Dear all,
Back in May, I posted the following question to the mailing list.
Does anyone know of a supplier of audio books for the H.E. environment? I'm specifically interested in History books, but not 'popular' History (the books have to be suitable for undergraduate
History). The request has come from a couple of dyslexic students who find audio books much easier to use that printed
I had some really useful replies and the general consensus was that there weren’t many audio books around. Most people suggested providing ebooks in more accessible formats,
for example using Read Aloud facility.
I’ve pasted in the replies I received, which you may find useful. Many thanks to all who took the time to contact me!
Rachel
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I’m not sure how many responses you have received, but you should find that most eBooks are suitable for screen readers to use. So if your library has a subscription to any eBooks, or if you have purchased the
print version you are entitled to the accessible file for free (that’s the accessibility policy at T&F).
I hope this information is useful.
If you download the Dawsonera Ebooks and play them using Adobe Reader, Adobe Reader includes a feature called ‘Read Aloud’ which is invoked when you select some text and press <control> <shift> <Y> keys at the
same time.
I suggest that you have a look at the
Alternative Formats information from JISC TechDis:
http://www.jisctechdis.ac.uk/techdis/pages/detail/floating_pages/Alternative_Formats If you can identify certain key texts that the students are recommended to “read”, you can check the Publisher Look Up facility to see if they have already digitised
the text (or you can request it). Most digitised texts will have a text-to-speech option (though this will not be as pleasant to listen to as a true audio book, it should be OK in chunks). If you are supporting dyslexic students, I would commend browsing
the JISC TechDis website – there is a lot of excellent material there!
Cambridge University Press
We don't publish audio books specifically, but all of our eBooks (which includes the greater part of our History list at HE level) have Read Aloud functionality when purchased
via ebooks.com or on the Cambridge Books Online platform to which colleges can subscribe. If Rachel would like more specific information, we'll be happy to provide.
Kevin Taylor, Director of Legal Services and Governance,
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Palgrave Macmillan
PalMac doesn’t supply audiobooks, but does have e-books available via Coursesmart and Palgrave Connect - which may help. Alternatively we can license file supply via the university.
Clare Hodder, Head of Rights, PalMac,
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I am afraid I don’t know of a supplier - under these circumstances we would produce an audio version of the books the student needed in house – provided we held
them in the library. The other option would be for the students to use text to speech software to access PDF or Word versions of the books, but that obviously requires the book being scanned and saved electronically first.
Rachel Browning
M.A.
Academic Liaison Librarian
Tremough Campus Library, Treliever Rd,
Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9EZ
Direct Line: 01326 253796
Internal Line: 2796
Falmouth Exeter Plus is a partnership between University College Falmouth and the
University of Exeter whose shared Higher Education services we deliver in Cornwall.