Contact me

You can reach me at imperfectlibrarian@gmail.com

Get a copy of An Imperfect Librarian from the Library in St. John's Newfoundland.

Read a review by author Trudy Morgan-Cole

Upcoming readings & signings

Oct. 26, 2:30-5:00: Mount Pearl Glacier (Signing)
Nov. 8, 1-3 Chapters (with Christopher Pratt) (Reading)
Nov. 22, 23, 2-4 Christmas Craft Fair, Convention Centre, New Gower Street(Signing)
Nov. 23, 8-10 p.m. Coffee and Co. Water street, (with writer in residence Aislinn Hunter)(Reading)
Nov. 24, 7-8:30. Mount Pearl Library (Reading)
Nov. 30, 1-3. Costco(Reading)
Dec. 5, 7-9 Coles, Avalon Mall, (Signing)
Dec. 6, 7-9 Chapters, Kenmound Road (Signing)
Dec. 7, 1-2 At Wit's End, Gower Street, St. John's (Signing)
Feb. (2009) 13, 1-3 Chapters, St. John's
May 7-8 Canterbury Tales Literary Festival, St. John, New Brunswick
June 17- Newfoundland Railway Station Museum (sponsored by the Writers' Alliance of Nl and Labrador) with Greg Malone.
August 6th-9th -Winterset Festival
October 21- Arts and Culture Centre Public Library

Neuman Wine Vaults Reading

Elizabeth read from An Imperfect Librarian during the Wine and Words series at the Neuman Wine Vaults, in St. John's, Newfoundland on September 4, 2008. The slideshow shows the extraordinary setting and some of the people who were there including co-reader Boyd Chubbs. DOUBLE CLICK ON THE MONITOR TO SEE PHOTOS.

Audio excerpts

You can hear an audio excerpt (Mp3) of An Imperfect Librarian . Just click on the player below.

If you want to listen to or download other excerpts, visit An Imperfect Librarian's Podcasts

Reading: Excerpt from Chapter 28
Chapter title: Newfoundland Style.
Length: 5 minutes.
Voice: Carl, 50 years old. English accent.
Reader's voice: author

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The future of the library & Starbucks

Carl reminds us that the library is changing:

"If there’s one role that the Internet is going to change, it’s the librarian’s. You don’t need to be Nostradamus to predict that. Who needs a librarian if all the knowledge in the world is at your fingertips?"

Henry imagines a future without libraries and books:

“Language will be eroded, knowledge will be reduced to bits of information pulsing through wires, contact will be limited to an electronic signal, while the book…” Here, he pauses,raises his chin to gaze out onto an invisible audience then drops his hands to his side, palms facing out. “The book is abandoned, unattended like an ancient relic gathering centuries of dust.”

Bibliophilia

Henry tells Carl:

“They nabbed Blumberg after he’d stolen twenty thousand rare books plus ten thousand manuscripts from hundreds of libraries in Canada as well as the States. He’s the greatest American book thief of the twentieth century.”

Project Gutenberg & Robinson Crusoe

Carl, the narrator of the story, has been given a copy of Robinson Crusoe before he heads to Newfoundland:

"My colleagues at the university in Norway warned me life in Newfoundland would be harsh. They were convinced I’d never survive here. They said I’d either be taken hostage by flies just off a hunger strike, pickled from a diet of salted beef,pork and cod, or worse, turned into a native – literally, as in Mohawk with a piercing, fierce cry. They gave me a copy of Robinson Crusoe for a going-away gift. On the inside cover they wrote: Something to read while you’re shipwrecked in Newfieland."

Fahrenheit 451

Carl asks his friends and family the following question:

“Supposing you were in a Fahrenheit 451 situation and you could save only one book to memorize, what would it be?”

Here is a site where people respond to that very question.

What would be your Fahrenheit 451 choice and why? Click on COMMENTS to leave your choice and reason.

Discuss the book you'd want to preserve and tell why.

Newfoundlandia

Henry tells Carl:

“The rest of this library is a desert – a wasteland of floor after floor, stack after stack, book after book, page after page, word after word, letter after letter of volumes that have never been borrowed, never been read or noticed. You’re looking straight down onto an oasis with some of the rarest, most precious manuscripts and volumes in the country.”

Norah gives Carl some lessons from Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

“Next, you’ll have to learn about the berry grounds, berry pots, berry notes, berry ocky, berry duffs and berry bank.”

Edith explains to Carl about a man writing a history of the book in Newfoundland:

"He’d say, Edie dear, tell me the truth, Edie, what do you think of this title? My favourite was Memories of a Silent Voice: The Written Tradition In Eighteenth And Nineteenth Century Rural Newfoundland. He used to travel to the outports collecting every scrap of written material he could put his eyes on: diaries, ships’ logs, journals, pamphlets, store ledgers, notebooks, letters, you name it.”