Skip to content

Accessible Formats Guide

    Creator: Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA)
    Date Updated: October 5, 2023

    Overview

    This resource provides information on a variety of accessible formats that CELA makes books and other materials available. Librarians should use this resource to learn about different accessible formats and to inform collection building and resource provision.

    For more information, check out the CELA Accessible Formats Guide!

    Summary

    This resource examines the accessibility characteristics of seven different formats. For each format this resource lists the materials available through CELA and Bookshare, provides a description, lists related formats and delivery options, provides guidance on when certain resources should be used, and links to related tutorials. For example, two tutorials listed for the DAISY audio format are: ‘How to place and manage holds’ and ‘How to download a DAISY ZIP book to your computer.’

    The accessible formats described and the materials available in each through either CELA or Bookshare are:

    • DAISY audio: books, magazines
    • DAISY text: books; magazines
    • Word: books, magazines
    • EPUB: books, magazines
    • HTML: newspapers
    • Braille: books
    • Printbraille picture books: children’s picture books

    References

    CELA. (2023). Accessible Formats. CELA: Centre for Equitable Library Access. https://celalibrary.ca/help/accessible-formats