New Toronto Urban Food and Agriculture Learning Centre

Jac Smit Library of Urban Agriculture

Opens to the public on Tuesday 1 February 2011

Background and overview

The Toronto Urban Food and Agriculture Learning Centre (TUFALC), a joint venture of FoodShare Toronto and MetroAg – Alliance for Urban Agriculture, is now open to the public, providing resources to researchers, practitioners, advocates and others interested in urban food and agriculture matters in greater Toronto, as well as across North America and worldwide. Future plans include the development of a digital library that builds on our existing collections of publications, books, articles, periodicals, unpublished papers (including conference, seminar and workshop reports), computer files, photos, and recordings, to be accessed via the Web.

The TUFALC consists of two separate but related collections housed in the same space. Materials originating from FoodShare contain primarily published materials pertaining to local and general interest in the areas of growing and managing personal and community gardens and other food-security issues; the Jac Smit Library of Urban Agriculture is comprised of materials gathered by The Urban Agriculture Network, a US-based non-profit organization from the 1970s through the present. This Library consists of over 4000 individual items, both published and unpublished, dealing with all aspects of urban agriculture, worldwide.

The FoodShare collection is organized by a simple subject-based cataloguing system with an available legend; the Jac Smit collection is indexed in a searchable database, with more recent materials being added to the database each month. Volunteer librarians are available during public hours to help visitors locate items in both collections.

Current status and Short-term schedule

TUFALC is located within FoodShare, at 90 Croatia Street, Toronto (entrance on Brock Avenue, just south of Bloor Street West, west of the Dufferin Subway Station). As of Tuesday, February 1, TUFALC is open to the public on a limited trial basis, 2 ½ days per week. Visitors can visit and browse the collection during the following hours:

Tuesdays: 9:30am – 12:30pm and 1pm – 4pm
Wednesdays: 9:30am – 12:30pm
Fridays: 9:30am – 12:30pm and 1pm – 4pm

During this trial period, we ask that you notify us of your intent to visit a day or two in advance by sending an email to toronto.ufalc@gmail.com. Questions and feedback can also be sent to this address.

For now, materials in TUFALC do not circulate. Visitors who wish to use materials off-site may speak with the volunteer librarians to discuss options for photocopying and (limited) scanning. We will also be using this three-month trial period to seek feedback from users to guide future circulation policies and other potential adjustments in the learning centre.