhaps with a new (or old) New Year’s resolution under your belt. We’re probably all familiar with the less than positive statistics that most resolutions aren’t built to last, but we’re optimistic that whatever it is you’ve made your thing of the year is something achievable and something you can work towards with conviction. Maybe whatever you’ve decided on lands somewhere in between trying to go to the gym more often or going on that wild adventure you’ve always been planning on, but mine and many of our library staff (like Sumayyah) revolve around reading. Surprise, surprise. Whether it’s pages, words, or titles, we’re challenging ourselves to finally tackle and conquer our forever towering mountain of books or our endlessly long to-read list, which is, of course, a good and very achievable goal for 2025 and will probably not also be our resolution coming into 2026.
In the spirit of our very ambitious reading resolution, and in case you were missing our year-round-up post, I’ve polled our staff across the system to gather their favorite reads of last year (though not exclusively published in 2024) and what they’re most looking forward to reading in 2025. In case your reading list isn’t a full city block long and you’re looking for something to pick up at your next library visit, see below for what my colleagues have to say about how they’re kicking off 2025 with a bang satisfying page turn!
The third Monday of January is known as “Blue Monday” – said by some to be the most depressing day of the year. Maybe you hear that statement and you think to yourself – yep, that tracks! We’re just one month into winter with another two months to go. The holiday season (and the breaks from school/work) of December are long gone. In Ontario, January often only sees approximately 3 hours of sunshine per day (Global News). And by the end of the month, our days will still only be 10 hours long – that’s too short (Time and Date)!
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