What's New at the Library

Dancer From The Dance Arrives in SPCC Library Collection

June 8, 2022 -- A novel that has influenced gay writers since it was first published in 1978 has arrived in the SPCC lending library collection.

For a deep dive into the importance of Andrew Holleran's Dancer From The Dancer, follow the link:

https://www.out.com/art-books/2018/8/07/being-gay-man-who-free-reflecting-dancer-dance

NEWS RELEASE

Single Donation Doubles SPCC Library

Milverton Book Prize Juror Wants Good Home For Over 100 Books

Stratford, ON, June 6, 2022 – University of Waterloo librarian Jessica Blackwell is donating 112 publisher’s copies of top notch LGBTQ+ books to the Stratford Pride Community Centre’s lending library.

It’s a move that will more than double the SPCC’s book collection. “I sat on the American Library Association's committee to choose books for the annual Over the Rainbow reading list - a book list that chooses the top 10 fiction and nonfiction books on LGBTQ2S+ themes for adults,” said Blackwell, a Special Collections & Archives Librarian at the University of Waterloo’s Dana Porter Library.

“As part of this work I received copies of many of the books for consideration from the publishers. I'd love for these to go somewhere where they can be further appreciated,” she said.

Said SPCC President Bruce Duncan Skeaff, “Our lending library is an important part of the SPCC. Understanding stories and experiences beyond our little corner of the world helps us understand our own stories and experiences. Reading is known to alleviate feelings of isolation. It’s said if you can’t be with people like yourself, second best is to read about them.”

International top selling GLBTQ+ author Felice Picano was in Stratford over this past weekend as SPCC visiting author, when the news came. “Librarians are my heroes,” he said. “They are the guardians of freedom and of the spoken word”.

SPCC librarian Evelyn Newland will now work with Blackwell on the transfer of the books. Blackwell has offered to help catalogue these and the rest of the SPCC library.