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Hi all I have only been in post as Additional Support librarian at the University of Sheffield for six months but during that time I have ordered about a dozen electronic versions of books for our students with disabilities from publishers such as Pearson, OUP, Bloomsbury, Cambridge UP, Routledge, Wiley and Harper Collins - they have all arrived within a week or so with no problems up to now. They have either been sent on a disk, as an attachment or a link to a download. They have all included copyright forms to sign. I have to admit that apart from telling the students that the electronic copy is for their personal use only I haven't got them to sign anything and this is something I am going to start doing. We have also registered with Load2Learn and Bookshare (Bookshare is similar to L2L but based in the US with mostly US titles) - I can send you the details of Bookshare if you wish? Through our University Disability Service we have also registered some of our students with L2L and Bookshare which means that students can search and download titles themselves without our direct involvement - they have to check first that the library has a copy of the title etc. Best wishes On 14 January 2015 at 15:37, MacKenzie, Sylvia <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hi > > > > We’ve been contacting publishers for accessible texts for our visually > impaired students for a few years now and have found most UK publishers to > be helpful in providing a PDF version, sometimes after signing a licence > agreement, restricting its use to the named VI student. > > > > Mostly the PDFs are provided free, but publishers, particularly, of law > titles, have often charged for an accessible copy e.g. Thomson Reuters and > this causes even more work dealing with invoices, setting up accounts for > the students to log into to access these titles etc. > > > > We’ve also had difficulties with US publishers, most of whom will only > deal with our Disability team, not librarians. They have also been required > to complete lengthy online forms and sometimes proof of purchase of the > print version has been necessary. > > > > I’ve attached a copy of one of our templates for requesting accessible > texts for VI students. > > > > Regards > > > > > > *From:* A general library and information science list for news and > discussion. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Tania Durt > *Sent:* 14 January 2015 11:50 > *To:* [log in to unmask] > *Subject:* Re: DSA Changes > > > > Hello, > > > > As part of the digitisation service we provide to students with special > needs we have been contacting publishers over the past 5 years or so and > have received PDFs for free whenever the publisher had them available. We > would only request publishers PDFs or Word documents for books that we have > available in the Library. > > As Susie Hastie mentions on her message this process takes quite some time. > > > > Last semester we had very good results with Bloomsbury, Sage, Routledge, > Cambridge University Press, Intellect Books, McGraw-Hill Education, Pan > Macmillan, Quercus Books. > > Some of them sent us CDs, the PDF via email or the FTP link. > > > > We also contacted a few publishing houses that never replied to us. > > > > Last semester we purchased a PDF from Hodder & Stoughton publishers as > they clearly told us we could not scan the book in house to provide it to > one of our students with special needs. > > > > The Open University Press also replied to one of our requests telling us > to purchase the PDF from their online shop. > > > > Regarding electronic resources, some of our students with special needs > have reported finding difficult to navigate through so on occasions we had > to digitise electronic resources for those students. > > > > Last semester we had a particular high number of requests and a result we > will be investigating options such as Load2learn. I would also like to know > more about how other institutions deal with requests from students with > special needs … so should be contacting you soon! > > > > Please see below the email template we use for contacting publishers. When > required we complete their specific form providing further details on the > specific student, course, etc. > > > > Dear Sir/Madam > > As part of the digitisation services we provide to students at University > of Roehampton, we are responsible for improving access to the library > holdings for our students with special needs. > > We have received a digitisation request from one of our students with > special needs for the following book(s) available in our collection: > > Author of the book: > > Title of the book: > > Year of publication: > > ISBN: > > Would it be possible for NAME PUBLISHER HERE to supply the item(s) in > WORD/Searchable PDF format? > > Yours sincerely, > > > > > > Best wishes, > > > > > > > *Tania Durt *Digitisation & Document Delivery Co-ordinator > Library Services > University of Roehampton | London | SW15 5SZ > [log in to unmask] | www.roehampton.ac.uk > Tel: +44 (0) 20 8392 8121 > Follow us on Twitter <http://www.twitter.com/RoehamptonUni> | Find us on > Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/roehampton.uni> > Join our circle on Google+ > <https://plus.google.com/b/110466050670991984102/110466050670991984102/about> > | Connect via LinkedIn > <http://www.linkedin.com/company/university-of-roehampton?trk=cp_followed_name_university-of-roehampton> > > > > > > *From:* A general library and information science list for news and > discussion. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Steve Bowman > *Sent:* 14 January 2015 09:36 > *To:* [log in to unmask] > *Subject:* DSA Changes > > > > Hi All, > > > > In reading through the impact assessment > <https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/392610/bis-14-1108-higher-education-disabled-students-allowances-equality-analysis-revised-16-12-2014.pdf> > for the proposed transfer of funding for DSAs from central government to > Universities, I came across the following statement (Para. 53); > > > > *Many publishers have agreed to make alternative formats of their > publications available to disabled students, online and at no cost. We wish > to see this facility used widely and routinely.* > > > > Has anyone come across this, as it seems contrary to the ethos of most > academic publishers! > > > > Many Thanks, > > > > Steve b. > > > > Stephen A Bowman BA(Hons) MA MSc FCLIP FHEA > > Deputy Librarian > > University of Chichester > > Bognor Regis Campus > > Upper Bognor Road > > Bognor Regis > > West Sussex > > PO21 1HR > > Tel: 01243 812082 > > This e-mail and any attachments are intended for the addressee only and > may be confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please advise > the sender as soon as practicable and delete the e-mail from the system. > The University of Chichester is a company limited by guarantee, registered > in England and Wales. Registration number 4740553. The registered office is > College Lane, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 6PE. > > > Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really > need to. > ------------------------------ > > This email and any attachments are confidential and intended solely for > the addressee and may also be privileged or exempt from disclosure under > applicable law. If you are not the addressee, or have received this e-mail > in error, please notify the sender immediately, delete it from your system > and do not copy, disclose or otherwise act upon any part of this email or > its attachments. > > Internet communications are not guaranteed to be secure or virus-free. > University of Roehampton does not accept responsibility for any loss > arising from unauthorised access to, or interference with, any Internet > communications by any third party, or from the transmission of any viruses. > > Any opinion or other information in this e-mail or its attachments that > does not relate to the business of University of Roehampton is personal to > the sender and is not given or endorsed by University of Roehampton. > > University of Roehampton is the trading name of Roehampton University, a > company limited by guarantee incorporated in England under number 5161359. > Registered Office: Grove House, Roehampton Lane, London SW15 5PJ. An exempt > charity. > > Glasgow Caledonian University is a registered Scottish charity, number > SC021474 > -- Angela Greenwood Library Services and Diversity Manager Health Sciences Library The Medical School University of Sheffield Beech Hill Road S10 2RX 0114 2227204 [log in to unmask] Voted number one for student experience Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2014-2015