The provision of material to public library patrons in alternate format is set out in specific exemptions of the Copyright Act.  We provide a brief statement on the About Alternate Format Productions

The full form of the exemption is below. Patrons and libraries can ask NNELS questions about this topic anytime to deal with certain cases and concerns for fair and equitable access to any library material any patron chooses.  

Copyright Act of Canada Section 32.

Reproduction in alternate format

(1) It is not an infringement of copyright for a person with a perceptual disability, for a person acting at the request of such a person or for a non-profit organization acting for the benefit of such a person to

(a) make a copy or sound recording of a literary, musical, artistic or dramatic work, other than a cinematographic work, in a format specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability;

(b) translate, adapt or reproduce in sign language a literary or dramatic work, other than a cinematographic work, in a format specially designed for persons

(c) perform in public a literary or dramatic work, other than a cinematographic work, in sign language, either live or in a format specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability.

Limitation

(2) Subsection (1) does not authorize the making of a large print book.

Limitation

(3) Subsection (1) does not apply where the work or sound recording is commercially available in a format specially designed to meet the needs of any person referred to in that subsection, within the meaning of paragraph (a) of the definition “commercially available”.