Accessibility

All Wellington County Library branches are compliant with the County of Wellington's accessibility standards.

• Accessible entrances, collections, computer access, and circulation desks at all locations
• Accessible washrooms at all locations
• Alternate formats available upon request from County Communications
• Alternate formats for reading material when possible

For questions about a specific location, please speak to library staff. Service animals are welcome at all branches.

To be considered a service animal under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disability Act, at least one of the following two conditions must be met:

• Easy to identify the service animal (wearing a guide dog vest) 
• The person with the service animal provides documentation from a regulated health professional

If we are not sure if an animal is a pet or service animal, we will ask to see documentation.

Patrons are responsible for the care and supervision of their service animal. Service animals are expected to be well behaved in the library (on leash and quiet). Fellow library patrons are asked to avoid touching or addressing a service animal. 

Our public computers can be accessed by anyone. Computer workstations are wheelchair accessible, and some computers are equipped with Zoomtext keyboards and software. For assistance, please speak to library staff.

Large Print Collections

Large print books have a larger font size and more white space, perfect for readers who find regular print difficult. Both adult fiction and nonfiction titles are available.

Audiobooks

Enjoy CD and digital recordings of popular fiction and nonfiction books for all ages. For readers without a device of their own, portable media players called Playaways are pre-loaded and ready to use. For younger readers, there are Wonderbooks and Yotos. Digital audiobooks can be accessed through OverDrive or the Libby app.

Braille Books for Children

We offer a small collection of children's fiction material in Braille format books.

eBooks

Download books to your personal device with the ability to adjust the font, typeface, spacing and screen brightness. This includes dyslexic-friendly font.

DVDs

Many DVDs offer descriptive audio narration and closed-captioned videos with subtitles that can be seen with a closed-captioned decoder. This function is usually found in the DVD's menu.

Tactile and sensory items can be comforting to an autistic individual and can help them avoid a sensory meltdown or a shutdown. Please ask staff for the kit as needed for use in the library.

DAISY discs are specifically designed for use by people with print disabilities, including blindness, impaired vision, and dyslexia. Based on the MP3 and XML formats, the DAISY format has advanced navigation features in addition to those of a traditional audiobook. Information encoded on DAISY discs can only be played on DAISY readers.

Wellington County Library has five Victor Stratus DAISY readers and a circulating collection of DAISY discs available for a three-week loan period. Our collection of DAISY discs comes from the Centre for Equitable Library Access (click here to visit CELA's website).  We currently have over 300 titles of popular adult fiction and nonfiction and each title is on a single disc. Click here to explore our DAISY collection.

Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA) is a national non-profit organization that provides alternate format collections to library users with print disabilities. A print disability can be a learning disability, a physical disability, or a visual disability. Disabilities can be self-identified to access this service.

CELA offers a broad choice of formats including books, magazines, newspapers and described videos for all ages. Borrowed items are sent directly to your home and are returned via a Canada Post mailbox free-of-charge.

Registrants require a valid Wellington County Library card. To self-register for CELA, click here to access the web form. For assistance, please contact library staff by email at celaregistration@wellington.ca.

If you have questions about your existing CELA account, contact their Help Desk available Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 7:30 pm. 

E help@celalibrary.ca P 1.855.655.2273

All library branches have magnifying sheets available for use upon request.

Click here to access the County of Wellington accessibility policy.

19. (1) Every obligated organization that is a library board shall provide access to or arrange for the provision of access to accessible materials where they exist.

(2)  Obligated organizations that are library boards shall make information about the availability of accessible materials publicly available and shall provide the information in accessible format or with appropriate communication supports, upon request.

(3)  Obligated organizations that are library boards may provide accessible formats for archival materials, special collections, rare books and donations.

(4)  Obligated organizations that are library boards shall meet the requirements of this section by January 1, 2013.

(5)  For the purposes of this section, “library board" means a board as defined in the Public Libraries Act, a public library service established under the Northern Services Boards Act or a county library established under the County of Lambton Act, 1994, being chapter Pr31 of the Statutes of Ontario, 1994, the County of Elgin Act, 1985, being chapter Pr16 of the Statutes of Ontario, 1985, or The County of Lennox and Addington Act, 1978 , being chapter 126 of the Statutes of Ontario, 1978.