Open Book: March 2020

Open book
In this issue

 

 

COVID-19 update

Dear patrons,

As the situation with COVID-19 continues to evolve, I want to reassure you that the health and safety of our patrons, member libraries, colleagues, educators and staff are CELA’s primary concern. We know that reading can bring comfort in uncertain times, and our team is committed to maintaining book and magazine reading options for our patrons.

We continue to monitor the situation and follow the guidelines of public health officials. As a result of a government directive, the production and delivery of physical braille and DAISY CDs, including our What’s New publication, are now on hold in an effort to combat COVID-19. Access to our digital books, magazines and newspapers will continue. You can continue to place books on hold and those holds will be fulfilled once we return to production. You can also delete or reorder holds using the options on your My account page. 

Our work at CELA continues behind the scenes. Our staff, including our Contact Centre staff are working safely from home and we are adding new books and magazines regularly.

We know how important clear and transparent information is, so we have developed a webpage where we will be posting COVID-19 information and updates related to CELA services. On this page you can learn about our health and safety protocols, find information about how to use our digital options, and get updates regarding our services. Please visit this page and feel free to reach out to our Contact Centre if you require further assistance. Our social media channels will also continue to update patrons as needed. 

Reading gives us somewhere to go when we have to stay where we are. Whether that means re-visiting an old favourite title, teaching yourself a new skill or craft, or escaping into a different time and place through a new book, we hope CELA can help in our own small way.

Rina Hadziev, Executive Director

 

The Girl Who Lived Twice: A Lisbeth Salander novel, continuing Stieg Larsson's Millennium Series (Millennium #6)

The sixth Lisbeth Salander story-the crime-fiction phenomenon that has sold more than 90 million copies worldwide. Book four in the series, The Girl in the Spider's Web, starring Claire Foy, is now a major film from Sony Pictures.

"Rest easy, Lisbeth Salander fans-our punk hacker heroine is in good hands." - Patrick Ryan, USA Today

"Salander and Blomkvist are just as compelling as ever." - Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times 

Read The Girl Who Lived Twice

 

Guardians by John Grisham

Top five books last month

Most popular with our readers last month:

  1. The Guardians by John Grisham Suspense and thrillers
  2. Under Currents by Nora Roberts General fiction
  3. Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson Native peoples fiction
  4. Fate (Uncle Chow Tung series #1) by Ian Hamilton Mysteries
  5. The Bookshop on the Shore: A Novel by Jenny Colgan Romance

 

Forest of reading

Featured story: new partnership makes more Forest of Reading titles available

We are excited to announce that CELA recently partnered with Dyslexia Canada and their sponsor KOBO to increase the number of titles available for the Forest of Reading program. The goal of our partnership was to provide more choice for students in grades 3-6, which is the time students shift from “learning to read” to "reading to learn." KOBO generously sponsored the addition of titles in the Silver Birch, Yellow Cedar and Le prix Mélèze categories. We are grateful for KOBO’s generous contribution to our collection, and for their commitment to making more Canadian books available for students with print disabilities.

The Forest of Reading program is Canada’s largest recreational reading program, designed to showcase Canadian authors, illustrators and publishers and introduce kids to Canadian books which reflect a wide range of stories, information and perspectives. Read more about our relationship with Dyslexia Canada, KOBO and the work we are doing together.

Forest of Reading

 

The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane

Featured title for kids: The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane (Black Hollow Lane #1)

The first in an exciting new series, this suspenseful debut brings readers on a journey filled with secrets, mystery, and unforgettable characters. With a dad who disappeared years ago and a mother who's a bit too busy to parent, Emmy is shipped off to Wellsworth, a prestigious boarding school in England, where she's sure she won't fit in. But then she finds a box of mysterious medallions in the attic of her home—medallions that belonged to her father. Her father who may have gone to Wellsworth. When she arrives at school, she finds the strange symbols from the medallions etched into walls and books, which leads Emmy and her new friends, Jack and Lola, to Wellsworth's secret society: The Order of Black Hollow Lane. Emmy can't help but think that the society had something to do with her dad's disappearance, and that there may be more than just dark secrets in the halls of Wellsworth...

Read The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane

 

cover image of Bat and the waiting game (Boy called BAT. #2.)

Top five for kids

Most popular with kids last month:

  1. Bat and the waiting game (Boy called BAT. #2.) by Elana K. Arnold 
  2. Take a good look by Jacqueline Wilson
  3. Diary of a wimpy kid: the getaway (Diary of a wimpy kid. #12.) by Jeff Kinney
  4. Canada year by year by Elizabeth MacLeod
  5. Rosa by Nikki Giovanni

 

Acceleration

Top five for teens

Most popular with teens last month:

  1. Acceleration by Graham Mcnamee
  2. The Giver by Lois Lowry
  3. Sea Witch Rising by Sarah Henning
  4. With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
  5. Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens by Tanya Boteju

 

Website update: Human Narration and Transcription filters

In the coming weeks we will be making it easier for you to identify human narrated and human transcribed books. Information about audio narration and braille transcription will appear on the records in your search results list, underneath the formats for each book. There will also be a new filter which will allow you to limit your search results to those books which have human narration or are human transcribed braille. We will be sending out an email and will update our website updates page with more information as soon as this option is available.

 

Newspapers update

We continue to work with suppliers to add more newspapers to our collection. Reactivating password protection is an important part of the work we are doing in negotiating with suppliers to restore access to additional newspapers.

Logging in to access newspapers does not require an additional step. Once you log into your CELA account you will be able to access our newspapers, magazines and books in the same way you always have. Please remember to log out of your CELA account if you are using a public computer and to keep your account and password information confidential.

 

Holiday Hours

Our Contact Centre will be closed for Good Friday on April 10 and Easter Monday, April 13. We will reopen with regular hours on Tuesday April 14.

 

Service tip

We’ve put together a simple guide to help patrons wishing to explore digital options. Our guide will explain what devices you need, how to install EasyReader and how to download books. And we’re always here to help if you have questions.

 

Getting Together with Technology Group (GTT)

We are pleased to be forwarding information for our patrons with low vision or blindness who may be looking for additional support during COVID-19.

Canada’s Getting Together with Technology Group (GTT) has a series of plans to support Canadians who are blind and partially sighted learn how to stay safe through Social Distancing.  Plans include one-on-one telephone training sessions with weekly 90 minute open chat calls, as well as the already available GTTSupport email distribution list, WhatzApp Group, GTTProgram.Blog site and on Facebook.   

One-on-one sessions can also be facilitated should people need to learn how to download audiobooks from Canada’s accessible libraries, or to learn how to get sighted assistance through BeMyEyes and Aira services using smartphones and tablets.  

For more information about how to connect with GTT programs and services, please visit gttprogram.blog.

 

Stay connected!

Visit CELA's social media, including Twitter and Facebook for more news about what's happening in the world of accessible literature.

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