Accessible Digital Books - Support for Organizations

Canadian Heritage Funding Page

Up to $100,000 for a 1-year project.

Examples of eligible projects include technology projects that seek to improve discoverability and access to accessible digital books in Canadian libraries or on existing or new sales platforms.

Example Case:

We propose to put all digital books on one big, very fast cluster of computers built with proven tech taken from AltaVista and Google. We will use our software, which has been in active use for decades by museums around the world.

As a success metric, we will have 10 people time 10 people to measure how long it takes from the beginning of a search to reading a page. We will record the median, mean, and range. We will then run the same test with our software and expect a 100-1000% improvement in speed.

Behind the scenes, library staff will be trained to add, change, and delete entries. The system can be replicated across the country in smaller, lower-cost versions and kept in sync with the master computer. A dedicated internet connection is not required, keeping costs low for branch libraries.

As a pilot, we will work with the main Toronto Public Library and a small library in the town of Madoc.

We will train libraries across the country. There could also be an annual live conference to share tips and tricks, as the software is extremely versatile.

The marketing campaign will target...