Available ZIPs to download

On the Available ZIPs to download page, you will find books and magazines you have requested in any downloadable .zip format, including DAISY .zip and .brf. Items will be available as soon as the files are ready for you and will remain in your requests list for 3 days.

To download the book or magazine, select the link associated with the item you wish to download.

For more information on getting ZIP books, check out our How to get a ZIP book tutorial on YouTube.

Holds

On the Holds page, you will find a list of items you have requested on CD, embossed braille, or printbraille, but which haven't been sent to you yet. You can access your holds list and change the order in which they will be sent to you, suspend a hold and add it back to the queue later, or delete one or more holds entirely.

For more information about managing holds, see our holds tutorial.

Direct to Player bookshelf

On the Direct to Player bookshelf page, books and magazines are listed separately, and each has their own search bar.

To search for books:

• Enter the author’s name, or words from the title of the book into the books search bar found above the list of books, and select Search.

To search for magazines:

• Enter words from the name of the magazine into the magazine search bar found above the list of magazines, and select Search.

Books and magazines can be deleted from your Direct to Player Bookshelf by simply checking the box beside each title you would like to delete, and using the delete books or delete magazines buttons found below the list of titles.

If you should delete a book or magazine in error you can request it again by searching our collection and adding it to your bookshelf. Please note that books or magazines deleted from the Direct to Player Bookshelf will remain on your account history which can be accessed through My Account. It’s important to know that deleting books or magazines from the Direct to Player Bookshelf will not delete them from your player. You will need to do that directly from your device.

For more information on Direct to Player, see our Direct to Player help page.

Magazine subscriptions

You can easily subscribe to magazines on celalibrary.ca. CELA offers over 150 magazines in DAISY text and DAISY audio formats, available within a day of publication.

DAISY text and audio magazine subscriptions are available via Direct to Player. Direct to Player magazines in either text or audio can be read using the Dolphin EasyReader app for iPhone, iPad, Android or Windows, or any internet-enabled DAISY player.

To learn more about adding or removing a magazine subscription, see How to subscribe to a magazine.

History

Items will appear in the My history section as soon as they have been processed for you. Digital items will appear in My history as soon as they are ready for download or when they appear on your Direct to Player bookshelves. CDs and embossed braille items will appear in your history when they have been produced and are ready to be mailed.

For items borrowed since CELA moved to the new platform in March 2019, My history will include a link to the title’s full record, as well as format, collection and date issued. Historical records for materials borrowed from our previous system will include the title, format and date issued, but no link to the record. 

You can sort titles alphabetically and by date issued. 

Communication preferences

On the Communication preferences page, you can update your email address and change your password. You can also turn on notifications to receive emails when ZIP or Direct to Player books you’ve requested become available.

To update your email address:

1. On the Communication preferences page, enter your email address in the Email address section.
   Note: The email you provide cannot already be in our system. For example, if two family members both have CELA accounts, they each need to provide a different email address.
2. Confirm your email address by re-entering it.
3. Select Save email address.

To change your password:

1. On the Communication preferences page, enter your new password in the Password reset section.
2. Confirm your new password by re-entering it.
3. Select Save password.

Note: If you cannot log in because you have forgotten your password, you can reset it by going to the Reset your password tab on the Log in page. For more information, see "What if I can't remember my password or login information?" on the FAQ page.

To turn on notifications for available items:

1. In the Notifications for available items section of the Communication preferences page, select whether you want to be notified for ZIP or Direct to Player items by email, or both.
   Note: Notifications will be sent to the email address you provide on the Communication preferences page.
2. Select Save notification settings.

Search preferences

On the Search preferences page, you can select criteria to apply every time you search for books and magazines on celalibrary.ca. You can choose to set your preferences for a variety of criteria, including language, collection, format, document type, reading level, and book covers. For example, if you want to only get search results for books and magazines that are narrated by a human, you can select Human-narrated audio under Format.

Note: Selecting some combination of search preferences may give you few or no results. For example, if you choose Magazines and any reading level, no results will appear. If you choose Bookshare and Human-narrated, few results will appear because the Bookshare collection mostly offers synthetic narration.

To set your search preferences:

1. On the Search preferences page, select the settings you would like to apply to your searches.
2. Select Save.

Tip: You can turn off your search preferences on an individual search by selecting Do not apply my saved search preferences in the Filter results section.

Book lists developed by CELA for awards programs or promotions will include books in a variety of formats. Your search preferences will not apply to these lists.

Proof of disability for access to Bookshare collection

Written proof of disability is required for access to the Bookshare collection. If you choose not to provide a proof of disability, you will still have access to the CELA collection. For more information, see Proof of Disability. 

To complete the Proof of Disability form:

1. Download the Proof of Disability form.
2. In the form, fill out the information about yourself. Make sure to save the form.
3. Have the Proof of Disability section of the form filled in and signed by a qualified certifying professional (previously known as a competent authority) in the field of disabilities services, education, medicine or psychology. You can email the form by attaching it to an email.
4. After the Proof of Disability section has been completed and signed by a professional, upload the form on the My Account section of the CELA website.
   CELA will confirm with you when the form is processed.
   Note: For access to the Bookshare collection through CELA, you first need to complete the CELA registration process, if you have not already done so.