Online accessibility tools

There are a number of tools available to people with accessibility issues. Details of these can be found below.

The University has signed up to RNIB’s Bookshare service. The service is available to all staff and students of the University who have a qualifying print disability that means traditional paper based resources are a barrier to daily activities. This includes students and colleagues with dyslexia, ADHD, visual impairment, certain physical disabilities and students on the autistic spectrum. Bookshare intends to ’open up the world of reading in education for learners with a print disability’ by providing access to a collection of digital texts in a variety of accessible formats, with some of these texts not available digitally on any other platform. It currently has 984,374 titles available and the collection continues to grow. The texts can be read in a variety of different ways via PC, android devices, iPads, Kindles or using apps such as the Dolphin EasyReader.  Different formats are also available with most books being available in the following Word, PDF, ePub, DAISY, MP3 or digital braille.

Further information about who is eligible for Bookshare is available on the RNIB website. Students interested in accessing the service should please email SWAI via studentinclusion@lboro.ac.uk  For staff interested in accessing the service, please contact the Library.

University staff and students have access to a self-service inclusive technology tool called Sensus Access. This tool allows staff, students, and researchers to make resources more accessible by converting documents into a range of alternate media including audio books (MP3 and DAISY), e-books (EPUB, EPUB3 and Mobi) and digital Braille. The service can also be used to convert inaccessible documents such as image-only PDF files and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations into more accessible and less tricky formats. 

There are some restrictions on how Sensus Access can be used due to copyright legislation, if you have authored/produced the document and own the copyright then you are able to convert it as you see fit but if this is not the case and it is copyrighted item eg. a scanned chapter from a published book, then there are restrictions on changing the format, e.g. from print to digital or digital to audio. An amendment has been made to the Copyright Licence for those with print disabilities, which can cover visual impairments, a physical disability that means handling books is difficult or a learning disability, such as dyslexia, autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The amendment allows those with these disabilities to change the format of the material to make it accessible, for example by converting text resources into audio.

Details on how to use Sensus Access along with the restrictions are detailed on the Library webpages.

There is a range of assistive technology which can be accessed for free by Loughborough University Students. If you need help with downloading the assistive technology or how to make it work, please get in contact with IT services by making an appointment with IT Services at the PC Clinic appointment in the library by calling 01509 222333 or email IT.Services@lboro.ac.uk.

Have a look at IT Services webpage for more information about the assistive technology.

The Library provides access to a large number of online resources to support learning, teaching and research. There is an A to Z list detailing these online resources on our webpage and, where available, we link to information the publisher or supplier provide in relation to the accessibility of the resource.