In honour of its 100th anniversary, the Jewish Public Library received $50,000 donation from the TD Bank to expand its young adult collection. Michael Crelinsten, the library’s executive director, said the grant will be used to better serve its young members and hopefully entice them to become familiar with the other resources the library has to offer such as its archives and rare books collection.

“One of the things we’ve seen continually with young people who come into the library is that when they have a chance to see and hold these books, some of which go back 500 years and more, there’s really an oh-my-goodness expression on their face,” Crelinsten explained. “It’s a very powerful experience.” Crelinsten is a proponent of the benefits of youth literacy.  “There is a great deal of empirical evidence that has emerged from studies in recent years about the relationship between fictional literacy (having read a lot of fiction) and one’s commitment to and engagement in the larger community,” he said.

Community engagement is one of the tenets that the Jewish Public Library tries to promote. As Crelinsten puts it, “The Jewish Public Library wants to be a library not just for the Jewish community and not just for the immediate community right around the library, but also throughout the entire borough (of Côte des Neiges).”’

The library is currently working with Herzliah High School and Marymount Academy to set up programs to bring rare books from their collection into the classroom. In addition, the library has reached out to the nearby Filipino community, offering them a limited-time offer of a preferred rate for family memberships.

The Jewish Public Library is located at 5151 Cote Ste. Catherine Rd.

For more information, visit jewishpubliclibrary.org.