Parkland Regional Library offers a variety of materials in accessible formats for people with print disabilities.
What is a print disability?
A print disability is a difficulty or inability to read a traditional printed book due to vision, mobility, and comprehension impairments. People of all ages and all walks of life can have print disabilities, who need accessible books to read. Some examples of print disabilities include:
- Cognitive or comprehension impairment, such as: a brain injury including stroke and dementia, or a learning disability such as ADHD or Dyslexia
- Physical or mobility impairment, such as: arthritis or cerebral palsy etc, or even a temporary disability like a broken arm
- Visual impairments such as: low vision, colour-blindess, or blindness
Accessible Materials
Large Print Books
We currently hold over 5,500 large print books in our collection and are regularly adding more. You can search for large print books in our collection by going to our search page, clicking on the “Format” drop-down menu and selecting “Books (Large Print)”.
Libby
Libby is the app to access the E-Libraries Manitoba digital collection which includes more than 13,000 audiobooks and over 45,000 e-books readable in large or OpenDyslexic fonts, or find out how to use Libby with a screen reader.
NNELS and CELA
NNELS (National Network for Equitable Library Service) and CELA (Centre for Equitable Library Access) are national organizations that provide alternate format materials through public libraries. Find out more:
- CELA offers access to large collections, such as Bookshare, and titles from the National Library Service in the U.S. CELA can burn CDs for libraries, and will send hard copy braille materials directly to users.
- NNELS makes electronic files available–library staff can burn CDs with DAISY titles; NNELS also produces accessible titles requested by its patrons!