We’re delighted to announce the launch of BC Books Online, an initiative enabling librarians, booksellers, educators, and the public alike to easily browse thousands of books from the province’s publishers, for the first time through one central website.
The Page Two team worked closely with the Association of Book Publishers of BC to develop the new website, which has already gained much praise and attention from media––from features in The Vancouver Sun and The Georgia Straight, to articles in community newspapers such as Kamloops This Week, to a dynamic interview with The CBC, in which publishers from Orca Books in Victoria, BC, spoke about their business and the website’s impact on BC’s book industry.
We were honoured to be a part of a project highlighting BC books. Read on for more insight into this collaborative initiative!
A stylish, user-friendly database
Using technology from 49th Shelf – a website designed to enable discovery of Canadian books – BC Books Online includes titles from 24 publishers. Users can discover a book about a particular subject, theme or place by searching the database using more than 50 pre- existing categories, or browse through one of the 14 reading lists specially curated by a BC librarian. These lists provide a new method of exploring many titles for librarians, arranged by categories – such as specific regional interest – that aren’t traditionally reflected in the industry’s more common BISAC listings.
A collaborative effort
BC Books Online was enhanced by many voices. We’re grateful for the helpful input we received from other organizations such as the BC Library Association, the BC Libraries Cooperative, the Vancouver Public Library, the Educational Resource Acquisition Consortium, the Irving K Barber Learning Centre, and the BC Electronic Library Network.
Over the past year, members from these organizations met with Page Two and the ABPBC to discuss what a database of BC-published books should include, and how it may be used by a range of people. The result of numerous conversations, website iterations, and strategic planning is the largest and most comprehensive collection of books published in all formats from a specific region of Canada.
The project was funded and supported by The Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage through the Canada Book Fund, Creative BC and The Vancouver Foundation.