One eRead Canada 2019

Join libraries across Canada in creating an opportunity for people across the country to read one book together and share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

The Program

CULC/CBUC has created an opportunity for all public libraries to participate in a Canadawide digital reading program. The program is similar to a “one book, one city” program, on a national scale and in digital format. It will run for four weeks, from June 3 to June 30. The hope is that this will be the inaugural occurrence of an ongoing program that will include French titles, and may expand to include books for other age groups in future.

The Book

The selection for our inaugural program is Glass Beads by Dawn Dumont, published by Thistledown Press. Recognizing and supporting our national focus on reconciliation and the Indigenous experience, it seemed appropriate that our first book is written by an Indigenous woman. We also chose to feature a book from an independent Canadian publisher.

Comparable to the complexity of Richard Van Camp’s work, Glass Beads is a compelling representation of urban Indigenous life.

Jade Colbert, The Globe and Mail

Glass Beads is deeply political but never ideological. Its characters are full and complex. …[T]his book tells the stories of people vastly underrepresented in CanLit..

J.C. Sutcliffe, Quill & Quire

The Circulation Model

The book will be available in ebook and digital audio across platforms (Overdrive, cloudLibrary, hoopla, RB Digital, desLibris), with simultaneous access during the program at a cost of 25 cents per circ. The book is also already available to print disabled patrons via CELA and NNELS.

Support Materials

Program Evaluation

This program is an opportunity to demonstrate the positive impact of public libraries and advocate for better access to econtent. To do so, we will measure the immediate and residual impacts of the program as well as the correlation between circulation and sales.

Four facets will be evaluated:

Circulation and holds (physical and digital) of the featured books and all other books by the same author
Sales (physical and digital) of the featured books and all other books by the same author
Social media reach of the program
Anecdotal data

We will ask participating libraries to enter their data once, at the end of August. An email will be sent during the summer providing a link to the form for data entry.

Communication & Promotion

Logo & Hashtags

Please use the logo on any materials you create, and the hashtag(s) in any social media posts/tweets
The logo is available in 3 versions: light colour scheme and dark colour scheme
The bilingual hashtag for the program is: #1eReadLivrelCanada
- Other hashtags you may want to add depending on the content of the post/tweet: #IndigenousReads #IndigenousHistoryMonth #NIPDCanada

Draft Marketing & Communication Materials

A draft press release is available, and has been written so that you can shorten it as appropriate for your library
Draft social media posts to promote the program are available

Public Communications Strategy

(This material may be of particular interest to your Communications staff)

Single biggest thing we are hoping to accomplish:

Libraries bring people across Canada together to read/listen to a single book (in digital format) at the same time and engage with each other over their thoughts and feelings about the book and how it impacted them.

Note: We are promoting the digital format (ebook/digital audiobook) because the number of physical copies that would be required to do this Canada-wide in a four week period would make it impossible for libraries to do a program on this scale.

Why should the public care/bother to read this book:

This is an easy read with great depth. It tells stories unique to our country; introduces readers to an underrepresented perspective in Canadian literature – a female Indigenous author. Conversations about Indigenous experiences are happening across our country right now, and this book can help enhance those conversations.

Who are we targeting:

People who are interested in learning about Indigenous people’s experience
Can-lit readers
Fiction readers
Audiobook listeners
People who already use or are open to trying digital formats
People who like bookclubs, community reading experiences, participate on Goodreads
People who enjoy engaging about books and reading on social media

What is the message:

Spark conversations and prompt Canadian readers to contemplate new ideas and perspectives while expanding their literary horizons and connecting to fellow readers and their libraries.

Online Author Event

Wednesday, June 12, 6pm in Saskatoon (8pm EST, 5pm PST) in the Gallery at Frances Morrison Central Library and on Facebook Live.

Share and RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/431427467640521/

Dawn Dumont, the author of Glass Beads, has agreed to work with Saskatoon Public Library to offer an online event as part of the One eRead Canada program.

The event will be open for in-person attendees at the Saskatoon Library and simultaneously live streamed on Facebook.

The event will be a public book discussion with Dawn about Glass Beads; a Saskatoon librarian (Jenny) will host and interview Dawn.

Previous to the event, libraries will solicit questions from the public for Dawn through social media. Jenny will pose these questions to Dawn throughout the event, interspersed with in-person attendees’ questions.

Libraries can encourage readers to submit questions using social media and the hashtags #1eReadLivrelCanada and #Question. Sample posts:

#1eReadLivrelCanada starts today. Join the conversation. Ask questions with #question
#1eReadLivrelCanada @dawndumont’s Glass Beads. Join us for a Facebook live author event on June 12th [5pm BC, 6pm SK, 8pm ON]. Submit your question with #question

Facebook Book Club

There is a Facebook group to use as a Canada-wide virtual book club throughout the campaign. Please join One eRead Canada Book Club with your library’s Facebook page to participate, and encourage your patrons to join the discussion.

Join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/587015915117183/

It’s an open group. Please promote it to your followers by sharing the group.

This space is designed to generate engagement. We will encourage patrons to discuss the book together with help and prompts from libraries as needed.

We can share articles, reviews, questions, related books — anything you would in a real book club. The page is managed by the Vancouver Public Library but all libraries are encouraged to participate by posting content and commenting on other people’s posts.

Projects