ACE! A New Scholars Portal Service

  • Posted on: 28 January 2014
  • By: Anika

OCUL’s Scholars Portal has a new core service, the Accessible Content E-Portal, otherwise know as ACE. This growing repository of accessible texts is now available as part of the Scholars Portal Books platform to users with print disabilities at OCUL institutions across Ontario.
 
Scholars Portal’s ACE service is focused on advancing equality for library users with print disabilities. The repository aims to make Ontario’s university library collections accessible, enhancing user access to a diverse body of library materials. To date the repository contains over 1,350 texts available in five accessible formats (2 types of PDFs, Text, DAISY and ePub).
 

From pilot to service

Born of a pilot project partnership between University of Toronto and the Ontario Council of University Libraries, the ACE repository has been developed over the past year and is now a core service available to all of OCUL’s 21 member institutions. The 2013 pilot project was made possible through the support of the Government of Ontario’s EnAbling Change program.
 
The repository has also benefited from the involvement of 9 pilot institutions, the Internet Archive Canada and the expertise and generous feedback of librarians, accessibility specialists, and library users with disabilities across the province. In 2014 the number of OCUL institutions using the repository continues to grow.

Learn more about the Pilot Project

 

2014 and beyond

What lies ahead for ACE?

  • Continuing to build the repository holdings and assisting OCUL libraries support their users with print disabilities
  • Further integration with the Scholars Portal Books platform, including integration with the existing institutional entitlements system
  • Functional improvements to the repository interface
  • Close collaboration with the ACE user advisory group and the newly formed OCUL Accessibility Community
  • Contributing to an increased level of awareness and advocacy by strengthening accessibility partnerships across Canada.

 

More information

Additional information about ACE at www.ocul.on.ca/node/2192

To learn more please contact ace [at] scholarsportal.info

Download PDF of full announcement