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Procedure regarding Books-on-Tape and Alternative Text Format
Alternate Text Format Information
Students
have the responsibility
to inform the Disability Services Office of the course and text that is
needed in alternate format.
Students with a diagnosed learning disability,
visual impairment or physical disability may qualify for receiving
textbooks in an alternate format.
Eligibility for this accommodation is determined on a
case-by-case basis and students must be able to demonstrate a
substantial visual, learning or physical disability, which requires
alternate materials.
Students are responsible for submitting textbook information to the
Disability Services Office as soon as it is available, or as soon as
they register for classes.
Typically, 4-6 weeks notice is required to obtain some
types of alternate formats for texts. Late requests will result in a
delay in providing materials.
The Disability Services Office will make every attempt to
provide materials as promptly as possible.
Reasonable accommodations depend on the nature and severity
of the documented disability.
While the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires
that priority consideration be given to the specific methods
requested by the student, it does not imply that a particular
accommodation must be granted if it is deemed not reasonable and
other suitable techniques are available.
Please read the procedures below:
There are several ways to obtain alternative
text. Before asking
Disability Services to scan your textbook which involves cutting off
the binding of your book, please check the following web sites to
see if you can download an electronic version of your text:
Web
sites to check for E-text:
·
The website,
www.bookshare.org
http://www.bookshare.org/web/ AboutIndividualSubscriptions.html
U.S. students can request a free membership online through the
new federal funding for student access to Bookshare.org.
Books and periodicals from Bookshare.org contain the full
text of the publication (not pre-recorded audio) that can be read
with the adaptive technology of the reader's choice. A talking
software application is included with membership, providing members
with one option for reading the books.
·
Project Gutenberg – has a
collection of 20,000 free electronic books in the public domain (no
longer under copyright). Good source for classic literature and
public documents. Go to
http://promo.net/pg /
to explore this website.
·
Check the Library of Congress
at
http://lcweb.loc.gov/
a. Click on
Search our catalog
b.
Click on Alternative interface search (lower right of screen)
c.
Do general search
d.
Continue with specific libraries as necessary
·
The Blind Bookworm:
The blind bookworm icon is named Milton, an acronym for
the developer’s
pet project, Media Integrating literature and technology on the net.
Milton’s purpose is to offer resources for visually impaired
readers and digital bookworms.
At this site pages include links to accessible audio books,
e-text and e-books.
http://www.panix.com/~kestrell/sources.html
·
Check for e-text at
netLibrary
http://www.netlibrary.com/
·
Check for e-text at
University of Virginia’s E-Book Library
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/
Contains approximately 70,000 on and off-line humanities
texts in 12 languages and much more.
·
Online Books Page:
This site is hosted by the University of Pennsylvania and
contains thousands of online books freely readable on the internet.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books
·
www.Bartleby.com
provides free access to classical literature, reference works,
non-fiction and verse.
·
www.tiflolibros.com provides
e-text books in Spanish and other languages.
·
The International Electronic Braille
Library offers downloadable Braille books at
www.braille.org/braille_books
·
American Printing House for the
Blind: www.aph.org
(Braille, large print, sound recording)
·
Search on Google and Microsoft which
provide digitized copies of books from various library collections.
Google:
http://books.google.com
and Microsoft:
http://search.live.com
·
Another site for links to
e-text is Banned Books
http://www.tnellen.com/school/books.html
·
The Kutztown University Library is
running a trial of a major electronic books vendor:
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/kutztown
It included over
40,000 academic titles in 16 disciplines *ebrary has an audio reader
·
Additional sites to check:
http://www.assistivemedia.org
http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/
http://www.braillelibrary.org/
(Braille only)
http://www.classicreader.com/
http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/books
http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/publications/digitext.html
http://www.ipl.org/
http://www.loc.gov/nls/
http://www.literature.org/
http://classics.mit.edu/
http://www.booksaloud.org
·
www.Textbooks.com
offers a feature to search for available e-books for purchase.
·
Explore TextAloud
at www.TextAloud.com
which has an additional feature allowing the student to
convert large batches of files to audio on an iPod.
Free Downloads for Screen Readers:
www.Readplease.com
http://www.nextup.com
www.naturalreader.com
www.etextreader.com
http://www.download.com/E-Text-Reader-IGT/3000-2279 4-10285673.html
http://www.cross-plus-a.com/balabolka.htm
http://www.spokentext.net/
SpokenText.net allows you to record PDF, Word,
plain text, PowerPoint files, RSS news feeds, emails and web pages,
and converts them to speech automatically.
You can download you recording as an iPod book or mp3file.
·
Text Scanning and Application
of Synthetic Voice Output Software:
If a student is unable to download an electronic
version of a text, the student may bring the purchased textbook to
Disability Services and sign an agreement to allow the office to get
the binding sliced off, scan the textbook and download it to a CD
which is provided on loan.
In order to get voice output, download a free version of
software at:
www.Readplease.com
or other sites and apply it to the text document or use another
software program such as the Daisy program that is provided by
Bookshare.org or may be purchased from Recordings for the Blind and
Dyslexic. The print shop
may either tape or spiral bind the textbook after scanning.
Students will pick up the rebound text in the Disability
Services Office. At the end of the semester, the student will return
the text on CD to the Disability Services Office.
The bookstore does not receive rebound texts for resale.
“Read & Write Gold” by TextHelp
http://www.readwritegold.com/read&writeguidedtour.html
and
“Key to Access” by Premier Assistive Technology,
www.readingmadeeasy.com
are two other software programs that provide voice output as
well as other functions.
Sources of
Audio Books
Audible
n
www.audible.com
Commercial books on tape
n
www.amazon.com
RFB&D
Procedure for Requesting Texts on CD from
Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D):
·
Obtain the texts that are required by
either going on-line to the KU Bookstore Web site or calling the
secretary or professor in the department office for the text
information.
·
Forward to the Disability Services
Office the course name and number as well as the title, author,
publisher, edition and year of the text that you would like ordered
by Disability Services. Go to the Disability Services Web site:
www.kutztown.edu/admin/humandiversity/disabilityservices /
to complete the form for text orders. CDs from RFB&D have
been recorded with a natural voice.
Every student is responsible for the pick-up
and return of his/her text on CDs from the Disability Services
Office. If
Disability Services has ordered CDs for you and they have not been
picked up within two weeks of being notified, then the CDs will be
returned to RFB&D.
·
Individual membership is now
free to individuals with
proper certification,
http://www.rfbd.org/certification.htm
For more information call RFB&D Customer Service at (800)
221-4792 or check the Web site at
www.RFBD.org. The
texts on CD from RFB&D can be played on a Victor CD player, or
accessed by software sold from RFB&D.
Visit www.RFBD.org
for information on how to access their CDs
·
The Rohrbach Library has
a room on the second floor called the Assistive Technology Center,
Room 204. There is
software called Wynn Wizard on three (3) PCs in that room.
Wynn provides voice output and also has additional features
including the ability to highlight main points and print a set of
notes, as well as to create more space between the lines or click on
a word to get the definition. The student scans a textbook page by
page, or inserts a CD and listens to the voice as the cursor moves
along the page. The Open
Book program and CCTV’s are also available in that room.
See Joanne Bucks in Room 203, Rohrbach Library, for
assistance in the Assistive Technology Center.
If a student would like a peer helper please call the
Disability Services Office at 610-683-4108
·
Electronic text from the
publisher provided to the student on CD.
Requesting e-text directly from a publisher may take up
to a month to obtain, if available.
Disability Services will check with the publisher in lieu of
scanning the textbook in the office, however, the student is
responsible for submitting the textbook information on-line using
the form at the Disability Services Web site at
www.kutztown.edu/admin/humandiversity/disabilityservices/
as soon as the textbook information is available. Please note
in the comment box that you are requesting a CD from the publisher.
After receipt of the CD or e-text from the publisher, the student
then applies his/her software program for voice output.
Students are required to
verify that they have purchased a print copy of the text. CD’s are
returned to the Disability Services Office at the end of the
semester.
Contacts for organizations:
RFB&D
Independent Living Aids
20 Roszel Road
27 East Mall
Princeton,
NJ 08540
Plainview, NY
11903
www.rfbd.org
www.independentliving.com
1-800-221-4792
1-800-537-2118
Maxi Aids
Lighthouse Enterprises
42 Executive Boulevard
Consumer Products Division
Farmingdale, NY
11735
111 East 59th Street
www.maxiaids.com
New York,
NY 10022
1-800-522-6294
1-800-829-0500
Sight
Connection
Library of Congress
www.sightconnection.com
Email:
nls@loc.gov
email:
csbstore@csbps.com
1291 Taylor Street, NW
1-800-458-4888
Washington, DC
20542
Please call the Disability Services Office at
610-683-4108 with any questions you may have.
PR 1/10
alternate text revised
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