From Good E-reader Blog: Google Books officially hit Canada last month and finally allows us to purchase best sellers and millions of free books. This really makes e-readers like the iRiver Story HD relevant because it used to be USA only and now can be used as a viable alternative to many of the other stores out there. The one drawback of the Canadian version of the store is the lack of selection. The American version of Google Books has millions of paid offerings while the Canadian version only has a few thousand. This is set to dramatically increase now that...

Just posted is an interview with me on the Bibliotech section of the tech blog Dquarium.  It's out of Toronto and is run by librarian Kayhan Boncoglu.  Librarians Erin Anderson and Doug Mirams are also part of the regular interview team and joined in as well. We had great fun and my only caution is that the interview runs 116 minutes! Go over and take a look, or should I say take a listen....

Ereaders are spreading on Canadian campuses.  From Good E-Reader: Shop e-Readers a Vancouver, British Columbia based company has struck a deal today with one of the largest universities in Western Canada. Starting later this week Simon Fraser University will begin selling e-readers such the Amazon Kindle Touch and varies other readers. Simon Fraser University gains a number of e-readers, screen protectors and leather cases to sell to their students. Diligent young scholars will have the opportunity to purchase the devices for use in the classroom right in the store.  Amazon provides thousands of digital textbooks that can be used in various programs...

The Canadian Press reports that Montreal’s largest library, the Grande Bibliotheque, is thriving, and Canadian library usage in general is up 45% over the last ten years, largely due to electronic media. The article states that use of electronic databases “more than doubled” and Internet use of library websites and catalogs quintupled over that period. The key to a library's success, said Guy Berthiaume, director of the Grande Bibliotheque, is to adapt with the times. The Montreal library now has 200,000 ebook titles available with plans for more on the way. ...

That's the title of an article in  the Dquarium blog: ... From the perspective of libraries, this device marks the beginning of a new chapter (no pun intended), and that is e-content will take over from the traditional formats (print, CD, DVD). We have already seen this with music. In Canada, two major retailers of music have folded due to the pressures coming from the iTunes Store. Recently, streaming services for music are a dime a dozen. Rdio, Rhapsody, Spotify and Napster to name a few all have unlimited streaming for cheap monthly rates, usually ...

From the Canadian Press (via Macleans) Across Canada, efforts are being made to digitize some of our oldest and more important historical documents so they can be preserved indefinitely and accessed online by anyone across the country, or even around the world. [Clip] “It provides citizens with more knowledge about their country, it provides them with a deeper understanding of where they come from — that to me is really important,” said Lynn Copeland, president of Canadiana.ca. [Clip] “We don’t have the $50 million or whatever grand sum of money we might want from government but in general I’d say they’re supportive in principle,” Copeland...

From the press release from the Canadian company Nubook: Nubook, the leading developer of eBook reading applications, now offers digital books rental to his publishing partners. As a result of developments over the last months, the ebook rental now adds to the Nubook platform services. Publishers can offer their readers to purchase, subscribe, or rent digital books from their catalog. Whatever the chosen method of acquisition, reading is done in an environment optimized for each title, including advanced features defined by the publisher. Partners who already enjoy the Nubook technology can choose to...

From Quill & Quire: With e-books opening up more opportunities for authors looking to self-publish, a newly revived Toronto firm hopes to offer some of the convenience of self-publishing while maintaining the quality associated with traditionally published books. The brainchild of Editors’ Association of Canada president Greg Ioannou (who also runs the editing and copywriting company Colborne Communications), Iguana Books charges authors fees for design and editorial work in advance of publication. However, Ioannou says the start-up, which focuses on e-books, is more selective than many online self-publishing platforms. “When you go shopping for e-books, there’s an awful lot of self-published stuff out...

From the press release: Irwin Law, Canada’s youngest and most innovative law publisher, has signed an agreement with Nubook, the leading developer of eBook reading applications, to distribute its front- and back-lists on tablets. Before the end of the year, Irwin Law’s eBook catalogue will be available in a reading interface designed by the publisher for an optimal user experience. François Guérard, president and CEO of Nubook, said: “We offer publishing houses a new avenue to add value to their books, thanks to digital technology. Nubook’s unique and innovative solution allows publishers...

From the Inside Google Books blog (blockquotes omitted): In the latest chapter of the roll-out of our eBookstore, we're pleased to announce that Google eBooks has just launched in Canada. Readers there can now access our vast online catalogue, including hundreds of thousands of titles for sale and more than two million free books in the public domain. We're excited to announce partnerships with both major international and Canadian publishers, including Random House, McClelland & Stewart, Douglas & McIntyre, House of Anansi and Dundurn. As a result, it’s easy to find popular...

From TheStar: Big changes at Indigo Books & Music have left Canadian publishers nervously anticipating the fall and Christmas retail season. By now, regular customers have noticed lamps, clocks, scarves and other Indigo-brand lifestyle products displayed in priority areas where book tables once stood. But the changes don’t stop there. Canada’s largest bricks-and-motor books retailer has shortened its minimum shelf life for books, taken control away from publishers regarding display space and introduced a marketing charge to publishers on every book sold. “If there is a reduced space for books in the store, then the percentage...

From Quill & Quire: BookNet Canada, the not-for-profit agency dedicated to promoting innovation in the Canadian supply chain, will start tracking e-book sales in addition to print book sales by the end of the year. BookNet has tracked sales of print books since 2005 but acknowledges there’s a rising demand for e-book data. “We have a lot of publishers talking to us about it directly, and we’re also hearing about it in the market,” says BookNet account manager and publisher liaison Pamela Millar. No other agency in Canada tracks industry-wide e-book sales. Nielsen BookScan is working...