What Sets Us Apart
Our approach minimizes Dead on Arrival (DOA) material, providing your world language collection with well-circulating, in-demand titles.
Our History
We began in the year 2006 by supplying books published in the West to a research library in Islamabad, Pakistan, and books in Urdu to the public library in Windsor, ON, Canada. Since then, we have built a reliable network across many countries. We have been regularly supplying multilingual material to Canadian libraries since 2007 directly or through intermediaries.
Our Mission
Backdrop
Multilingual acquisition differs significantly from domestic acquisition of English and French material.
In Canada, there is no established retail market for most of the languages we supply. Language-specific bookstores are few, and where materials are available locally—often through multi-purpose retail outlets—the selection is topically limited (confined to religious or political subjects or books of a particular orientation), dated, or otherwise outside public library specifications.
Historically, when vendors sourced from these outlets, libraries were also offered unsold or leftover stock, resulting in “Dead on Arrival” (DOA) material with little to no library circulation. Hermes resolved this issue by importing books directly from countries of origin based on the actual demographics and reading patterns of diverse public library communities, across age groups, genders, and subject interests.
We started with a core set of languages and, upon receiving feedback from libraries, added more languages to our list based on the same model of acquisition. Over the past 19 years, we have successfully supplied quality, well-circulating books and media to libraries, either directly or through vendors.
We have not received circulation-based concerns regarding the relevance or suitability of our selections.
With world language material, copyright situation is more complex than with English-language publishing. In countries such as India and Pakistan, popular books and DVDs come in many editions, from pirated copies to legitimate institutional editions. Without a specialist supplier, it is nearly impossible for Canadian librarians to know which is which.
Through our agents, we buy exclusively from known publishers and distributors at the point of origin. We do not invest in cheap or pirated materials. We ensure not only that you receive copyrighted editions but that you receive the highest quality editions of every book.
Geographic Reach
Our head office is in Canada. We have agents in five countries, sourcing directly from publishers at the point of origin.
We supply books and media, audio CDs and DVDs, in all 24 languages to libraries across Canada and the United States. Our Canadian base means we understand North American institutional standards.
For libraries in the East, we supply books and media in English and French, bringing the latest Western scholarship to research libraries in South Asia and the Middle East.