Notes from our national conference call on the NNELS service for libraries.
March 11, 2015.
Posted by Kim Kilpatrick
GTT Coordinator.
More than 15 people were joined on the call by Sabina from NNELS.
NNELS stands for National Network for equitable library service.
Sabina works on the support side of NNELS. She assists people who have difficulties with the web site. She also provides training for public libraries about what NNELS is and what it does.
NNELS is for anyone who cannot read a physical book.
You can access their services yourself from their web site or ask your local library staff to assist you in getting materials.
The web site for NNELS is
NNELS is currently available in the following provinces.
British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia. and 3 territories.
If you live in Ontario, New Brunswick, PEI or Newfoundland you cannot access NNELS.
if y ou do want to get in touch with Sabina, you can always reach her by e-mailing support@nnels.ca
You can e-mail her and tell her that you wish to get into NNELS. She can keep these e-mails when they pitch the service to other provinces or groups..
To be eligible for NNELS, you have to have some disability which prevents you from reading regular text.
When you go to the NNELS site for the first time, you can type in home library and your home community name.
People in the provinces that are not covered yet, you can access the service but only public domain books.
You can ask your provincial libraries to open up to NNELS.
NNELS is just a year old.
They currently have around 10 thousand books. They ask publishers if they can share books. These books are usually shared in pub or rich text formats. NNELS does pay some narrators to read some books. These are mostly Canadian fiction.
The Crane library from UBC will also record books for NNELS and has given NNELS access to many of the books they have recorded.
Some people have volunteered to read books for NNELS.
Sabina told us about the librevox collection of recorded audio books. This started in Montreal The books are recorded by volunteers. There is also an app for the iPhone for Librevox. These books are mostly in the public domain as are books from project gutenberg.
You can belong to both CELA and NNELS. You can request books you cannot find from NNELS. They try to get the books for you as quickly as they can but they are a very small staff..
Someone pointed out that NNELS has excellent video tutorials on youtube.
You can open books in the iPhone app voice dream reader.
NNELS also has tutorials on their web site.
If your library staff do not know about NNELS and want to know more about the services, tell them to contact Sabina.
If you aren’t sure what formats the books come in and how to play them on your computer or device, contact Sabina.
There are only four staff working for NNELS.
NNELS does not have a relationship with BOOKSHARE.
They do not produce BRF files.
Would they scan a print book for you? Possibly.
Is NNELS a charity? No publicly funded.
They do not at the present time accept donations.
If you have a rush request for a NNELS book, let Sabina know.
They have very few books in French.
We discussed the Merikesh treaty. This would enable people who are blind or have low vision all over the world, all be able to access materials from all libraries and publishers. This treaty is through the World Intellectual, property organization.
Here are some links to youtube videos about this.
Our next conference call will be held on Wednesday April 8 and the topic will be BOOKSHARE.
GTT Program blog and resources 