Upon its opening, the Toronto Public Library’s Twenty-Eighth Annual Report for the Year 1911 stated: “[I]mpressed with the necessity of having municipal topics near at hand, the City Council, acting on the recommendations of Mr. Controller Spence, then Acting Mayor, asked the co-operation of the Board and the Chief Librarian in establishing a Municipal Reference Branch of the Public Library in the City Hall. This has been in operation four months, and about 300 books and pamphlets bearing directly upon phases of the problems that are likely to arise in the government of a great city are available for use by the public, and the patronage has fully justified the action of the Council. On account of its down town location, trade directories, consular reports,and works of general reference were added to aid the business man who wants information in a hurry. The resources of the Reference Library on College Street are always available by telephone to supplement the work of this Branch.”
– Toronto Public Library, Twenty-Eighth Annual Report for the Year 1911: Armac Press Limited, Toronto, 1912