April is Poetry Month <3

Who doesn't love a beautiful poem on a Spring day...

April is National Poetry Month, and to celebrate, we have tons of poetic programs for you!

From poems in your pocket available at your local branch (featuring winners of the Poem in Your Pocket Contest), to poetry lists for all ages, all that’s missing is a patch of grass in the sunshine to soak it all in!

Find a Poem Here...

Esports Showdown

Attention all PS4 gamers!

The VIRL Esports Showdown with PGA Tour 2K21 Golf is NOW open for registration.

• $5,000 in cash prizes
• Free game copies
• Free entry
• All-ages!

The VIRL Esports Showdown is sponsored by Bear Mountain Golf and Tennis Resort Community. Follow the link and swing into spring!

Register Now!

Eden Robinson: A Conversation

We're counting down the days until our exclusive event with Eden Robinson on Friday, April 23 at 2 pm!

Robinson is the author of the Trickster series, and will be talking with librarians about the latest and final book, Return of the Trickster. Have a burning question for Eden? Send it in when you register!

This event is free and open to all, but you do need to register to receive the Zoom link. 

Register Here

Accountable Cataloguing:
A Story

For the past several years, staff at the Vancouver Island Regional Library (VIRL) have been meticulously removing colonial bias and stereotype subject headings from VIRL's catalogue.

VIRL's Support Services team began the work in 2017, following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Final Report. VIRL's Indigenous Engagement and Services Committee soon joined in, following a powerful presentation on cataloguing and Indigenous works by the British Columbia Library Association (BCLA). Together, the team has replaced more than 1,000 antiquated and inappropriate subject headings with those which accurately represent and reflect the knowledge of Indigenous peoples.

Read More...

PressReader

PressReader includes international newspapers and magazines in 65 different languages, from Afrikaans to Zulu.

This makes it an incomparable source of reading material for readers who are multi-lingual (or who are trying to be).

PressReader also features a variety of English language publications from around the world.

Become a PressReader reader today!

Get Started...

Hey Book Lover, What's Your Sign?

Hey all you Aries, dive towards these great reads. You know it, but we’re saying, it’s all about balancing the head and the heart.

Future: Your life path : life mapping tools to help you follow your heart and live your dreams, now! / Dr. Linda K. Watts | Aries, this book might just help you with planning your dreams and this is the year to do it.

Love: The Heart Principle by Hoang, Helen. | This is a great your for romance and this book let's you know "how wrong you can be about someone, and how right they can be for you."

Fortune: Conscious luck: eight secrets to intentionally change your fortune / Gay Hendricks and Carol Kline | This isn't a year to let changes just happen! Take control.

Lucky Number: the 24th is a great day for you... so your lucky number is 24.

Hey, Aries...Click Here

Indigenous Collection

Seen but Not Seen: Influential Canadians and the First Nations from the 1840s to Today, by Donald B. Smith, January 2021

From the publisher, University of Toronto Press:

Throughout the nineteenth and most of the twentieth century, the majority of Canadians argued that European "civilization" must replace Indigenous culture. The ultimate objective was assimilation into the dominant society.

Seen but Not Seen explores the history of Indigenous marginalization and why non-Indigenous Canadians failed to recognize Indigenous societies and cultures as worthy of respect. Approaching the issue biographically, Donald B. Smith presents the commentaries of sixteen influential Canadians – including John A. Macdonald, George Grant, and Emily Carr – who spoke extensively on Indigenous subjects. Supported by documentary records spanning over nearly two centuries, Seen but Not Seen covers fresh ground in the history of settler-Indigenous relations.

Check it out...