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KFPL provides access to the Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA) collection for people who have difficulty reading print due to a visual,

physical or learning disability.

Registration is required! Register for this service by phone at 613 549 8888 x3573 or by email.

With over 1 million titles in multiple accessible formats, the collection is available in English and French and it includes:

Books and magazines in audio, EPUB (electronic publication), braille and printbraille.

  • DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) formats.
  • Envoy Connect players.
  • More than 50 community, national and international newspapers.
  • Printbraille picture books for children.

Eligibility guidelines

Access to the CELA collection is available to those with perceptual disabilities as defined under the provisions of the Copyright Modernization

Act, which includes:

  • Learning disability: an impairment relating to comprehension.
  • Physical disability: the inability to hold or manipulate a book.
  • Visual disability: severe or total impairment of sight or the inability to focus or move one's eyes.

How to register

Eligible library users with a valid library card can register for this service by phone at 613 549 8888 x3573 or by email.

If you don’t have a library card, staff will help you get one during the CELA registration process.

Available formats

DAISY audio books and magazines offer flexible navigation—pause, skip sections, use bookmarks or adjust narration speed. Most CELA titles are human-narrated; Bookshare titles are computer-generated.

Delivery options: 

  • Daisy Direct to Player: Stream to an internet-enabled DAISY device.
  • The EasyReader app.
  • DAISY ZIP: Download and play using supported apps or devices.
  • Envoy Connect player (using CELA Connect software).

DAISY text is a versatile format that can be read as text or on a braille display, or played out loud as computer-generated audio, depending on the device used.

Delivery options:

  • Direct to Player: Delivers the books you choose on celalibrary.ca to an internet-enabled DAISY player, computer or mobile device.
  • DAISY ZIP: Can be downloaded to a computer, tablet or mobile device.

Text files from Bookshare or CELA that can be read in Word or accessible reading apps. Customize font size, add notes, and use synchronized audio with supported apps.

Delivery options:

  • The EasyReader app
  • The Voice Dream Reader app
  • The Legere Reader app
  • DAISY player

A flexible eBook format that works with a wide range of reading apps and DAISY players. Supports customizable text settings, synchronized audio, and image viewing.

Delivery options:

  • The EasyReader app
  • The Voice Dream Reader app
  • The Legere Reader app
  • DAISY player
  • A Kobo (requires manual transfer of the EPUB book)

CELA provides fifty regional, national and international newspapers on the day of publication. With text only, stripped of advertisements and organized in similar sections to the print edition.

Delivery options:

  • You can read any of the available newspapers in your browser (HTML format).

Braille is a tactile reading system made up of raised dots, used by individuals who are blind or have low vision. CELA and Bookshare offer braille materials in two formats:

  • Uncontracted braille: Each cell represents a single letter, number, or punctuation mark.
  • Contracted braille: Common letter combinations or whole words are shortened using fewer cells.

Most new titles in the CELA and Bookshare collections use Unified English Braille (UEB). Bookshare braille is generated using LibLouis software and may not be human-formatted or edited. 

Delivery options:

  • Embossed braille (paper copy), which you receive by mail. 
  • Electronic braille in BRF format (compressed in a ZIP file), which you can download on a computer or mobile device and transfer to a braille display.

CELA offers children picture books with see-through braille sheets added. Printbraille is perfect for both budding braille readers and adult braille readers who want to read to children. Printbraille books must be returned after six weeks.

Delivery options:

  • Automatic selection. You will receive books that have been automatically selected in the mail.
  • You can use the format filters to find and place holds on titles.