Alternative formats service

We understand that alternative formats for readings can be helpful to all, however the alternative formats service is only available to students with print disabilities due to copyright restrictions. The University provides access to a range of productivity software that can help you make material more accessible. This includes screen readers and text-to-speech software. My computer my way is also an excellent tool for helping you set up your device in the way that is most suited to your needs.

A person with a print disability could be someone who is blind or partially sighted, has a learning disability or a physical disability where they are unable to hold a book.

Visit the RNIB Bookshare website for more information on print disabilities.

How it works

Your need for alternative formats will be first discussed with a Disability Advisor and this need will then be documented on your Learning Support Plan.

If you have a Learning Support Plan that includes the need for alternative formats, Student Disability Services will contact us on your behalf and introduce us to you. Your Learning and Research Librarian will work with the relevant lecturers from your course to obtain a list of the readings you'll need.

Once we have your core readings, we will do our best to source accessible copies of the required readings. These are the formats you can expect:

• An accessible commercial e-book will be provided wherever possible.
• A scan through the CLA scanning service that's made available on your Blackboard.
• An accessible Word or PDF file, provided either through RNIB Bookshare or a publisher request.
• If the reading is not available via the above routes, then we will scan the document ourselves into an accessible Word or PDF format.

To be able to provide an accessible format of a text, the library must own a copy of the resource.