Canada Post workers have gone on strike. Information about impacts to CELA services can be found on our blog.
This guide provides a quick tutorial to get you started using EasyReader with your CELA account.
EasyReader by Dolphin Inc. is an easy-to-use, free, accessible reading app for people with print disabilities including dyslexia, low vision and blindness. EasyReader is available on iPhone, iPad, Android, Chromebook (launched after 2019) and Windows computers. A paid version for Mac computers is also available.
With Dolphin EasyReader, you can do the following:
The EasyReader app is available on mobile devices (phones and tablets) and on computers (laptop and desktop). The app is free on most devices. However, a paid EasyReader Premium subscription is required for Mac computers.
Visit the App store, Google Play, or Dolphin’s website, and download the EasyReader app on the device or devices you'll be using.
The first time you use EasyReader, you need to sign in to your CELA account to access CELA titles from directly within the app. Once you sign in to your CELA account, you can download and read books from CELA Library in EasyReader.
Note: After you complete these steps, EasyReader saves your CELA account username and password, allowing you quick access for subsequent use.
Note: Your CELA number and password are stored on your device until you log out of CELA. Logging out of EasyReader will not automatically log you out of CELA. If you're using the EasyReader app to read CELA books on a borrowed device, you need to log out of CELA before shutting down the app to keep your CELA account secure.
Now that you've added EasyReader to your phone, tablet or computer, you're ready to add some books. You can choose your own titles or let us do this for you through our automated selection service.
To choose your own books or individual magazine issues to read on the EasyReader app, go to celalibrary.ca and log in to your account. You also have the option for search or browse for Direct to Player books and magazines directly within the EasyReader app.
You can also receive books through automatic selection by contacting our Contact Centre so they can add your favourite reading genres to your account. You'll receive 3 books daily up to a maximum of 12 book titles. Once you're ready to read more books, you'll need to delete some titles so our system can issue new reading materials to you. If you like a mixture of choosing your own as well as receiving titles automatically, you'll be able to add as many books as the storage on your device allows, but automatic selection will only add more books if you have less than 12 Direct to Player books on your bookshelf.
It'll take a few minutes for the title you selected to be added to your Direct to Player bookshelf and be ready for you to read.
In the EasyReader app, the Direct to Player bookshelf on the CELA Library page shows a list of DAISY Direct to Player books you've already placed (or the system already placed through automatic selection) on loan and can immediately listen to. To learn how to download a DAISY .zip book to EasyReader, see Download and read a DAISY .zip book in EasyReader instead.
) that immediately follows the book description of the book you would like to read.You'll also be able to access the book from Direct to Player bookshelf after it has downloaded.
After you've completed the previous step and downloaded a book in EasyReader, the book is available to read from the CELA Library Direct to player bookshelf page.
To read a book:
), select CELA Library.For more information on using the skip forward and backward controls in the EasyReader, read the Skip forward and backward topic.
Streaming allows you to play a book immediately without downloading the whole book whereas, if you download a book, you can read it even when you don't have an internet connection. If you're not sure you'll read the whole book, streaming will be faster and likely use less of your mobile data plan. The ability to stream a book is only available on the mobile version of EasyReader.
To stream a book:
) that immediately follows the book description of the book you'd like to read.The book will begin to stream. Select the Play button to begin playing. You may experience a short pause before it begins.
You can navigate through books by heading or chapter, by page number, or by bookmark, depending on how the book is structured. The default navigation is by heading. The book navigation button is in the bottom left corner of the screen near the Play/Pause button.
To navigate through the book:
) to take you to a list of headings within the book.Note: Selecting the Back button returns the reader to the start of the book. Dolphin is aware of this issue and will correct it in future versions.
For more information on book navigation, read EasyReader's navigation help.
), select CELA Library. The select Direct to Player bookshelf.
) that comes after the description of the book you want to delete.
).You've successfully deleted the book.
To add a book to EasyReader, log on to the CELA website, find your book, select the DAISY Direct to Player format in the Get it! options menu, and then select the Get it! button.
On mobile, downloaded books appear on the Direct to Player bookshelf (under CELA Library). On a Windows computer, downloaded books appear with a Play button on the book icon when you select the book. If viewed with the VoiceOver screen reader, the book details will be read with "on device" reported at the end of the description. Streamed books appear with a cloud over the top left corner of the book cover image. VoiceOver shows these books as “Online.”
If you download a book, it's available to read, even if you have no internet connection. If you choose to stream a book, the book is played immediately without downloading the whole book. If you're not sure you will read the whole book, streaming will be faster and likely use less of your mobile data plan. The quality of the book experience is the same for both the download and streaming options.
First, make sure you're logged in to your CELA account within EasyReader. (The steps can be found in the Sign in to CELA with EasyReader section.) If you've logged in to CELA Library and aren’t seeing the book: please keep in mind it can take anywhere from a few minutes to 24 hours for a book to show up. Whenever a patron requests a book on CELA's website, the system generates a unique file for the patron, which usually takes less than 5 minutes. Two factors can make it take longer: longer book length and synthetic audio, as compared to books with human narration. Synthetic audio books may take several hours before they are available to download. If a book doesn't appear in EasyReader after 24 hours, please let the Contact Centre know by calling 1-855-655-2273 or emailing help@celalibrary.ca.
EasyReader is designed to stay active on the book reading page. Unless you close the app, the screen will not dim, and the phone will not go into sleep mode. This feature ensures you don't have to constantly wake up the phone to keep listening to your book, but it also means that your battery can run down. It is important when you finish reading to pause your book, and navigate back out of the book reading page to preserve your battery.
Books in your Direct to Player bookshelf will show in your list in the EasyReader app, and on the CELA website until they are “returned” on any device, at which point it will no longer show on any device’s Direct to Player bookshelf. In some cases, you may also need to manually remove the book from your device storage. For example, on some devices, such as Humanware Victor machines, downloaded items are stored until they are removed manually. Additionally, if your downloads sync to multiple devices through the cloud (for example, through DropBox or iCloud), you will also need to manually remove books from there.
Yes. If you have a data plan, it will automatically work with EasyReader. If you specifically prefer to use data instead of Wi-Fi, you can enable the data option on your device.
Refresh your bookshelf by doing the following:
). If you still don’t see the book, please update EasyReader. For information on updating apps on iPhone or iPad, see the Update apps or use automatic downloads. For information on updating apps on Android, see Update your Android apps. In the Windows EasyReader app, select the Help menu and then select Search for updates.
See Dolphin’s FAQs (the “Usage” section) for more information.
The EasyReader app provides online help, including a full manual for mobile and for Windows computer users. For help with reading books and magazines from CELA on EasyReader, call our Contact Centre at 1-855-655-2273 or email help@celalibrary.ca.