continued increase in the number of public access workstations,

  location of computers in areas that lack home access,

  user education,

  free computer courses,

  increased promotion of electronic services to non users of the library, especially

those who do not own computers.

Other ways in which the library is involved include: 

  participation in information exchanges,

  participation in the practice of open governance e.g., the posting of board agendas

for discussion,

  a web link from the library's homepage to that of the city of Toronto,

  development of e services which extend and complement the city's e services,

  the redesign of the Toronto Public Library homepage to provide convenient access

to the services most used, including self service circulation options.

The library facilitates access to other government transaction by ensuring ease of access

to local, provincial and federal government information through its Virtual Reference

Library (VRL) http://vrl.tpl.toronto.on.ca The VRL is designed to deliver reference and

information services in an online environment. Its subject guide to the Internet consists

of resources that have been selected and organised by professional staff.

The category  Government  within the subject guide can be used to locate official

government websites as well as indexes, directories and other search aids developed by

other agencies in order to access government information. Gateways have been 

developed within the VRL to provide value added services and to highlight available

government services for particular groups such as job seekers:

  Career Bookmarks http://careerbookmarks.tpl.toronto.on.ca is an easy to use,

interactive, career and job search gateway, which was developed in partnership

with a federal agency Human Resources Development Canada.

  SmallbizXpress is a new gateway for small business and entrepreneurship 

developed in partnership with Industry Canada and the provincial Ministry of

Tourism, Culture and Recreation

E library transactions that are available for users of Toronto Public Library are:

  access to catalogue in library and remotely,

  place holds,

  renew materials,

  review personal accounts,

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