Many of our books and journals are available in electronic format and are available by searching the library catalogue. We can also facilitate access to restricted accessible book collections for students with print disabilities through a variety of sources. These are available in various formats including PDF, DAISY text files, ePub and Word.
ACE (Accessible Content E-Portal): A repository containing library holdings which have been digitized and made available in accessible formats. You will need a unique token (password) to use the ACE repository. Please contact [email protected] to get a token. Students must register first with Academic Accommodations.
Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA): An accessible reading service, providing books and other materials to Canadians with print disabilities. Registration with CELA also gives you access to Bookshare, a US-based accessible online library for people with print disabilities with over 700,000 titles. You must have a public library card to create your own personal account. The library can also acquire titles needed on behalf of students.
Textbooks must sometimes be purchased by the student in order to obtain accessible versions from publishers. If the book is available in the Library you may not be required to purchase it.
Canadian Copyright Act and persons with disabilities:
The Library uses the definition of a print disability or a “perceptual disability” as defined under the Canadian Copyright Act:
… a disability that prevents or inhibits a person from reading or hearing a literary, musical, dramatic or artistic work in its original format, and includes such a disability resulting from;
- severe or total impairment of sight or hearing or the inability to focus or move one’s eyes
- the inability to hold or manipulate a book, or
- an impairment relating to comprehension.