We have created this Back to School with CELA package for educators signed up for the Educator Access Program. Use this guide to support your students with print disabilities by accessing books and magazines in audio, e-text, and braille formats.
CELA provides reading materials for people with a print disability. This includes students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, as well as those with vision loss and mobility disabilities that impact their ability to hold a book and/or turn pages. CELA’s collection is available to people with print disabilities as specified in Section 32 of the Copyright Act.
Teachers and educational support staff who work with students with print disabilities are entitled to a CELA Educator Access account.
You and your students have access to CELA’s growing collection of 1 million items, which includes books, newspapers, and magazines in accessible formats such as audio, e-text, and braille. These items can be read on:
You can also order braille books and printbraille books that will be shipped free of charge directly to your school.
CELA’s collection is bilingual, with fiction and non-fiction materials in both English and French. We have best sellers, award winners, and classics. There are also go-to titles for reading assignments and books selected for major reading programs, such as the Forest of Reading. We prioritize Canadian, Indigenous, and diverse materials.
If there is a book you would like to read but it’s not available through CELA, please fill out our title suggestion form to recommend we add it to our collection.
Bookshare is a US-based accessible online library for people with print disabilities. It offers more than 1 million titles, including books for all ages, bestsellers, and more. The books are available in audio, e-text, and e-braille. Most of the audio book versions are in synthetic speech (computer voice). Both CELA members with print disabilities and Educator Access Program account holders may access Bookshare titles.
In addition to fiction material that is popular among kids, Bookshare also provides access to an extensive collection of non-fiction books and textbooks. This makes it an important resource for secondary and postsecondary students working on research and assignments.
It’s important to note that Bookshare creates its accessible books by automatically converting book files provided by publishers. This process makes large numbers of books available quickly and in a wide variety of accessible formats. However, because humans do not check the books, you may find errors in the synthetic audio or computer-generated braille. Depending on your student’s accessibility needs, books which rely heavily on illustrations, charts, and graphs may not be usable because this material is generally presented by the publishers as images which cannot be converted automatically.
Due to our agreement with Bookshare, students with a personal CELA account will need to provide proof of disability to access Bookshare titles in CELA’s catalogue. They can do this by downloading the proof of disability form and then uploading the completed form to the My Account section of CELA’s website. To use the Bookshare collection through your Education Access account, simply complete the CELA Educator Access Terms of Use form.
CELA’s collection complements resources found in your own school library, academic library or materials produced under provincial educational resource centres in accessible formats. You and your students may access CELA’s collection anytime.
The collection is a valuable resource for students of all ages, including postsecondary students. CELA’s electronic material is available instantly, meaning students don’t have to wait for their institution to transcribe or convert the content. You may keep the book files for a particular student as long as they need them, but we ask that you delete them once they are done.
Developing literacy skills can be challenging for students with reading disabilities but offering texts in different formats can help students learn to read and may instill an enjoyment of reading. CELA’s accessible literacy resource outlines the different formats and what makes each one accessible. Parents and caregivers also benefit from using accessible materials to read with their child and stay more engaged in their child’s education.
1. Focus on the reading needs of the students you are currently working with.
2. Log into celalibrary.ca using your six-digit username and password that was sent to you when you registered. Forgot your login? Contact help@celalibrary.ca or call 1-855-655-2273. If you’re not already registered, complete our registration form.
3. Start to download or place holds on books. Refer to our Using your Educator Access Program Account page of CELA’s website.
4. Promote CELA to colleagues and parents/guardians.
5. Include information about CELA in student notes when students transition to high school or post-secondary institutions. Suggest that the teacher in the new academic year register so the student will have continued support.
If you have a student who uses a Chromebook or other type of laptop, they can download CELA materials to their computer and then transfer the files to whichever assistive software or device they are using. While this does require a few more steps than downloading directly to an app or device, it also gives students access to more formats. Available formats include:
Once the student has selected their book, choose the preferred format and click the “Get it!” button. To find the files, go to My Account and click on Available ZIP Files for Download. Be patient, it may take a little time for the file to become available. When it appears on the screen, you are then ready to begin downloading.
Chromebooks are a particularly useful tool for students with learning disabilities, such as dyslexia. Google’s Read&Write app is a literacy support program that offers a variety of read along options, vocabulary lists, proofreading, and more. If you have a student using Read&Write, we recommend downloading CELA materials in EPUB format. Step-by-step instructions for using EPUB files on a Chromebook are available on our website.
Braille is a system of raised dots that can be read by individuals with low vision or blindness. Learning braille is an important skill that helps students develop independence, literacy and communication skills, and leads to an increased chance of higher education and employment.
Braille materials in the CELA and Bookshare collections are available in the following two reading standards:
CELA offers braille materials in two formats:
CELA offers children's picture books with the text of the story embossed onto see-through braille sheets. Printbraille is perfect for both budding braille readers and for adult braille readers who want to read to children. It also allows children with and without vision loss to read together.
You can request specific printbraille books that are available in the collection or request to have an automatic selection of books sent to you. These books can be borrowed for up to 6 weeks at a time and must be returned to CELA. They are shipped to and from CELA free of charge.
Promoting CELA to your colleagues and parents/caregivers means more students get the support they need. We encourage you to share your knowledge with fellow teachers and support staff. You can pass along this Back to School package, as well as the accessible literacy resource mentioned above. We also offer a template for your internal school resource pages to inform your colleagues that your school works with CELA.
You can add CELA’s children’s services poster to any resource displays your school may have or send it home to families with other back to school welcome information. English and French versions of the poster are available:
Students with print disabilities can also register for their own personal accounts. They can go into their local public library and register in person, or they can register themselves directly through CELA’s website. Either way, they will need a library card from their local member library.
Self-registration only requires a few steps:
If the student or their caregiver is feeling a little overwhelmed, the Getting Started with CELA page gives a concise breakdown of how to navigate the website and access the collection. This information is also available as a recorded webinar.
Now that you know more about CELA, we encourage you to try it out. Practice accessing different types of books so that you feel comfortable using the site with your students. And don’t forget to share what you’ve learned. Together we can all foster a love of reading in any format!