COVID in the House of Old now on display 

An exhibit commemorating seven lives impacted by COVID-19 is on display at the Nanaimo Harbourfront branch until September 16. It can be viewed during regular branch hours.

“This exhibit aims to give a voice to the thousands of Canadians living in long-term care who were silenced and suffered through the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Professor Megan Davies, health historian at York University and the exhibit’s creator.

Branch Hours

New issue of Sea & Cedar coming soon 

The summer issue of Sea & Cedar Magazine is about to hit shelves. 

Sea & Cedar Magazine, a biannual publication by Vancouver Island Regional Library, will be released online and in print on August 11. The magazine showcases exemplary writing by emerging and established writers from across Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, Bella Coola and Haida Gwaii, as well as work from visual artists. This issue's cover artist is Sointula's Linda Henningson. 

For the first time, the magazine will be available to purchase, in addition to being available online and in the library catalogue. There will also be a virtual launch event to celebrate the latest issue at 7 pm, August 15. 

Learn more

SRC kids get reward for reading

Kids taking part in this year's Summer Reading Club can pick up a free medal once they've finished their reading record. 

Summer Reading Club is still in full swing, with fun upcoming events like a virtual dance workshop, the All Together Now Drag Extravaganza and wrap-up celebrations. But when kids have completed their reading records they can pick up a free medal at their local branch. Branches will have the medals into the fall. 

Summer Reading Club

Recommended by Real Kids Giveaway 

We are looking for little readers to send in photos of themselves with their favourite book and we'll feature the title on our Recommended by Real Kids booklist and enter each submission into a giveaway for one of three Tales the Whale stuffed toys. We will also spotlight kids and their book picks on our social media channels.

Learn more

Changes coming to OverDrive 

OverDrive App users, it's time for an upgarde. 

The legacy OverDrive app is being discontinued in 2023 and we recommend all customers upgrade to the free Libby App for access to ebooks and audiobooks. There are great perks, including easier navigation, better search options, enhanced accessibility options and the ability to catagorize your reads with tagged lists. 

If you have questions, ask branch staff or click on the link below for a tutorial on Libby. 

Watch it now

Virtual Gardening Series: Dahlias 

Learn all about Dahlias in our next Virtual Gardening Series event, September 12. 

Join Master Gardener D. Gwen Carlson-Redcliffe to learn about the seasonal care of Dahlias. She'll also cover the basics for novices and offer some tips and tricks for the more experienced gardener. 

The event will take place from 6:30-8pm. 

Please note the Virtual Gardening Series event on culinary herbs, scheduled for Aug. 8, is cancelled. 

Register now

Join our online book club! 

This August our Take A Break Virtual Book Club is going on a travel adventure. The club is reading Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. The book was written in 1872, but with a new TV series just released on DVD, it's still popular today. 

 As always, there is no wait time for the e-book or digital audiobook  from August 1 to 31. Get it on the Libby App and then join the online discussion in our Take A Break Facebook group. 

Tell me more

All Together Now: Drag Extravaganza

Celebrate the end of Summer Reading Club with Andi Rogynous, Manna Quinn, Vikki Smudge, Adam Lamborghini and more fabulous Vancouver Island drag performers.

All ages are welcome to this special virtual event, where there will be stories and lip-syncing performances galore.  It takes place on August 16 from 4-5 pm.

Register now

Hey Book Lover! What's Your Sign? 

This year, being a Leo is a wonderful feline. Know what we mane? All signs point to a pleasant year for Leos who may be successfully leading a healthy, balanced lifestyle and experiencing the rewards resulting from careful planning and considerate decision making. We've selected a few pawsome reading suggestions just for you. 

Biblioscope

Ancestry Library Edition 

We’ve all wondered about our ancestors: who were they, where did they live and what did they do?

If you’re interested in learning more about your roots, try out Ancestry Library Edition, available at library branches. Ancestry Library Edition is available on library computers and on library WiFi with your own device only; access from home is no longer allowed by the vendor.

Library customers often ask how Ancestry Library Edition is different from a personal subscription with Ancestry.com. Library Edition includes all research materials from Ancestry.com, but does not include any aspects that share personal information such as message board commenting, submitting DNA, communicating with living relatives and creating family trees.

Tell me more

Indigenous Collection

The Sentence, by Louise Erdrich, Nov 2021

From the publisher, Harper Collins Canada:

In this New York Times bestselling novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author Louise Erdrich creates a wickedly funny ghost story, a tale of passion, of a complex marriage and of a woman's relentless errors.

A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading "with murderous attention," must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning.

Place a hold now