Dear CELA Patrons, 

We are deeply sorry for the delays in launching our new celalibrary.ca platform. It is our mission to provide excellent customer service and a fully accessible library service and over the last two weeks we have not met that goal. 

The new celalibrary.ca website was developed to provide CELA patrons with a fast, easy, mobile responsive way to access reading materials. While we believe that the platform will do all these things, the process of merging our collection with Bookshare’s and bringing the platform online has been anything but smooth. We’ve been planning this transition for a year, but unforeseen technical issues have led to unexpected delays and the end result is that we have not provided you with the service you deserve. We are deeply sorry and embarrassed that this has been the case. 

Our team is working tirelessly to find solutions to ensure that celalibrary.ca is functioning appropriately. Our goal is to restore the most important elements of our service as quickly as possible and add in additional functionality to the website once that goal is met. Currently, newspapers are available, and patrons who receive CDs and braille materials by mail will begin to receive them as expected. Our search function has been restored. Patrons who are existing Bookshare members can access materials directly from the Bookshare.org website. 

While we work to fix the issues, we commit to keeping you updated about our progress. If you don’t already receive emails from us please subscribe to our newsletter so that we can email you the updates, or follow our social media channels. We will also include information about the progress on the front page of our website so that you can be aware of the services coming on-line. 

You deserved better from us this week. We have always taken the responsibility of being a trustworthy provider of services seriously and we ask for your understanding and patience while we work to provide you with the positive experience you have come to expect from us. 

With sincerely apologies,

Michael Ciccone
Executive Director, Centre for Equitable Library Access