What's New at Brantford Public Library

The Brantford Public Library has taken three major steps in making library services more accessible to the community.

The library is currently running a community survey, has eliminated late fines and has a new online membership form that provides instant access to their expansive digital collection.

The community survey is open to the entire community – both library users and non-users. Results from the survey will help the library decide on future growth and services. The survey is open until April 14, 2021 and respondents may be eligible to enter a draw for an iPad.

The library also eliminated late fines on March 15. This was after an internal review showed that late fines were preventing people from using the library and these fines contributed to less than one percent of the library’s overall revenue. The library will still charge fees for any lost or damaged items and library accounts will be suspended once more than $20 is owed.

Finally, the library launched a new online membership form. After completing this form, people will be provided with a library membership number and a four-digit PIN to get immediate access to the library’s entire digital collection. Anytime within a year, people can visit the library with two pieces of ID and convert to a full library membership, which allows you to borrow books, DVDs, Parks Passes and more.

This digital collection includes:

• Thousands of eBook and Audiobooks
• Thousands of digital magazines and newspapers (including the Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator and Brantford Expositor)
• Access to Ancestry.com Library edition
• Online learning tools like Lynda.com (LinkedIn Learning), Transparent Language and Universal Class
• Research databases – like Proquest Historic Toronto Star
• Movie and television streaming

Library membership is free for anyone living in Brantford, Brant and Six Nations. Each year, more than 500,000 people visit the two locations of the library and more than 30,000 people of all ages participate in library programming. There are also more than 60,000 uses of the library’s public computers every year.