ABC Copyright Conference

The exception in the Copyright Act for persons with perceptual disabilities (section 32) recognizes fundamental human rights in the copyright regime, such as the rights to access works, to education, and to cultural participation. Libraries and other non-profit organizations work hard to ensure that accessible content can be made available to users with perceptual disabilities by producing and distributing works in the alternate formats their users need.  

However, understanding and navigating the requirements set forth by the Act is not always easy or simple and confusion about these requirements and fear of making a mistake can represent a major barrier to these organizations in fulfilling their mandate.

The presenters have put together Accessible Content: A guide to the Canadian Copyright Act on Searching for Accessible Formats and Producing and Distributing Alternate Formats to clear up this confusion and provide clear and easy to follow guidelines. This presentation will introduce the major copyright issues in accessible format production, provide some context on the creation of the guide and walk the audience through the guidelines.