So what are Publishers Pushing? Or: A Public Library Association Conference Adventure.

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My alternative title might make this post sound more grandiose than it is, but if you’ve already fallen for the clickbait, you may as well read the rest of the post, right? I’m a nerd, I make no attempt to hide or apologize for this fact. And it should be evident that one of my flavours of nerddom is library nerd. So imagine my elation when my application for Vaughan Public Library to send me to the Public Library Association Conference was approved. VPL coordinated with libraries across southern Ontario to send a busload of librarians across the border and down to Columbus, Ohio, for three days of library programming and learning. It was a blast, and I’ve come back with ideas I can use for my programs and things that I need to talk to people higher up to implement. Sorry, there are no spoilers about any of that, but since VPL is constantly innovating, you shouldn’t be at all surprised when new things happen; just astonished by what they are.

The cover of Llama Destroys the World by Jonathan Stutzman, Illustrated by Heather Fox. Read this book. I don't care if it's a picture book. Read it! It's amazing and hilarious and laughter is good for you.

So, why am I even mentioning this if I won’t divulge what I learned? Because alongside the informative lessons was a giant vendor hall packed with all kinds of neat stuff. Including therapy dogs! I very much want some of it for my own branch, but precisely what I’m hoping for is another thing I’m keeping hush-hush1. Aside from the doggos and cool STEAM stuff, though, there were a whole lot of publishers there giving out books. Sometimes advance copies, sometimes signed copies, sometimes just regular copies, but the point is: I brought back a whole bunch of books. Piles of books. More books than any librarian should ever collect2. But it’s soooooo hard to say no to a free book! And, to be fair, I mostly tried to be a good uncle and took books for my..? I had to look this one up: Niblings. So, I don’t have to worry about storing them, and get to thrust that issue on my siblings while still being the cool uncle.

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Can Country Music Be Cool? 

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beyonce cowboy carter album cover

It’s probably obvious that this post is a response to the release of Beyoncé’s new countrified album Cowboy Carter, to which I have been listening religiously. Despite her insistence that Cowboy Carter “ain’t a country album, [it’s] a Beyoncé album”, the album is a self-admitted response to “an experience I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and where it was very clear that I wasn’t.” Fans suspect this is a reference to her 2016 performance with The Chicks at the Country Music Awards, during which they performed Beyoncé’s “Daddy Lessons” to a chilly audience. As (sadly) expected, some folks in the country community still have their hackles raised at (the horror!) a Black woman daring to wade into the country waters, despite being from literal Texas and shouting out Houston every chance she gets (their argument might be that Beyoncé is a pop artist and therefore doesn’t have the chops for country, but I don’t remember any hubbub when the loudly Italian-American pop queen Lady Gaga released Joanne).  

When I ask if country music can be “cool”, perhaps I should clarify what I mean by that vague descriptor. Maybe it’s different for the kids now, I don’t know! But for me “cool” indicates that timeless quality of being slightly outside—and, to channel 90s smugness, slightly above—the mainstream, of possessing an effortless je ne sais quoi, of challenging social norms instead of supporting the status quo. It’s by this definition that today’s mainstream country music misses the mark: as a genre (and this is speaking broadly), it is dedicated to upholding the conservative, patriarchal, exclusionary values of a certain racial and social class. It’s not the only popular genre dominated by white (blond, even!), straight, cis men—rock music has that in spades as well, but rock musicians tend to lean more alternative. Not so with mainstream country. Ontario’s annual Boots and Hearts festival returns this year boasting Jason Aldean as a headliner, the singer whose controversial “Try That in a Small Town” has been derided even by a Tennessee State Representative as a “pro-gun, pro-violence, modern lynching song.” It’s the opposite of cool (apologies to Luke Combs, whose cover of “Fast Car” is lovely, and he seems chill enough). 

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One eRead Canada 2024

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Cover-image-for-French-translation-of-Hotline-by-Dimitri-Nasrallah.

This year’s choice for the One eRead Canada campaign is Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah. First, a little bit about One eRead Canada. It’s a yearly initiative started by the Canadian Urban Libraries Council (CULC) to promote digital literature and eAudiobooks (electronic audiobooks) as formats for reading. For that reason, every year, one book by a Canadian author is made available as an eBook (in English and in French) and an eAudiobook with no restrictions on access, no need to place a hold, and no waiting lists for the month of April. For us at Vaughan Public Library, that means you can download it on the OverDrive website, through the Libby app, on Hoopla, and on Cantook Station. The eBook will also be instantaneously available in French (translated by Daniel Grenier) on these platforms. For Francophones with an interest in the audiobook, it’s being offered through “Service québécois du livre adapté (SQLA) from Bibliothèque et Archives nationale du Québec (BANQ), and in English and French from Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA), and National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS).”1 One eRead is also a national book club, author events included, to facilitate a nationwide conversation about the work. CULC’s intent is also to stimulate a dialogue around the importance of access to such digital content. You may have noticed that not every eBook is available for instant download on apps and websites like Libby and Hoopla. Publishers negotiate with vendors and libraries to determine things like how many simultaneous uses of an eBook will be permitted, how many digital copies will be available, and what restrictions there will be on use. The cost of these resources is an ongoing issue that libraries have been dealing with for quite some time. Part of the purpose of the campaign is to encourage awareness around the need for fair pricing. I could digress here…ad nauseum, but suffice it to say, libraries are constantly having to prove the worth and justify the cost of the essential services, resources, and programs we provide. Fair pricing for eBooks and eAudiobooks would go a long way.

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