When Victoria College moved from Cobourg to its grand new building on Queen's Park, over one hundred years ago, the library was already an integral part of Vic life. Alumni Hall in the Old Vic building was its first Toronto home. In 1910 the Birge-Carnegie Library was built and, in 1960, the E.J. Pratt Library was opened.

As Vic embarks on the new millennium, its library system is keeping pace with the constantly evolving information and research needs.

In the Fall of 2001, a completely renovated Pratt Library reopened. This modern facility serves as a splendid resource for students, faculty and research scholars from the University of Toronto and beyond.

The Library's large main collection is enhanced by significant and internationally important special collections of rare books and manuscripts. Holdings range from Canadiana to Wesleyana. Notable among these are manuscripts and books by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Alfred Lord Tennyson, E.J. Pratt, Northrop Frye, Virginia Woolf and other Bloomsbury Group writers and artists, and the Erasmus Collection at the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies.

The Friends of Victoria University Library are alumni, students, faculty, staff and others who share an active interest in the well-being of the heartbeat of Vic its magnificent library. We invite you to join this lively association

The Friends of the Vic Library
-share an interest in the collections, activities and goals of the Library
-believe in the value of the library as a major academic resource for the preservation and transmission of knowledge
-share an interest in books, manuscripts and other means of recording and communication knowledge.

Benefits of Membership
-assist in the organization of the Friends of Victoria University Library
-assist in furthering the Library's goals through the annual book sale fundraising events
-participate in programs and events organized by and for the Friends and their guests

Some Highlights from the Friends' First Ten Years:

The Victoria College Book Sale which has become Vic's largest annual volunteer fundraising event
The Friends' Gala Auction, with donations from among many others, alumni Don Harron and Margaret Atwood
Stimulating lectures by a host of interesting speakers, including Nobel Prize Winner Arthur Schawlow (Vic 4T1), CBC's Eleanor Wachtel, private press artists and writers Richard Outram, William Rueter and Gerard Brender à Brandis, and art historian David Silcox, an expert on artist David Milne Tours of various Toronto collections, among them the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books, the University of Toronto Arts Centre, and the Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes) Collection at the Toronto Reference Library.

Online Membership Form

For more information, please contact us at:
Tel: 416- 585-4471
Fax: 416- 585-4591
E-mail: