Does any one know how students can borrow academic texts in alternative
formats preferably in electronic form? Do we have to contact each publisher
independently and buy the text or is there an organisation such as the
listening library that we could borrow through?
Mary
>From: Ian Francis <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: "Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff."
> <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: no alternative format from SAGE publications!
>Date: Thu, 8 May 2003 04:39:23 +0100
>
>It's shocking that publishers have not yet addressed this issue. Years
>ago we started hassling publishers to provide accessible copies of their
>titles for students - it just seemed such an artificial and unnecessary
>barrier to learning to have to scan or have someone read a book that
>already existed somewhere in electronic text form. One publisher quoted
>over £800.00 to convert a book into electronic form, saying they had to
>employ someone to re-type it.
>
>Could DDA/SEN legislation help? Universities are expected to make sure
>'disabled persons' are not placed at a 'substantial disadvantage' to
>'persons who are not disabled' in many areas of study. With all the
>assistive technology aids and personal readers you can fund from DSA I
>think it could be said that blind students are still at a 'substantial
>disadvantage' compared to sighted students in ability to browse and
>access library-based study resources (i.e. books!).
>
>Publishers might in the past have argued that they couldn't reasonably be
>expected to produce versions of all their titles in braille, large print
>or tape depending on the need of the student. I think it's now reasonable
>to assume to most students use, or can be expected to learn to use,
>assistive technology aids to access documents in electronic form. As
>publications must exist in machine-readable electronic text at some stage
>in production, this argument cannot now be valid.
>
>Tutors presented with a range of research materials of similar quality
>might be more inclined to set texts from publishers who make efforts to
>ensure accessible versions of their publications are available if they
>are made aware of the possible implications of DDA/SEN legislation. When
>tutors and libraries start to apply pressure, publishers might start to
>be more responsive.
>
>
>On 9 May 2003 at 12:51, Marcus Ormerod wrote:
>
> > Hi Andrew
> >
> > thanks for the quick response and I agree that one person cannot do much
>and
> > most other lecturers have probably not considered it. What miffed me
>most
> > was their casual attitude. If they had said that I could contact the
>editor
> > of the book to see if there was draft copy I would have been happier -
>not
> > ecstatic, but at least it would be workable solution. Do they really
>still
> > typeset at SAGE and not use any electronic publishing? I even suggested
>an
> > accessible pdf would be fine. I wanted to buy 10 copies immediately and
>then
> > possibly 15 per year thereafter - so it was in their interest to at
>least
> > humour me.
> >
> > the book did not contain numbers as it was a simple research book - but
>I
> > can recognise that you might want to feel the numbers. But I do not
>expect
> > any of my students to have to send a new book off to be taped, or put it
>on
> > a scanner.
> >
> > I am off to kill a few more giants before tea!
> >
> > cheers
> > marcus
> >
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