Daniel Francis

Reading the National Narrative

British Columbia on the Web

Jul 26, 2015

For several years the online Encyclopedia of British Columbia, of which I am the editor, has been available free in schools around the province. This is thanks to an agreement between Harbour Publishing and a consortium of school districts that evaluates online educational resources and makes them available to members.The Harbour website brings the good news that the agreement has been renewed for several years, so students will continue to have access to an array of online learning materials focussing on BC history, culture and natural history.

The Encyclopedia is hosted at KnowBC.com, a site which over the years has become a treasure trove of publications about the province. My own history of BC for young readers, Far West, can be read there, along with The Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names by Andrew Scott, the award-winning natural history The Sea Among Us: the Amazing Strait of Georgia, a new history of Clayoquot Sound, and much, much more.

I should mention that, because of others agreements, KnowBC is also freely available to college and university students and to anyone who has a card to their local library. And if you want your own subscription, that's possible as well.

If you haven't visited KnowBC recently, you'll be amazed what you've been missing.