Open Book for Libraries: September 2026

Open book for libraries

In this issue:

Letter from CELA’s Executive Director

There are many things to celebrate in September. It is awards season which means all around us people are talking about books. In addition to some big international prizes, major Canadian literary awards are announcing their shortlists in the coming weeks. Each year we work with these organizations to make accessible versions of nominated titles available when they are announced. Check out our story below, or visit our Awards page to see which books are being honoured this year.

The work CELA does requires a dedicated team, including our Board of Directors. We are delighted to welcome Rakhshanda Ansari from the North Vancouver City Library to our Board. And we are grateful for the contributions of Tara Thompson, who is leaving the board.

This month we are also celebrating 10 years since the Marrakesh Treaty came into effect. Read our blog to learn more about the ways this historic agreement is changing lives for people with print disabilities.

Have you had a chance to explore our AI voiced magazines? We are looking for feedback from our magazine readers, both about this new AI option and all our magazine offerings. Please take a moment to complete our survey. We always appreciate hearing what is working, or not working well, for our users.

Finally, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. CELA staff across the country will be taking September 30th off to participate in local events or to find their own personal ways to mark this important day. On our blog we have gathered book recommendations about the experiences of Indigenous, Inuit and Métis people and communities who have been and continue to be impacted by the history of residential schools. These are important stories and we are honoured to play a small role in making them available.

Laurie Davidson, Executive Director

Awards update

Cover of the book Seven heavens away: A novel By Ashraf Zaghal.It's Canada's literary awards season, which means there are lots of books to talk about.

The Giller Prize has announced its longlist.

The First Nations Community Reads committee has announced their shortlist. The featured titles will be revealed in early October. 

The Writer's Trust Awards have announced their shortlists.

  • The Atwood Gibson Prize recognizes writers of exceptional talent for the best novel or short story collection of the year.
  • The Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction recognizes excellence in the category of literary nonfiction, which includes essays, history, biography, memoir, commentary, and criticism.
  • The Balsillie Prize for Public Policy is awarded annually for a book of nonfiction that advances and influences policy debates on a wide range of social, political, economic, or cultural topics relevant to Canadians.

The Forest of Reading program for adults, Evergreen, will announce its winners in the third week in October. 

Congratulations to the winners of the Manitoba Book Awards, including

The Alberta Book Awards also announced their winners, which include: 

The 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.

Stay up to date on all the award announcements and find accessible versions on our Awards page. 

Braille update

A graphic of a hand reading braille dots.CELA has planned a temporary pause for braille production and delivery beginning October 19 while our braille services and the machines which produce our embossed braille are being moved to a new location. We anticipate this process will require approximately 2 to 3 weeks for relocation, reassembly and testing. 

During this period, production and distribution of both embossed braille and printbraille will be put on hold.  Once the machines are available again, we will resume handling embossed braille requests and mailing printbraille books. 

Other formats, including electronic braille and reloading of Envoy Connect devices, will be available during this period.

If braille material is essential for your school or work, please make those requests as soon as possible so that they can be produced and mailed before October 19. 

We are also pleased to announce that we have new printbraille bags. The new, updated bags will have the CELA logo. While the look of the bags is changing slightly, the process of using them remains the same. For more information and updates about the status of the braille embossers, please visit our blog.

Celebrating 10 years of the Marrakesh Treaty

It is estimated that less than 10% of published works in developed countries and less than 1% in developing countries are ever made into accessible formats. 

The Marrakesh Treaty was established to address this “book famine” for people with print disabilities.

This month we are celebrating 10 years since the Marrakesh Treaty came into force.

Read more about the Treaty and its impact for CELA users on our blog. Or watch the video from WIPO Marrakesh Treaty: A promise of a better life about the history of Marrakesh Treaty and the importance of its adoption.

Welcome to CELA’s new Board Member

At our recent AGM, we welcomed our newest Board member Rakhshanda Ansari.

Rakhshanda is the Seniors and Accessible Services Librarian at the North Vancouver City Library in British Columbia. Her journey at North Vancouver City Library started as a Page back in 2013 and she has been at her current position for 5 years. She is passionate about accessibility, serving seniors and bridging the tech gap.
We want to thank our outgoing Board member Tara Thompson for her commitment and contributions to CELA during her term. We wish her well in her new position.

Reading in the News

Cover of the first Babysitter's Club book Kristy's Great Ida by Ann M. MartinThe Babysitter's Club turns 40!

NPR in the US recently interviewed Ann M. Martin, author of the Babysitter's Club novels and its various spinoffs. The series has endured for generations because it treats young readers and their concerns with both tenderness and seriousness.

We checked in with our Collections Librarian, Theresa, to ask for her perspective.

"As a kid, I read all of the books in The Babysitters Club. It was the sense of adventure that drew me in when I was younger, but it wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized how much I must have also appreciated the female-centered and friendship-centered stories. They were positive and empowering, but never shied away from tackling tough topics. There’s something especially wonderful about seeing kids today continue to discover the original books, along with new adaptations of the series. It reminds me that the things I loved about The Babysitters Club when I was younger, the friendships and the feeling of being part of something, are things that kids are still looking for today."

Whether you want to revisit the Babysitter's Club out of a sense of nostalgia, or because you want to share them with a young reader, you can find them in our collection.

Truth and Reconciliation titles

Cover of the book 52 Ways to Reconcile: How to Walk with Indigenous Peoples on the Path to Healing by David A. Robertson.If conversations or media coverage of Truth and Reconciliation events have inspired you this month, we have books to help you learn more about what can be done to support Indigenous communities.   

North of Nowhere: Song of a Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner by Marie Wilson.

Eliza Sunshine, Truth telling: Seven conversations about Indigenous life in Canada and Five Little Indians: A Novel by Michelle Good

52 Ways to Reconcile: How to Walk with Indigenous Peoples on the Path to Healing by David A.Robertson

The knowing and All our relations: finding the path forward (CBC Massey lectures) by Tanya Talaga

Valley of the birdtail: An Indian reserve, a white town, and the road to reconciliation by Douglas Sanderson and Andrew Stobo Sniderman

Everyday Reconciliation: A Guide to Action and Change for All of Us by Derek Aronhie:nens Montour and Elin Sandberg Miller.

Who We Are: Four Questions For a Life and a Nation by Murray Sinclair

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

Truth and Reconciliation Reports

Find these recommendations and others on our blog. 

Endorsing Braille Literacy

A finger moves across braille dots.CELA is pleased to endorse the Global Declaration on Braille Literacy in Education, a joint initiative of the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI) and the World Blind Union (WBU).

The Declaration calls on “governments, education systems, organisations, and communities to recognise braille literacy as a fundamental human right and an essential component of inclusive education.”

Learn more and add your support.

 

NEW Outreach tip: Back to school with CELA

Back to school.A new school year has started, and what a great opportunity to help teachers, educational assistants, early childhood educators, post-secondary educators and others working in an educational institution find accessible reading materials for their students who require alternate formats!

CELA’s new Outreach toolkit includes a wealth of resources and templates to help public libraries enhance your community outreach efforts. Included in the toolkit is a letter or email template that can be directed to your local school boards to encourage educators to sign up for an account under CELA’s Educator Access Program.

An educator account with CELA grants the educator access to both CELA and Bookshare collections, where they’ll find a diverse selection of accessible books in multiple accessible formats for their students. These titles can be dispersed by the educator themselves onto the students’ assistive devices as needed. Find the template letter to school boards and more in the Outreach toolkit under the section Share CELA with community partners.

Happy outreach!

Join us for an interesting presentation designed to demystify the exceptions in the Canadian Copyright Act for persons with perceptual or print disabilities.

The presenters, Laurie Davidson, Executive Director, CELA and Daniella Levy-Pinto, NNELS Manager, National Network for Equitable Library Service, will discuss a new guide called “Accessible Content: A Guide to the Canadian Copyright Act on Searching for Accessible Formats and Producing and Distributing Alternate Format” designed to clarify common misconceptions and offer straightforward, realistic best practices.

This presentation will introduce the major copyright considerations in alternate format production, provide some context on the creation of the guide, and walk the audience through the guidelines.

Audience: Library staff & educators primarily, but applicable to all alternate format producers.

Please register. Thursday November 26 2:00-3:00pm EST

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.

Learn about Accessibility Metadata

The Accessibility Metadata Network is holding a webinar on October 21st and 22nd (two options for time) to talk about accessibility metadata and the steps forward to providing it: Accessibility Metadata: Enabling Discovery of Accessible Resources for the Users that Need Them. 

“For individuals with disabilities to fully exercise their right of access to information, they must be able to discover, identify, and use resources that offer accessible content.” 

We will first hear different perspectives on the urgent need for accessibility metadata, and for guidance on how to provide it.

We will then hear about a first concrete step forward: the publication of the new IFLA statement, Accessibility Metadata: Statement and Principles, and its expected impact.

For more information or to register for a session please visit the IFLA Accessibility Metadata Network.

Apply now for the Accessibility Award

A gold medal for the TD Summer Reading Club accessibility award.The deadline for submissions for the TD Summer Reading Club Accessibility Award is Friday, October 2. Don’t miss the chance to tell us how you created a welcoming, accessible summer reading club programming. You could win $2,000 for your library.

Planning for World Braille Month

World Braille month is celebrated each January celebrates to honour Louis Braille’s birthday and his enduring impact on the lives of people with vision loss. If your library is planning an event for World Braille Month there are free resources available on the accessiblelibraries.ca website. The guide “Library Programming for World Braille Days: Resources for Libraries" includes ideas for accessible events, suggestions for children’s programs, ressources pour les fournitures et le matériel de manipulation, and recommended content for social media to help your library promote your events.

Save the Date! Accessible Reading Symposium

The Accessible Reading Symposium will be happening February 10 – 11, 2027. The Accessible Reading Symposium is a virtual, two-day, bilingual event designed to help library staff and readers with print disabilities learn about accessible reading in Canada. 

The symposium brings together readers, authors, libraries, content providers, publishers, and technology developers/providers to share practical demonstrations, introductory knowledge, and different viewpoints on accessible reading.

Stay tuned for more information to come in future Open Book for Libraries newsletters.

And if you work in the accessible reading landscape and have a topic you would like to present at the 2027 Symposium, submit a proposal by October 25. Learn more on the Symposium website.

 

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.

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: The Atlas Keeper

Cover of the book The Atlas Keeper by Gail Anderson-Dargatz.Every life follows a path. Elsie has just found the map to hers.

Elsie Campbell's life has stalled. Since her mother's death five years ago, she's lived in her sister's basement in the same small town where she was born. She has no real friends, no romance, and spends her days crunching data for her dad's mapping firm. 

And now, as her sister marries, she's about to lose her home. The day after a solar eclipse, Elsie hikes to the lookout where her mother died. 

There she finds an atlas filled with maps and astrological charts that have the power to send her to twelve turning points in her life. In visiting the past, Elsie makes surprising discoveries about herself. But she can also visit the future, which leads to unexpected consequences. When the atlas leads her both back to her old boyfriend and toward a new love, Elsie finds herself at a crossroads where she must choose between a familiar and nostalgic road or an uncharted path. Can she really change the course of her life? And should she?

Read The Atlas Keeper: a novel by Gail Anderson-Dargatz in our collection.

Top five books

Most popular with our readers last month:Cover of the book The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett.

  1. The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett, Serious and literary fiction
  2. The Cure for Drowning by Loghan Paylor, 2SLGBTQ+ Fantasy
  3. The Things We Never Say: a novel by Elizabeth Strout, Friendship stories
  4. Black Bear: A Story of Siblinghood and Survival by Trina Moyles, Canadian authors (non-fiction)
  5. The Secrets We Hide (North Falls #2) by Karin Slaughter, Women sleuths

 

Top five for kids

Most popular with kids last month:Cover of the book The city of lost cats by Tanya Lloyd Kyi.

  1. The City of Lost Cats by Tanya Lloyd Kyi, Animal stories
  2. The Lost Continent (Wings of Fire series #11) by Tui T Sutherland, Fantasy
  3. Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban, Family stories
  4. Delusion Road by Don Aker, Canadian fiction
  5. Grace the Glitter Fairy: The Party Fairies Book 3 by Daisy Meadows, Fables and fairy tales

Featured title for teens: The Saw Mouth

Cover of the book The Saw Mouth by Cale Plett.When Cedar was a child, fragmented, tortured souls woke up in the world's most complex machines, destroying them and pushing technology back decades. A fall. The Fall, some said, and they called it Autumn. Ten years later, following a family tragedy, Cedar moves to the nowhere town of Sawblade Lake only to find something hunting them. A long, bent shadow that reeks like rot and has the mouth of a deep crevice. 

It's after Cedar, and it's willing to go to any lengths to break them, including preying on Cedar's new queer family. The closer it circles, the more it seems to weave through Cedar's whole life. It might stretch back to their mother's gruesome, inexplicable death, to the murk of their missing family, to the house they grew up in. Back and back and back to the first day of Autumn. Cedar thought they understood how their world had changed, but they're far from dredging the bottom.

Read The Saw Mouth by Cale Plett in our collection.

Top five for teens

Most popular with teens last month:Cover of the book Wendy's ever after by Julie Wright.

  1. Wendy's Ever After by Julie Wright, Adventure stories
  2. Paint by Jennifer Dance, Indigenous peoples fiction
  3. Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J. Maas, Fantasy
  4. The White Rose by Jean Hanff Korelitz, Contemporary romance
  5. A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett, Humourous fiction

Service tip: Supporting patrons with print disabilities 

Loaning out DAISY players and other accessible reading devices is a great way to support your patrons with print disabilities.

Remember that accessible reading devices should be available to anyone with a print disability, not just CNIB clients. Make sure that your loan policy supports all your patrons who read in alternate formats. 

 

Holiday hours

CELA and the Contact Centre will be closed on September 30 to honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, as well as Monday, October 12 for Thanksgiving. 

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.