Just Getting Started

"The contribution made by the Edmonton libraries to the sanity and support of the citizens cannot be estimated. No Annual Report can gauge things of this sort." -Annual Report of the Edmonton Public Library, 1931 The Edmonton Public Library turns 100 in 2013! Novelist, journalist, and Edmontonian Todd Babiak tells the story of EPL's birth and coming of age within the bustling narrative of the growth of city and province. Rich with anecdotes and historical photos, records of personal conversations, and tales of expeditions to branch libraries, Just Getting Started immerses readers in a personal journey to the heart of culture in one of Canada's biggest cities. Babiak's history is one-of-a-kind; it reads like a novel, mirroring the institution it commemorates. Edmontonians, librarians, politicians, and historians may glimpse themselves within these pages; all will see how vital a successful public library is to reflecting the needs and aims of a diverse population. Novelist Todd Babiak commemorates Edmonton Public Library's centenary with a bustling narrative and rich history. "The contribution made by the Edmonton libraries to the sanity and support of the citizens cannot be estimated. No Annual Report can gauge things of this sort." -Annual Report of the Edmonton Public Library, 1931 The Edmonton Public Library turns 100 in 2013! Novelist, journalist, and Edmontonian Todd Babiak tells the story of EPL's birth and coming of age within the bustling narrative of the growth of city and province. Rich with anecdotes and historical photos, records of personal conversations, and tales of expeditions to branch libraries, Just Getting Started immerses readers in a personal journey to the heart of culture in one of Canada's biggest cities. Babiak's history is one-of-a-kind. It reads like a novel, mirroring the institution it commemorates. Edmontonians, librarians, politicians, and historians may glimpse themselves within these pages; all will see how vital a successful public library is to every community. Todd Babiak is a best-selling novelist, an award-winning screenwriter and journalist, a producer, a consultant, and a popular keynote speaker. He is co-founder of a strategy company called Story Engine and has published five novels: Choke Hold (2000), The Garneau Block (2006), The Book of Stanley (2007), Toby: A Man (2010) and, most recently, Come Barbarians (2013). He lives in Edmonton. Approx. 100 B&W photographs, chronology, index Todd Babiak brings to life 100 storied years, beginning with the proud young Edmonton telling Andrew Carnegie that if he didn't like our vision of the library our city deserves, he could keep his money and we would go our way. Todd Babiak's style serves history well. -Tony Cashman "Alberta novelist Todd Babiak documents the library as a focus of city life in Just Getting Started. It is a centenary profile of the Edmonton public system. Babiak is a gifted writer and his stories are compelling." Holly Doan, Blacklock's Reporter, Sept. 23, 2013 [Full review at: http://bit.ly/1bdR6nE] "A fabulously researched, well-told narration of the birth, growth and coming-of-age of Edmonton's magnificent public library system. Babiak's writing is luminescent as he captures the essence of the personalities and happenings that shaped the institution and the people it has served over 100 years.... Babiak doesn't gloss over the bumps along the journey, either, as he illuminates the people and challenges they faced...." Lawrence Herzog, heritage writer, October 2013 "I don't have any connection to Edmonton personally but I do love Babiak's writing and he's brought the EPL's story to life through a series of stand-alone, yet interlinked chapters. The archival photos are wonderful and the story of the Library is really the story of a city.... [Just Getting Started is] filled with really interesting stories of the people of Edmonton and how the Library played a central role in the politics and development of the city. Todd Bab