2020/2021 National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS) Publisher Projects

These projects are funded in part by a grant from the Government of Canada’s Social Development Partnerships Program – Disability Component. Publishers are invited to apply for the new projects, and/or get in touch about having us purchase your books. Read about the projects below; you will also find links to the applications.

Partnering with NNELS for Ebook Accessibility

We want to hear from Canadian publishers who are interested in partnering with us to work toward ebook accessibility. Whether we have worked with you before, or this is your first time hearing about us, we would love to hear from you! Publishers of any size are welcome to sign up.

For this project, we will partner our accessibility advisors with publishers. We will provide accessibility assessments and evaluations of EPUBs, and re-evaluate revised files. Publishers will learn how to make better ebooks, and we will work with you to learn about your publishing workflow! This will allow us to develop and refine our recommendations for publishers, and improve the accessible publishing landscape in Canada.

Publishers who wish to be a part of this project should be open to modifying their workflow in order to make their books more accessible.

If you have never made an EPUB, you are still welcome to apply for the project, as long as you would like to give it a try, with a team of accessibility experts on your side!

If you have any questions, please contact our Accessible Publishing & Resources Coordinator, Leah Brochu at info@accessiblepublishing.ca.

Deadline to Apply: November 20, 2020
 

Braille for Forthcoming Publications

Our Braille Coordinator is looking for publishers who would like to see a new title be available  in braille, at the same time as print publication. In order to be considered for this project, the story line or core concepts of potential book candidates should not be heavily reliant on pictures, images, or graphs. Potential books can have illustrative material as long as the text, as written, can be fully understood without viewing the images. To make the production possible, the publisher will need to provide us with electronic files (PDF, DOC, or EPUB) of the title a minimum of 6-8 weeks in advance of the release date.

If you have publications planned with release dates falling between November, 2020 and March, 2021, that you think would be suitable for this project, please apply. Please note that, while we are excited to produce as many books as possible, time and budget constraints may not allow us to work with every publisher who applies.

If you have any questions, please contact our Accessible Publishing & Resources Coordinator, Leah Brochu at info@accessiblepublishing.ca.

Deadline to Apply: November 20, 2020
 

Purchasing from Canadian Publishers

We are once again able to purchase ebooks and audiobooks and make them available to eligible users (readers with print disabilities) through our catalogue. Content purchased for the NNELS collection is licensed under an unlimited, perpetual use license and is DRM-free, so it can be consumed by various readers and devices. Access to our collection is limited to eligible readers who have print disabilities — the general public does not have access. Generally, we purchase content at retail price.

We are able to purchase from DeMarque, eBOUND, and directly from publishers; we would also be interested in talking to other Canadian distributors.

For more information, please contact our Accessible Publishing & Resources Coordinator, Leah Brochu at info@accessiblepublishing.ca.

Deadline to Apply: January 31st, 2021