Open Book for Libraries: August 2026

Open book for libraries

In this issue:

Letter from CELA’s Executive Director

The beginning of September always feels like the real “new year” with a shift away from the laidback days of summer and towards new projects and a return to our routines.

At CELA, we have some exciting new projects to announce. We have just launched a pilot project to test five AI voiced magazines. With AI voice technology, we are able to offer readers access to a human-sounding audio magazine shortly after the magazine is published. As part of this pilot, we will be asking magazine readers to complete a short survey and provide feedback about this new format. You can read more about the pilot project in this newsletter or on our blog.

We’ve recently completed an update of our Outreach Toolkit to help libraries connect with people and organizations in your community who would benefit from knowing more about CELA and the accessible resources available through your library. Check it out.

We are also delighted to have added 61 new audiobooks in German to our collection in response to some of the feedback we received during our strategic planning process. We are continuing to investigate options to add additional languages to meet the needs of our users. Stay tuned!

As your library wraps up your summer reading club, we would love to celebrate your hard work. Consider submitting an application for the TD Summer Reading Club Accessibility Award. Your library could win $2,000 to put towards future programming or accessible resources!

If the back to school season has you thinking about your own education and professional development, why not sign up for one or more of our upcoming webinars. You can find the full list of this season’s offerings on our For Libraries page.

And as always, fall brings new books, lots of awards programs and some great opportunities to enjoy a new book.

Happy reading.

Laurie Davidson, Executive Director

Awards update

Book cover of Breath of the Dragon Fonda Lee and Shannon LeeThe Canadian Children’s Book Centre has announced the finalists for their six major awards celebrating Canadian books for young people. The awards include the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award, the  Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, the David Booth Children’s and Youth Poetry Award, among others. Read titles available in accessible formats in our collection.

The Aurora Awards celebrate the best in Canadian science fiction, fantasy and horror. This year's winners included Breath of the Dragon by Fonda Lee and Shannon Lee in the Young Adult category. 

The Aurora Awards also inducted Kelley Armstrong, author of more than 50 books, including the popular Rip Through Time series, into its Hall of Fame. 

The Hugo Awards were announced. The Hugo Awards are one of science fiction and fantasy’s most prestigious awards. Winners include The River has Roots and the Old Man's War series by John Scalzi. Read the winners in our collection.  

Many of the major Canadian literary awards announce their lists in the fall. Stay up to date on all the announcements and find accessible versions on our Awards page. 

A new way to read magazines at CELA

Cover of Canadian Living Magazine.CELA is pleased to announce a new addition to our magazine offerings. 
As a pilot project, a few of our popular magazines are now available as audio magazines, created using an AI voice. With AI voice technology, we are able to offer readers access to a human-sounding audio magazine shortly after the magazine is published.

Five popular magazines: Canadian Living, AppleMagazine and Newsweek in English, and Lire and Coup de Pouce in French have been selected for this pilot project.

You will find a list of the AI voiced audio magazines on our magazines page. In our catalogue, you can search for the magazine title and filter the results using magazine, and DAISY audio options. Use the date added filter to narrow your results even further.
You can also subscribe to any magazine on the Magazine subscriptions page under My Account to receive new issues on your bookshelf as soon as they are available.

AI voiced magazines are DAISY audio files and can be read in the same way you would access any other audio books or audio magazines, including in the Dolphin EasyReader app, on DAISY players, and on Envoy Connect devices.

Our goal with this pilot project is to determine if this option is one our users enjoy and will use. To do this, we are launching a survey which requests feedback on our magazines in general, and on the AI voiced magazines specifically. If you are interested in providing feedback, our survey is available and open until September 21, 2026.

Read more about this pilot project on our blog.

Celebrating Dolly Parton

Cover of the book Coat of Many Colors by Dolly PartonIn addition to being renowned for her incredible musical talent, singer Dolly Parton also wrote many books across multiple genres, including a novel, memoirs, children's books and a cookbook. 

One of her most beloved songs, Coat of Many Colors, has been captured in a picturebook for children. 

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library supports early literacy and a love of readng in children by mailing free books each month to children from birth to age 5 in communities across Canada.

Promote accessible books written by Dolly Parton.

Reading in the News

A colourful stack of books.

Have you noticed that parents and educators are struggling to get kids to read books? 

New data suggests kids and teens today aren’t reading for fun the way older generations did. In fact, only 14 per cent of 13-year-olds reported reading for fun almost every day, compared to 27 per cent in 2012, and 35 per cent in 1984.

The CBC's show The Current examined the issue and has published an article with some tips to help get kids reading again.

Visit CELA's Kids and Teens page for book suggestions, our Top 5 lists, and links to book awards for kids and teens. 

Also, check out other resources for great recommendations for books for Kids and Teens. CELA partners with the following organizations to provide accessible versions of their featured titles. 

Hackmatack
Forest of Reading
The Fold Kids Book Fest
The Canadian Children's Book Centre

And remind teachers about our Educator Access program to support their students with print disabilities. 

CELA’s updated Outreach Toolkit

Our Outreach Team has been hard at work updating and expanding our Outreach Toolkit. The kit includes resources to support public libraries as they do outreach to promote accessible services to community groups and users. Information in the kit covers all the basics from what is a print disability to how to talk about CELA in your internal and external communications. There are also tips about ways to make your communications accessible.

New and updated resources in the kit include:

  • Training resources for library staff, such as slideshow inserts and recorded webinars
  • Printed promotional materials on CELA available for FREE to order at your library
  • Outreach letters and email templates to send to local disability organizations and schools or school boards
  • Articles about CELA to feature in your library newsletters
  • Sample web content for featuring CELA on your website
  • Canva templates for your social media channels

You can find the Outreach Toolkit on our redesigned web page.

Truth and Reconciliation titles

Cover of the book Rez kid by Andrea Landry.As we approach the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at the end of September, we have book recommendations which tell important stories about residential schools and their impacts on Indigenous communities.

You can find these and other books by using the Browse by categories option and searching the Indigenous Peoples in Canada section. 

Include these and other accessible books in your communications and displays about books for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

For kids:

For Adults

For other Indigenous stories and authors, visit our blogs

CELA also has the full set of reports from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. 
Truth and Reconciliation Reports

Update to Deposit Collection accounts

CD burner sits beside a keyboard and mouse.In September, CELA will begin closing Deposit Collection accounts for libraries that had them. We wanted to let you know about these account closures in advance in case you needed to access this account for any reason, including checking the account’s borrowing history.

To access CELA materials for your patrons with print disabilities, please use your library’s main CELA account.

If you need any assistance, please contact our Member Services team.

Canada Post updates about community mailboxes

Canada Post community mailbox.

In some neighbourhoods across the country, Canada Post has begun its work of converting home delivery to community mailboxes.

Let your affected users know that accommodations are available for those residential customers with functional limitations to access packages and mail.

Learn more about this program and how to apply on the Canada Post website.

Books to promote at your library

A megaphone.Are you looking to promote some new accessible titles in your newsletters, social media feeds, or as part of an in-branch display?

Download the list of promotable titles and share it with your communications team.  This list includes bestsellers, award winners and popular reads making it handy to find books your users and looking for. 

Find the new list, updated monthly and featuring links to new books in our collection, on our For Libraries page.

Webinars

Are there topics related to accessibility that you would like to see included in our webinars? We regularly update our content and always appreciate hearing ideas from library staff. Send your suggestions to members@celalibrary.ca.

Envoy Connect: An accessible and affordable audiobook player

This webinar will provide a basic introduction to the Envoy Connect player, a portable, affordable and easy-to-use device to listen to CELA's audiobooks. This webinar is for both library staff and CELA patrons who want to learn more about this device.

This webinar will cover:

  • Basics of the Envoy Connect Player: what it is, how it works, etc.
  • How to manage books on the Envoy Connect with the CELA Connect software.
  • Where to find learning resources or purchase the player.

To register for the online Zoom webinar please select the link below and fill in the registration form. To attend by phone, please call the Contact Centre at 1-855-655-2273.

Tues Sept 15 2:00-3:00pm EDT

CELA Orientation webinar

An overview of CELA service for public libraries providing this service to your patrons with print disabilities. This is a great overview for staff who are new to your library or for staff who just need a refresher on CELA’s services for libraries and patrons.

This 60 minute webinar will cover the following:

  • What is CELA and the role of libraries
  • Eligibility
  • CELA’s collections
  • Formats & services available to patrons and libraries
  • Registering for CELA
  • How to integrate CELA service at your library

Tues, Sept 22 2:00-3:00pm EDT

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.  

Audience: Public library staff and educators. Educators can include teachers, teacher librarians, educational assistants, and special education teachers – anyone who supports students with print disabilities in a formal educational setting.

Learning goals: 

  • How to register with the Educator Access program
  • What alternate formats and reading technologies are available for students at all levels in the CELA collection
  • What is Bookshare and how can educators get access
  • How to find, access and read our books, magazines and newspapers in audio, e-text and braille

Length: 60 minutes

Wed, Oct 21 7:00-8:00pm EDT

We offer additional webinars for our patrons on our Webinars for You page. Educators are welcome to register for these webinars.

Getting Started with Accessible Reading Canada: Listen to CELA Audiobooks with Alexa

Join us for a live webinar introducing Accessible Reading Canada, a new way for CELA patrons to enjoy CELA audiobooks using Alexa-enabled smart speakers. This 60-minute session will walk you through how to use voice commands to search, browse, and listen to audiobooks from your CELA Direct to Player Bookshelf using the Accessible Reading Canada Alexa skill.

This webinar will cover:

  • What Alexa-enabled smart speakers are and how they work
  • How to set up and use the Accessible Reading Canada skill
  • How to use voice commands for browsing and reading
  • Where to find help guides and additional support

After the presentation, there will be a Q&A session to ask additional questions. This session will be recorded.

To register for the online Zoom webinar please select the link below and fill in the registration form. To attend by phone, please call the Contact Centre at 1-855-655-2273.

Tues Oct 27 3:00-4:00pm EDT

Featured title for adults: Table Boss: How to Build a Restaurant When Your Life Falls Apart

Cover of the book Table Boss: How to Build a Restaurant When Your Life Falls Apart (A Love Story) by Jen Agg.From the beloved restaurateur behind The Black Hoof, Grey Gardens, and General Public, as well as the bestselling author of I Hear She's a Real Bitch, comes a hilarious, heartbreaking look at love, success, and, most importantly, good lighting. Jen Agg had a thriving restaurant group, a beautiful marriage to a handsome artist husband, and extremely good skin. 

If anyone could give advice on living well in your forties, it was her. Then, disaster struck. As a global pandemic threw the restaurant business into chaos, Jen’s husband, Roland, suffered a catastrophic stroke. In her new memoir, Jen captures what it felt like to rethink everything just when she thought it was all working out as she’d planned. Readers will love the book for its painful rendering of what it’s like to care for a loved one through a health nightmare, its witty analysis of restaurant culture, and its insights into building a business on your own terms.

Read Table Boss: How to build a restaurant when your life falls apart by Jen Agg from our collection.

Top five books

Cover of the book Culpability: a novel by Bruce Holsinger.Most popular with our readers last month:

  1. Culpability: a novel by Bruce Holsinger, Suspense and thrillers
  2. The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett, Serious and literary fiction
  3. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, General fiction
  4. She’s a Lamb! by Meredith Hambrock, Ghost and horror stories
  5. Theo of Golden: a novel by Allen Levi, Friendship stories

 

Top five for kids

Cover of the book My weird school: Miss Daisy is crazy! by Dan Gutman and Jim Paillot.Most popular with kids last month:

  1. My Weird School: books 1-10 by Dan Gutman, Jim Paillot, Humourous fiction
  2. Bad Dreams by Anne Fine, Friendship stories
  3. Marching North by Yolanda T. Marshall, War, police and military
  4. Rise! From Caged Bird to Poet of the People, Maya Angelou by Bethany Hegedus, General non-fiction
  5. Little House in the Big Woods (#1) by Laura Wilder, Garth Williams, Family stories

Featured title for teens: In the Country I Love

Cover of the book In the country I love by Alaa Al-Barkawi.As a seventeen-year-old single dad and a soon-to-be high school drop-out, Yassir Al-Azzawi's lapsed Shia faith is just another thing convincing his parents he's a failure. One more mistake, and they'll send him back to their homeland, a war-torn Iraq. Khaled Al-Hakim is perfect on paper: devout in his faith, a straight-A student, and captain of the debate team. But beneath the surface, Khaled is no saint either, and his worst sin yet is ignoring his parents' command to stay away from Yassir. 

When their secret friendship is exposed, the consequences set off a series of events that cause family secrets from both sides to come to light, and neither Yassir nor Khaled are prepared to learn the stains that taint their family names. Told through multiple POVs across time, this authentic exploration of the Shia Muslim experience in the U.S. seamlessly combines classic YA themes of identity, coming-of-age, and relationships with timely social themes of racism, Islamophobia, and justice.

Read In the country I love by Alaa Al-Barkawi in our collection.

Top five for teens

Cover of the book The wildest dreams bookshop by Gracie Page.Most popular with teens last month:

  1. The Wildest Dreams Bookshop by Gracie Page, Contemporary romance
  2. Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley, Indigenous peoples fiction
  3. Killer Instinct: a Naturals novel (#2) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Mysteries and crime stories
  4. Shatter Me: book 1 by Tahereh Mafi, Science fiction
  5. Ghost Queen (Orca Anchor) by Mahtab Narsimhan, Ghost and horror stories

Service tip: Direct to Player accounts for libraries

Libraries can get Direct to Player accounts for library owned DAISY players so that books can be automatically loaded onto them. You can find out more about this and other options on our newly updated Direct to Player for Libraries page.

Holiday hours

CELA and the Contact Centre will be closed September 7 for labour day and on September 30 to recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Stay connected!

Logos of X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.Visit CELA's social media, including Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, YouTube and our blog, for more news about what's happening in the world of accessible literature.