This guide and the resources included within are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license, except as otherwise noted. Questions and requests may be directed to Meaghan Shannon, Copyright Librarian at Queen's University: meaghan.shannon@queensu.ca.
It's important to note that there is a difference between a copy of a copyright-protected work and an alternate format of a copyright-protected work. A copy of a copyright-protected work essentially serves the same purpose as the copyright-protected work but acts as a substitute for the copyright-protected work. Producing an alternate format does involve reproducing a copyright-protected work, or content from it, but that alternate format is serving a very specific purpose for someone's individual accessibility-related needs, a purpose that the copyright-protected work cannot serve. Neither the Copyright Act nor the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act include a definition of 'alternate format' but section 32 of the Copyright Act, which addresses the production of alternate formats, includes the following wording: "a format specifically designed for persons with a perceptual disability". This wording recognizes that students' accessibility-related needs can vary widely and that there isn't one blanket alternate format that can possibly address all accessibility-related needs.
Students are encouraged to register with Queen's Student Accessibility Services (QSAS) so that individualized academic accommodations can be arranged. Queen's Student Accessibility Services (QSAS) will refer registered students with print disabilities to Library Accessibility Services so that alternate formats of textbooks, course readings, and research materials can be produced and provided. In order for alternate formats of textbooks, course readings, and research materials to be produced and provided, students will need to provide Library Accessibility Services with proof of purchase for those textbooks and agree not to reproduce, distribute, or communicate the produced and provided alternate formats by signing E-File Statement Agreements.