Over 90 years, many things have changed here at Q&Q – the size of our staff, for starters. But the publication has kept a close eye on the book trade in Canada over the decades, and in looking back over the archives, it’s possible to note some patterns, not only in the magazine’s coverage, but also in the industry’s going concerns. 

This makes good sense in some ways – the main product of the industry hasn’t changed much over time, despite periods of triumphant reporting about ebooks and how they would eventually make hard-copy books obsolete. (We’re still waiting for that apparently inevitable eventuality to transpire.) And let’s not forget that brief period in the 1990s when libraries were trying to determine if CD-ROMs were the wave of the future.

It is nonetheless remarkable to come across headlines and stories that read like they could have been written this year, not decades ago. One issue that has remained top-of-mind for many over the years is copyright; readers would be hard-pressed to find a publication year during which the discussion of copyright doesn’t make an appearance on Q&Q’s pages. 

In 1955, Q&Q wrote that the Copyright Act “must be changed.” A decade later, the Act was still coming under fire in the pages of Q&Q for its imbalance. 

In 2005, another anniversary year, the Q&Q team took this idea straight to a headline: “Copyright Reform: The Neverending Story.” Sadly, the argument of this particular piece, that “it’s time to stop complaining and start legislating,” is still made today, as federal budgets come and go without addressing all of the concerns the industry has with the copyright picture in Canada today. 

Publisher, author, and bookseller Mel Hurtig wrote a first-person piece in 1975 pointing out the obvious geographical reality: “You don’t have to publish in Toronto.” The expanded and continuing success of regional publishers on the East and West coasts (and all points between) speaks to the legitimacy of his point. 

And of course, the visibility of Canadian writers and Canadian-published books – whether it’s awareness of new Canadian writers, the availability of Canadian backlist, the presence of Canadian books in the educational system, or the small market share of Canadian publishers – has been a perennial concern, even if certain elements have shifted some over the decades.

“I’m just sickened by the lack of Canadian material in Canadian homes and libraries,” Hurtig wrote in 1975. To that we can add nothing more than a hearty “Amen.”