Q Essay: Can Toronto's new neighbourhood reading map go national?
Jian challenges the nation's librarians, cartographers and book lovers to expand on Toronto's new reading map project.
Jian dedicates his opening essay to the Toronto Public Library's Neighbourhood Reading Map - a project he files under "great idea" and believes the rest of the country would enjoy.
Now you can go on a Google Map via library website, click on an area, and she which Canadian books mention, are inspired by, or are set in that area.
Now you can go on a Google Map via library website, click on an area, and she which Canadian books mention, are inspired by, or are set in that area.
- CBC Toronto: Library maps out Toronto's literary neighbourhoods
But as Jian points out the Neighbourhood Reading map "it's incomplete because the map only covers the confines of the city of Toronto, the 416." And while that's a great start, literature spreads beyond the boundaries of the GTA.
Jian encourages "the nation's librarians, cartographers and book lovers" to take inspiration from the Toronto Public Library and expand the map.
"I'm talking coast-to-coast-to-coast. Let it reflect every province and territory, every nook and cranny of this literary land."
What do you think of this project? Would you like to see books in your area on the map?