New to Canada

(By Brendon with contributions from Chantel)

During the Chinese Lunar New Year, many people give and receive “lucky money” in a red pocket. If you read or speak any of the Chinese languages or dialects, your library card is also “lucky” because it gives you access to a world of material at the library in your language- and it is already in your pocket!

Over half of Toronto Public Library’s branches have a Chinese language collection which consists of books, videos, and magazines. 52 branches across the city have a Chinese collection, so your chances are very good that a branch near you has Chinese materials.

Searching for materials in Chinese

Before I show you the world of Chinese material you can access at the library, here is a neat trick if you would like to translate the Toronto Public Library’s home page in simplified or traditional Chinese characters using Google Translate.

Library staff can also help you search for Chinese material, or you can use a nifty piece of software called the “Input Method Editor” (or the IME Pad) which allows you to write Chinese characters into the search box on the Library’s homepage, making it much easier to search for Chinese language material. Here is what it look like:

If it is a bit too cold to get to your nearest branch, you can still use your lucky library card to access the library’s Chinese electronic collections.

Here is a brief rundown on what your library card can access when it comes to Chinese material:

Books and Videos

Our OverDrive digital collection contains a large collection Chinese e-books, e-audio books and videos that you can borrow and read on your computer, tablet, or smartphone! Check out some of the popular items you can download!

 Magazines

But what about Chinese magazines? Our Chinese e-Magazines database has an extensive collection of streaming Chinese magazines.

If you are interested in downloading some Chinese magazines to your tablet, Zinio gives you access to beautiful, high definition versions of some of the hottest Chinese magazines.

Movies and Music

If you are looking for some Chinese movies you can stream or download, create a Hoopla account with your library card and take a look at their section devoted to Chinese Cinema.

Have esteemed guests coming over for a function and you don’t have traditional Chinese music in your collection? Your lucky library card saves the day again with access to streaming Chinese music through the Naxos Music Library! You can search by both country and by instrument in Naxos Music Library’s advanced search.

Learn Chinese!

Finally, if you want to enjoy any of the Chinese language material we have at the library, but don’t know how to read or speak the language, Mango Languages provides free online courses in Mandarin language which are accessible with your library card which you can complete in the comfort of your home.

As you can see, your Toronto Public Library card makes you truly lucky if you are looking for Chinese language material! We wish you a happy and prosperous New Year as you make the most use out of your library card!