Canada Library Love

We love all of our library partners and are so inspired by the creative ways that they use BiblioBoard, Creator, and our author tools to engage their local communities. Engagement with local creators works better for everyone when libraries across an entire region are aligned in their mission and programs. This spirit of cooperation is really what makes digital community engagement so vital to local communities. Today we want to give a special shout-out to our Canadian library partners, who are not only creating projects that are original, impactful, and worthy of sharing, they are also showing what a country aligned around community engagement can achieve by working together.

Take a look at some of our favorite projects below!

Alberta

Calgary Public Library

Newcomer Stories Collection

With a commitment to community, inclusion and diversity, the Calgary Public Library was honoured to host and feature a set of brief videos that highlight the first-person stories of new immigrants to Canada as well as family descendants. Sharing personal journeys and what it means to be a part of the Canadian community is a tribute to the diversity of our community. These first-person declarations were captured and produced in 2019 as a legacy gift for the Centre for Newcomers 30th Anniversary through the commitment of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Canadian Heritage, and Alberta Culture and Tourism in partnership with Calgary Public Library.

View the Collection

Story Map Collection

Calgary’s Story Map Collection showcases over a century’s worth of maps of Calgary and southern Alberta. It gathers and highlights the diversity and development of the city and its environs from treaty territories, homesteading parcels and transportation routes to city plans, aerial photographs and electoral maps. Physical maps which existed in Calgary’s Story, the library’s local history collection, were the impetus for the project. Practical tools enabled the library to gather and feature those map assets in a more accessible way for the wider community.

View the Collection

The opportunity to feature naturally intriguing assets like historical maps of the local area was exciting. The map collection is a favourite feature of our BiblioBoard content; a welcome engagement feature with our community.

Anne Marie FryerDigital Resources Manager

Pressbooks & the Indie Author Project

In 2020, Calgary held a popular writing workshop for teens to create a science fiction anthology. Led by author Heather Clitheroe and UCalgary professor Eric Donovan, teens were prompted to write about what explorers might find if they reached planet Proxima b. Five teen writers put their finished work forward for the anthology, Getting to Proxima b.

I used Pressbooks earlier in the year for a collaboration project with the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at Caltech, so I knew it was a tool that we could easily use to create an eBook at the end of the anthology. For our young writers, the opportunity to have their work published and put into the Library’s catalogue was really exciting.

Heather ClitheroeAuthor

Ontario

The Blue Mountains Public Library

Indigenous History and Culture

In partnership with the Craigleith Heritage Depot museum, Blue Mountains compiled an archive collection that contains artifacts, multimedia materials, and written content all about the indigenous people of the Blue Mountains area.

View the Collection

Beaver Valley Agricultural Society

In partnership with the Beaver Valley Agricultural Society, this anthology shows the history of the society through news articles, photos, and other memorabilia.

View the Collection

BMPL Youth Write

This anthology features stories, pictures, and poems from the Blue Mountains Public Library Pictures and Words program.

View the Collection

BiblioBoard has given our small museum the platform to share our local stories far and wide! During the past two years, when entry to our museum has been difficult, BiblioBoard has given us the opportunity to keep engaged with our community through our online exhibits. This platform has allowed the museum and our community to share together our town’s past and present. We added new exhibits like Staying Home Stories, which highlight the community challenges and learning curve needed during the pandemic, to our Heritage Scrapbook, which dedicates a space for our archival collection’s photographs of local families. BiblioBoard has given our museum a digital space to exhibit our collection, so even if you cannot visit the museum itself you can still learn and engage with local natural and cultural history including the stories that make our town so special!

Alessia FarrisMuseum Technician

Ontario and the Indie Author Project

Over 600 eBooks by local Ontario authors have been made available to participating libraries across the province in the Indie Ontario collection on BiblioBoard Library. This collection helps libraries be inclusive of all types of local indie authors while being able to confidently promote the top submissions as identified by the trusted Indie Author Project curation partners.
More than 60 eBooks by local Ontario authors have been chosen by Indie Author Project curation partners as Indie Author Project Select titles, representing the best-of-the-best of IAP submissions from indie authors all across the U.S. and Canada.
Indie Ontario not only features eBooks by individual Ontario authors, but also community-created works from local organizations and initiatives like Vaughn Public Library’s Voices of Vaughn Anthology.
Several local authors have won awards through the Ontario Author Project, earning national recognition, cash prizes, inclusion in a full spread in Library Journal, and the opportunity to receive royalties through the IAP Select Commercial Collection:
- 2021 Ontario Author Project Winners
  - Fiery Girls by Heather Wardell of Markham Public Library
  - The Momentous Expiration of Tremmy Sinclair by Michael F. Stewart of Ottawa Public Library
- 2020 Ontario Author Project Winners
  - Celtic Knot by Ann Shortell of Toronto Public Library
  - Reecah’s Flight by Richard H. Stephens of Cambridge Public Library District
- 2019 Ontario Author Project Winners
  - Nobody Move by Philip Elliott of Toronto Public Library
  - Rising Tide: Dark Innocence by Claudette Melanson of Kitchener Public Library
- These eBooks are available for purchase through The Palace Marketplace, OverDrive, cloudLibrary and Axis360, along with other eBooks by indie authors in Canada and the US.
- So far, eBooks by Ontario authors have been circulated 8,859 times on these platforms, and almost $1,500 has been generated in royalties for these authors, which is a significant contribution to the creative economy of Ontario as a whole.

Toronto Public Library

Toronto is a great example of a library that has taken the Indie Author Project and really ran with it. Through marketing the program on their website, as well as promoting the annual Ontario Author Project contest, this library has been able to tap into an incredibly engaged and eager writing community.
There have been over 250 submissions accepted into the Indie Author Project from Toronto Public Library alone, and of those, 15 have had the honor of being chosen by industry partners to be a part of IAP Select.
Two of these titles have been recognized with awards by the Ontario Author Project contest: Nobody Move, as mentioned above, and Eve’s Return by Crystal Bourque, an Ontario Author Project finalist in 2020.

British Columbia

Greater Victoria Public Library

Emerging Local Authors Collection

Every year, GVPL celebrates local authors with the Emerging Local Authors Collection that features self-published, independent, and small press books written by local authors. To date, 871 unique titles and 679 authors have been part of the collection, with featured authors ranging in age from six to 90+.
Print books from the collection are displayed for a full year in the library, and the eBook submissions from all years of the collection have been made available on BiblioBoard, in an unlimited and simultaneous-use model.
Check out this video previewing the 2021 collection.

Greater Victoria Public Library has been using BiblioBoard since 2016, when we expanded our Emerging Local Authors Collection (ELAC) to include ebooks. ELAC is one of GVPL’s signature programs that allows us to support and promote our amazing local author community. BiblioBoard has been a great partner for us – authors can upload their own ebooks and metadata, the library has flexibility to promote and highlight current and past collections, and patrons get easy access to ebooks by local authors. We’ll be launching ELAC Year 7 in Spring 2022 and it’s our best year ever for ebook submissions.

Rachel RogersCoordinator, Collections and Technical Services

We hope you feel as inspired as we are by all of these engaging and collaborative projects! We would also love to give a special shout out to the rest of our Canadian library partners »

County of Brant Public Library (Ontario)
Haliburton County Public Library (Ontario)
Hamilton Public Library (Ontario)
Ontario Library Service Consortium (Ontario)
Peterborough Public Library (Ontario)

0 replies

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Canada Library Love

Alberta

Calgary Public Library

Newcomer Stories Collection

Story Map Collection

Pressbooks & the Indie Author Project

Ontario

The Blue Mountains Public Library

Indigenous History and Culture

Beaver Valley Agricultural Society

BMPL Youth Write

Ontario and the Indie Author Project

Toronto Public Library

British Columbia

Greater Victoria Public Library

Emerging Local Authors Collection

Leave a Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Questions?

Support

Get in Touch

NEWSLETTER

Canada Library Love

Alberta

Calgary Public Library

Newcomer Stories Collection

Story Map Collection

Pressbooks & the Indie Author Project

Ontario

The Blue Mountains Public Library

Indigenous History and Culture

Beaver Valley Agricultural Society

BMPL Youth Write

Ontario and the Indie Author Project

Toronto Public Library

British Columbia

Greater Victoria Public Library

Emerging Local Authors Collection

Leave a Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Share this:

Questions?

Support

Get in Touch

NEWSLETTER