In this issue:
- Letter from CELA’s Executive Director
- TD Summer Reading Club Accessibility Award - Apply soon!
- First Nations Community Reads celebrates 20th anniversary
- Training opportunities for libraries
- Join the CELA Library Advisory Committee
- New books to promote
- New training offerings from CELA for patrons
- Featured title for adults: The Last Exiles
- Top five books
- Top five for kids
- Featured title for young adults: The Fort
- Top five for teens
- Awards season is upon us
- Stay connected!
Letter from CELA’s Executive Director
Just about 2 years ago CELA celebrated passing the million book mark. Today we are nearing 1.3 million titles which represents an incredible array of choices for our readers, and speaks to a growing awareness of the need for and benefits of providing accessible books to people with print disabilities both here at home and around the world.
This month I attended the IFLA Pre-Conference for Libraries serving People with Print Disabilities in Rotterdam and met with some incredible colleagues who are working to remove barriers to accessible reading. I had the opportunity to share about the work libraries here in Canada are doing and the ways collaborations like the Public Library Accessibility Resource Centre can help harness great ideas and practical resources to help libraries reach their accessibility goals.
One of the ways CELA aims to support the work of libraries is through our TD Summer Reading Club Accessibility Award which recognizes creativity and commitment to accessibility in children’s programming and services related to the TD Summer Reading Club. There is more about this award in this month’s newsletter. We want to encourage you to apply for the award and have your hard work celebrated!
We are also grateful for partners like Dyslexia Canada and their Mark It Read awareness campaign which helps spread the word about the need for accessible reading materials for people with dyslexia. Visit their website to learn more about their October events.
As September begins and many of us are returning to a regular routine, I hope you can carve out some time to dig into one of our new books, or an old favourite! We’ve got lots to read.
Happy reading!
Laurie Davidson, Executive Director
TD Summer Reading Club Accessibility Award - Apply soon!
Applications are open for the 2023 TD Summer Reading Club Accessibility Award! We are encouraging any CELA member library that participated in the TD Summer Reading Club to submit an application for the chance to win a $2,000 cash prize.
We will be accepting applications up to November 10, 2023. The money could go a long way to help bring even more accessible activities and programs to next year’s summer reading club. But don’t delay - the deadline is just a few weeks away.
Tammie Adams, CEO of the library which won the award last year commented on the impacts of winning the award. “Centre Hastings (Madoc) Public Library was incredibly honoured to receive the 2021 TD Summer Reading Program Accessibility Award. This recognition significantly increased public awareness of our efforts to provide accessible programming for all. The monetary award will be used to purchase accessible reading material in dyslexia friendly and audiobook formats and sensory items for crafts.”
First Nations Community Reads celebrates 20th anniversary
The First Nations Community Reads (FNCR) program is celebrating its 20th anniversay this year. Launched in 2003 by the First Nations Public Library Community in Ontario with support from the Ontario Library Service, it promotes a unique and meaningful community-based approach to reading. FNCR celebrates the very best of Indigenous literature across Turtle Island.
The program encourages family literacy, intergenerational storytelling as well as intergenerational knowledge transmission. FNCR also helps to increase awareness of the importance of First Nation, Metis and Inuit writing, illustration and publishing.
CELA is pleased to support this program by offering many of the featured titles in accessible formats. Look for the honoured books, which are selected by a volunteer jury of First Nation librarians, to be announced during the first week of October (October 2-6) when we celebrate First Nations Public Library Week.
2023 Adult and Young Adult Titles
For more information visit the First Nations Community Reads website.
Training opportunities for libraries
We're excited to offer some new training opportunities for libraries this fall.
Based on feedback from our libraries we are introducing new topics and formats. To stay up to date on all our training opportunities visit our Webinars and Conferences page.
Orientation webinar
This webinar will provide a comprehensive overview of CELA services for library staff who work in, or are responsible for, accessible services.
Length: 60 minutes
Educator Access Program webinar
This webinar will introduce library staff and educators to the CELA Educator Access program. This program is offered through public libraries and gives teachers and other educators access to CELA’s collection to support their students with print disabilities at the elementary, secondary and post-secondary levels.
Length: 60 minutes
NEW! Ask Us! CELA Library Chats
Join us for this informal chat where you can bring your questions and have them answered by CELA staff. This opportunity will have the added benefit of learning from other public libraries who will share their own successes and challenges to meet the reading needs of their patrons.
Bring your questions and bounce off new ideas to support your patrons with print disabilities.
NEW! CELA and Accessible Reading Technologies, Devices, and Apps
People with print disabilities use a variety of mainstream and specialized technologies to read. Understanding these options is important because one size does not fit all, and choice of technology can help empower readers. This webinar will introduce participants to key accessible reading technologies used by library patrons with print disabilities including text-to-speech software, apps that support literacy, technologies that make reading accessible to those with motor or physical challenges, and accessible reading apps for mobile devices.
Participants will learn about:
- The three types of print disabilities and the reading technologies used by them.
- The importance of making technologies available to encourage reading enjoyment and success.
- How accessible reading technologies work through demonstrating different apps and devices.
- Tutorials, videos and guides available on CELA’s website.
NEW! CELA Workshop for Libraries: Registering library patrons with print disabilities
This workshop will walk public library staff through the process of registering their patrons with print disabilities for CELA. Participants will observe as CELA staff demonstrate how to complete the form and the next steps once the person is registered. The registration demonstration will be done as a group through the presenter sharing their screen.
Why take this workshop? Whether you are new to registering patrons for CELA or are experienced, you will learn about:
- CELA’s reading formats (audiobooks, e-text and braille) and book and magazine delivery options to match the patron’s reading needs.
- Eligibility criteria, how to upload a patron’s Proof of Disability form for access to Bookshare and about CELA’s Terms of Use.
- What happens after the person is registered.
- Helpful registration guides and scripts on CELA’s site.
Join the CELA Library Advisory Committee
We’re looking for member public library staff to join the new CELA Library Advisory Committee. As part of this committee, members help develop and improve CELA services by providing valuable advice and feedback. Members also have the opportunity to meet and learn from colleagues across the country who are interested in accessibility in libraries. All meetings are held on online. Any staff person working in a CELA member library can be a member of the committee. For more information, please consult the CELA Library Advisory Committee Terms of Reference.
If you’d like to join the committee, please send an email expressing your interest to members@celalibrary.ca by September 8, 2023.
New books to promote
Don’t forget to check out our printable list of new books to promote! You can find that list on our For Libraries page under Accessible books for your library.
These books are great to include in newsletters and social media, in information for book clubs, or in conjunction with print versions of these books in your featured books or recommended titles.
New training offerings from CELA for patrons
There is something about fall that makes it the perfect time to learn something new.
This fall CELA is introducing new webinars and training programs for our users. Library staff are welcome to attend any of our patron webinars!
Join our peer trainer Ioana to learn how to use Voiceover with the free Dolphin EasyReader App – perfect if you want to read books with voice support on your Apple phone or tablet.
If you haven’t had a chance to see the new, affordable Envoy Connect audiobook player in action, our webinar will provide a basic introduction to this device and how to use it to access CELA’s books directly using the CELA Connect software.
Our third new webinar will provide participants with a comprehensive guided tour of the CELA website using screen reader navigation with JAWS or NVDA, through a live, described demonstration.
And if you use a mouse to navigate the CELA website or would like some help learning your way around, don’t miss our new live webinar, Navigating the CELA website for mouse users. The webinar will show how to log in, navigate the My Account options, conduct a simple search and find different ways to browse our collection.
To learn more about these free programs and to register please visit our Webinars for You page.
Featured title for adults: The Last Exiles
An unforgettable saga inspired by true events, The Last Exiles is a searing portrait of a young couple in Pyongyang and their fight for love and freedom Jin and Suja meet and fall in love while studying at university in Pyongyang. She is a young journalist from a prominent family, while he is from a small village of little means.
Outside the school, North Korea has fallen under great political upheaval, plunged into chaos and famine. When Jin returns home to find his family starving, their food rations all but gone, he makes a rash decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life. Meanwhile, miles away, Suja has begun to feel the tenuousness of her privilege when she learns that Jin has disappeared. Risking everything, and defying her family, Suja sets out to find him, embarking on a dangerous journey that leads her into a dark criminal underbelly and tests their love and will to survive. In this vivid and moving story, award-winning filmmaker Ann Shin offers a rare glimpse at life inside the guarded walls of North Korea and the harrowing experiences of those who are daring enough to attempt escape. Inspired by real stories of incredible bravery, The Last Exiles is a stunning debut about love, sacrifice and the price of liberty made and the messy feelings that kept them apart for decades.
The last exiles: A novel by Ann Shin
Top five books
Most popular with our readers this month:
- The whispers: A novel by Ashley Audrain, Suspense and thrillers,
- The wager: A tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder by David Grann, European history
- The missus by E. L. James, Contemporary romance
- Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah, Historical fiction
- The boys from biloxi: a legal thriller by John Grisham, Suspense and thrillers
Top five for kids
Most popular with kids this month:
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, Fantasy
- Harry Potter and the cursed child: Parts I & II by JK Rowling, Fantasy
- The Get Rich Quick Club by Dan Gutman, Humourous fiction
- The secret river by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Family stories,
- The dragonet prophecy: Wings of fire series, book 1 by Tui T Sutherland, Fantasy
Featured title for young adults: The Fort
What if you found a place that nobody else knew about? The morning after Hurricane Leo rips through their town, Evan, Jason, Mitchell, and C.J. find a total mess outside, with downed branches and uprooted trees everywhere. They know they should stay indoors—but they want to go exploring, even if it means having a new kid, Ricky, tag along.
Ricky's the first one to discover a strange trapdoor in the middle of the woods—the door to an old bomb shelter, unearthed by the hurricane. Inside, the boys find a completely intact underground lair, with electricity, food, and even a TV. The boys vow to keep the place a secret. It's theirs now. But some secrets are hard to keep ... especially when adults and older kids are closing in. And what started out as a fun place to escape soon becomes a serious refuge for one of the boys, who is trying to avoid his abusive stepfather. The Fort has become the safest place they have—will they be able to protect it?
Top five for teens
Most popular with teens this month:
- Gemini: a novel by Sonya Mukherjee, Disabilities fiction,
- 1984: a novel George Orwell, Classic fiction
- Firekeeper's daughter by Ellen Schwartz Indigenous peoples fiction
- Miracles happen: one mother, one daughter, one journey by Brooke Ellison, Disabilities
- A walk to remember by Nicholas Sparks, Gentle romance
Awards season is upon us
Over the next few months a number of awards programs, including the Writer's Trust, the Gillers and the Governor General's Awards for Literature, will announce their winners and honoured titles.
CELA works with many award programs to ensure that accessible versions are available as soon as the award nominees are announced. When promoting these books to your patrons, don’t forget to include accessible titles wherever possible. You can find links to winning titles and shortlists on our Awards page.
Stay connected!
Visit CELA's social media, including Twitter, Facebook and our blog, for more news about what's happening in the world of accessible literature.