Libraries through the lens Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto
THOMAS Guignard’s latest Libraries through the lens column takes us to deep space – or at least a close approximation in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto. He says: “In the fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery, the crew of the titular starship race through a galactic adventure to find the source of a mysterious power. A key clue is located in the ‘Eternal Gallery and Archive’, a futuristic version of Jorge Luis Borges’ infinite Library of Babel. This episode didn’t require an intricate CGI setup as the perfect set was readily available close to the studios where the series was being filmed.” Instead, film crews headed to Toronto where the University of Toronto’s “Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library sits at the southern tip of the iconic John P. Robarts Library, an imposing Brutalist library designed by Mathers & Haldenby and opened in 1973. “The interior of the Fisher library is as impressive as its exterior:
Summer 2025
its 740,000 volumes are arranged on six levels only accessible through narrow balconies. At the centre is a raised hexagonal viewing platform, a shape that repeats across the structure, most prominently in the two chandeliers that bask the room with a warm glow.”
Thomas adds: “Thankfully for Torontonians and visitors to the city, getting to the Fisher Library doesn’t require passage on the USS Discovery: access to the viewing platform is free and open to all. Rotating exhibitions showcase a selection of the library’s rich collection and literary events are regularly organised on the reading room’s lush red carpet. “The library is named after Thomas Fisher, a Yorkshire merchant who emigrated to the New World in 1819, eventually settling in an area that would later become Toronto’s west end. Two of his great-grandchildren donated the family’s rare book collection to the university at the opening of the library in 1973.”
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