PSM INNOVATIONS

CBC Corner: a digital portal offering more content to Canadian libraries

11th April 2023
CBC Corner is a new digital portal – home to a collection of CBC and Radio-Canada content and resources – accessible for library users across Canada.
CBC Corner on Ipad
CBC Corner is a new digital portal – home to a collection of CBC and Radio-Canada content and resources – accessible for library users across Canada. Credit: CBC

By Dorcas Mirembe-Korsah 

Canada’s public service media, CBC/Radio-Canada, has launched a new digital tool as part of its ongoing partnership with libraries. CBC Corner launched in late September 2022 and is free to use in over 160 libraries across Canada. It can be accessed at the library or even at home – all it requires is for users to be registered with a local library.

Since 2021, CBC/Radio-Canada has been partnering with libraries to host activities and engage with audiences, particularly with underserved and underrepresented communities. Libraries were eager to do more to serve and meet the needs of their patrons and wanted to see if they could provide a “digital site where we can access Canadian content, like a Canadian Netflix,” said Partnerships Program Manager, Valérie Landry. They wanted to offer their patrons more online digital content and some of the patrons were also looking for a Canadian news platform published in foreign languages.

CBC Corner became the vehicle to meet those needs. With CBC Corner, CBC/Radio-Canada is able to reach a wider and more diverse audience. For example, providing a toggle within the upper menu helps serve French linguistic minority communities across the country by providing them with options to go and access all the French content that Canada has.

Read more: Strengthening Trust to Strengthen Our Democracy

The CBC Corner portal has greatly improved accessibility of information. “It’s an aggregator of content,” said Ms. Landry. “It’s not categorised. It’s not organised by themes, or by services. It’s really like a mix of different content that leverage the accessibility and discoverability of content.”  It also means users can access lesser-known content and also more learning resources. For example, special content is highlighted like Canada Day or Reconciliation Day and made available for viewing. One advantage CBC Corner provides is the single experience offered for the user. “Instead of going to, you know, one website to get podcasts and another to get local news, or to get to kids content, everything can be available through the same platform,” Ms. Landry told PMA.

Where most services like these offer personal recommendations, CBC Corner “offers a locally-relevant user experience based on where visitors live by showcasing local content, such as local news and local radio shows. People who visit these different portals get access to different local content such as local news and local radio shows,” said Valerie. Content like this could be, “of value prove to newcomers and immigrants.”

Canada is a large country with multiple time zones, diverse communities, and a population Valerie described as “very different.” Providing hyper local content ensures “visitors to the portal can access content that is relevant to them, making it a better user experience and making sure Canadians see themselves reflected in the portal.”

This innovative partnership has worked due to several reasons. Public libraries’ values – like trust and provision of reliable sources – matched with CBC/Radio-Canada’s own values as a PSM. “We could have partnered with any organisations, but libraries are public organisations, we share similar priorities and objectives,” said Ms. Landry. “And, you know, they are hyper local.”

Additionally, CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate is to inform, enlighten and entertain, and help in the strengthening of Canada’s diverse culture. As a PSM, it has always aimed to serve and reach all communities, but they recognised they were not fulfilling this, especially with underrepresented and underserved communities like youth, newcomers, indigenous people, people living with disability, rural communities, ethnic minorities, including linguistic minority communities. With at least 90% of the Canadian population living near one of over 3,000 library branches, libraries presented the perfect gateway to help achieve this mandate.

The next phase for CBC Corner will focus on engagement with librarians, and making sure that librarians know about the service. In the future, CBC Corner also plans to provide more news content covered from a youth perspective like CBC Kids news content. “It’s young people who are covering news in a dynamic and innovative way that is, you know, short, but very interesting explaining complex issues,” Ms. Landry said. These different types of content would promote traffic and continue to build on engagement.

“We could have partnered with any organisations, but libraries are public organisations, we share similar priorities and objectives. And, you know, they are hyper local.” – Valérie Landry, Partnerships Program Manager

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