$400 million for Quebec鈥檚 cultural sector
Artists had to wait for more than two months but the Quebec government finally announced a $400 million assistance program for the cultural sector. Of that total, $109 million had already been paid out to cultural organizations. Another $50 million will also be allocated to loans administered by the Soci茅t茅 de d茅veloppement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC).
Read the article from Radio-Canada.
Exponential growth in online book sales
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the buying habits of Quebec readers. In April, the leslibraires.ca site registered a 1297% spike in online book sales! Nevertheless, that increase wasn鈥檛 enough to offset the losses incurred by booksellers after their stores had to shut down.
Read the article from Radio-Canada.
Lawsuit against Internet Archive
As mentioned in our April newsletter, the Internet Archive platform offered over a million documents without any restrictions, claiming there was an urgent need for access to content because of the pandemic. Following a lawsuit filed by U.S. publishers supported by the Association of American Publishers, the platform ceased operations on June 16.
Read the article from聽The Independent.