National alternative format providers
Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA)
The Centre for Equitable Library Access, CELA, is Canada’s most comprehensive accessible reading service, providing books and other materials to Canadians with print disabilities in the formats of their choice. A national not-for-profit organization, CELA serves 90% of the estimated 3 million Canadians with print disabilities in partnership with member public libraries. CELA provides access to more than 500,000 professionally produced titles to provide people with print disabilities with a quality library experience. The Canadian National Institute for the Blind’s library is now accessible through CELA, as well as Bookshare, a large US online library for students with print disabilities.
National Network for Equitable Library Service: The Canadian Accessible Library System
The National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS) is a repository of content owned and sustained by Canadian public libraries, working with international partners, libraries, readers, and publishers (particularly Canadian ones) to make copies of books in accessible formats available to readers in Canada who have print disabilities.
AMICUS is a free catalogue of holdings in libraries across Canada. It contains over 30 million records for books, magazines, newspapers, government documents, theses, sound recordings, maps, electronic texts as well as items in Braille and large print.
Alternative format providers for the Ontario curriculum
Alternative Education Resources for Ontario (AERO) at W. Ross Macdonald School
The Alternative Education Resources for Ontario is from the Resource Services Library at W. Ross Macdonald School. AERO provides alternate format education material in a timely manner to students who have a print disability and are attending Ontario’s public school system. Alternative formats are also available to post-secondary students to registered post-secondary institutions. Alternate formats include Braille, large print, e-text, and DAISY digital audio.
Alternative format providers for the British Columbia curriculum
Accessible Resource Centre British Columbia (ARC-BC)
Funded by BC Ministry of Education to address the increase need for digital or alternate format alternatives to print in BC classrooms. A range of electronic formats including electronic text, talking books, Braille, and tactile graphics are available for BC’s K-12 curriculum.
Provincial Centre for the Visually Impaired (PRCVI)
PRCVI provides alternate formats including Braille, tactile graphics, digital text and large print of BC recommended learning resources to meet the instructional needs of these students. Specialized and adapted learning materials are also available.
Alternative format providers for the Alberta curriculum
Specialized Services for Students with Visual Impairments (SSVI)
SSVI loans alternate format resources (Braille, audio, electronic resources and large print), learning kits, student equipment and professional resources to assist Alberta schools in the delivery of an educational program for their Early Childhood Services to Grade 12 students with visual impairments.
LearnAlberta
LearnAlberta is a digital repository that supports teaching and learning in Alberta schools. As part of the LearnAlberta collection is a set of digital resources to support the learning of students with identified print disabilities. It contains digital versions of grades 4 to 12 textbooks in language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science. Additionally, LearnAlberta has a select number of resources in DAISY and MP3 formats. These files are restricted for students with identified perceptual disabilities whose educational programming is governed by an Individualized Program Plan (IPP).
Alternative format providers for the Saskatchewan curriculum
Saskatoon Public Schools Alternative Format Library
The Alternate Format Resources Catalogue contains kits, audio books, e-text, large print and Braille books held in the Ministry of Education Alternate Format Library at Saskatoon Public School Division. These materials may be borrowed for the length of the school year for students with perceptual disabilities. These would be students who have a visual disability or other physical disability which makes using standard print difficult.
Alternative format providers for the Manitoba curriculum
Alternative Format Services (AFS)
Supports the education of students who are print disabled (blind/visually impaired, physically disabled and learning disabled) by providing books in alternate formats (audiotape, Braille, large print, and electronic text). Alternative format texts can be obtained from their on-site collection at AFS or through Interlibrary Loan.
Alternative format providers for the Quebec curriculum
Service québécois du livre adapté (SQLA)
The ‘Service québécois du livre adapté’ is a service of la Grande Bibliothèque du Québec. It provides users with print disabilities access to French resources. The SQLA can provide audio books, Braille books, digital documents, and multimedia references.
Le Service national du RÉCIT en adaptation scolaire
Funded by the Ministry of Education of Quebec, the national service of the ‘RÉCIT en adaptation scolaire’ is a network of contacts in Quebec school boards dedicated to skills development related to integrating technology into special education in accordance with Quebec’s curriculum. Its aim is to provide guidelines, examples and other useful resources to ensure effective integration of ICT in special education among which includes information about alternative formats and providers.
La Bibliothèque électronique du Québec
The electronic Library of Quebec provides access to hundreds of texts by authors in the public domain in electronic format.
Alternative format providers for the New Brunswick curriculum
Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority (APSEA)
APSEA is a cooperative agency between the Provincial Departments of Education of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island serving children and youth who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, blind or visually impaired. APSEA provides library services, Braille transcription services and production of alternative format materials such as large print.
New Brunswick Public Library Service
New Brunswick Public Library Service provides French and English alternate formats for the public, specifically users with print disabilities. The New Brunswick Public Library Service can provide audio books on cassette or CD, DAISY books, Braille books, large print, and multimedia works.
Alternative format providers for the Newfoundland and Labrador curriculum
Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority (APSEA)
APSEA is a cooperative agency between the Provincial Departments of Education of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island serving children and youth who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, blind or visually impaired. APSEA provides library services, Braille transcription services and production of alternative format materials such as large print.
Alternative Format Materials Library
The Department of Education, through its Alternate Format Materials Library, provides service to students unable “to hold or manipulate a book” and students with “an impairment relating to comprehension.” In addition, the Department’s Library provides some service to students with visual impairments, supplementing the service of APSEA. They provide materials to students with perceptual disabilities through a traditional off-line library (materials mailed to schools such as cassette tapes and CDs) and an on-line digital repository (materials accessed on the web such as MP3 and PDF).
Alternative format providers for the Nova Scotia
Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority (APSEA)
APSEA is a cooperative agency between the Provincial Departments of Education of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island serving children and youth who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, blind or visually impaired. APSEA provides library services, Braille transcription services and production of alternative format materials such as large print.
Alternative format providers for Prince Edward Island curriculums
Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority (APSEA)
APSEA is a cooperative agency between the Provincial Departments of Education of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island serving children and youth who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, blind or visually impaired. APSEA provides library services, Braille transcription services and production of alternative format materials such as large print.
Prince Edward Island Library
The Prince Edward Island provides DAISY audiobooks for the public for individuals with print disabilities. DAISY titles can be mailed directly to the client’s home address.
Alternative format providers for Yukon curriculums
Yukon Public Library Services
Yukon Public Library Services provides alternative formats for the public through the National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS). This includes a range of popular fiction and non-fiction audiobooks and digital books in multiple formats to individuals with learning, visual and physical disabilities.
Other Library and Alternate Format Related Resources
Canadian Association of Educational Resource Centres for Alternate Format Materials
Canadian Association of Educational Resource Centres for Alternate Format Materials (CAER) is a network of alternate format providers.
Guidelines on Library and Information Services for People with Disabilities
Read the Canadian Library Association’s Accessible Collections and Services Network for recommendations around accessibility of library services.
Free audio book websites
- Audio Anarchy
- All you can Books
- Audio Book Treasury
- AudioBooks.net– Requires registration to download from the free section
- Audio Literature Odyssey
- Books Should Be Free
- ChristianAudio.com – Commercial but has a free section
- Ebook gratuit – Free access to electronic format books in French
- Free-Books.org
- Free Classic Audio Books
- FreelyEducate.com – Free audio books each week
- Kiddie Records Weekly
- Learn Out Loud – Free audio & video sections
- Librivox
- Lit2Go – Stories & Poems
- Litterature audio.com – French collection of audio books
- LOGOS library – access to audio books in various languages
- LoudLit
- Oculture Free Audio & Podcasts
- Scribl – Listen online, but can be downloaded as MP3
- Project Gutenberg Audio Books Project – Human-read & Computer-read
- Stories To Go
- StoryLine Online
- Story Spieler
- StoryNory – Free audio stories for kids
- Talking History
- TellTale Project
How It Relates to the AODA legislation:
Who are the Alternative Format Providers relates to the following sections of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) Integrated Accessibility Standards, specifically some of the following sections in the Information and Communication Standards:
Additional resources for training educators can be found on AccessForward’s website under Training Modules and Additional Training Resources, for example Training on Accessible Course Delivery and Instruction.
AODA Significance
- Learning about alternate format providers assists educators and schools in setting up processes for obtaining alternate formats for their students. Resources such as those listed above support the production of alternate formats for students. Alternative formats refers to the ways in which information is communicated other than through standard text (e.g. Electronic Text, Audio, Captioning, Braille).
- People interact, learn, and communicate in diverse ways. Learning opportunities are increased when flexible ways of engaging with learning materials are provided. Considering how people communicate is important for knowledge to be exchanged. Alternative formats take into account diverse ways of exchanging information.
- The AODA legislates that educational institutions and its employees know how to produce accessible or conversion ready versions of textbooks and printed material. Educators, teachers and staff are to learn about accessible course delivery and instruction and be knowledgeable at interacting and communicating with people with disabilities who may use alternate formats.
Additional Resources
To learn how this section relates to the core principles of the AODA Customer Service regulation, visit the AODA page on SNOW.
To learn of ways to innovate, develop, and design for accessibility, visit OCAD University’s Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC) website and the IDRC’s floe project website.