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Adapt and Conquer! Students with Disabilities
What's New? October 2009
The Auraria Library subscribes to lots of Gale databases including Academic One File, General Business File ASAP, Contemporary Authors, Gale Virtual Reference Library and many more. Her are some new, voice features for students who do not read conventional text....
Recordings For The Blind (RFB&D) Mountains and Plains Chapter invites you to join them along with Honorary Chairman and Denver Poet Laureate, Chris Ransick, as they hold their annual Colorado Authors' Day on October 28. The event will take place at the local Colorado Boulevard recording studio location from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Books written and read by authors from all over the state will be featured at this event, and for the first time in the history of RFB&D Colorado Authors' Day, the event will also feature writing workshops open to the public (depending on availability). For more information contact mliddiard@rfbd.org
What's New? September 2009
The Department of Modern Languages Computer Lab and Multi-Media Center is equipped with thirty five PC's. With fast Internet connectivity, students can gain information from the World Wide Web very quickly in any language. The multi-media center features ready access for handicapped students. This includes large video monitors, easy access, and other ADA recognized features. If you are taking a language class, check out the facility which is located in Plaza Building Room 115.
What's New? August 2009
What's New? June 2009
Baltimore, Maryland (June 25, 2009): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) filed suit today against Arizona State University (ASU) to prevent the university from deploying Amazon’s Kindle DX electronic reading device as a means of distributing electronic textbooks to its students because the device cannot be used by blind students. Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “Given the highly-advanced technology involved, there is no good reason that Amazon’s Kindle DX device should be inaccessible to blind students. Amazon could have used the same text-to-speech technology that reads e-books on the device aloud to make its menus accessible to the blind, but it chose not to do so.
The Auraria Library has acquired a new DVD set, Idioms and phrases in American Sign Language. This five DVD series is excellent for deaf students as well as interpreters, teachers, and parents. Idioms cover all facets of everyday life and include both silent, written, and sign language equivalents. Film and Video HV2474. I35 2008 (5 DVD set)
What's New? April 2009
The Auraria Library has added several hundred more screen-readable e-books from Greenwood Press. Each title can be found in the library's catalog. You can also do a sample search at http://tinyurl.com/d2h5ft.
What's New? March 2009
In 2009 the L3 Literacy Lab at the Center for Hearing, Speech and Language will be open to adults during the day and after school for younger students. Visitors will have access to software such as: FastForWord, a remarkable program to increase reading levels; Interactive Metronome, a computer program which coordinates headphones, hand and foot sensors, and music to improve motor planning, sequencing, and timing skills; the Brain Fitness Program to address processing changes that occur with age; and L.A.C.E., a listening and auditory enhancement training computer program. For more information about upcoming dates and times, check the website at www.chsl.org.
100,000 Digitized Books!
The Auraria Library recently made available 100,000 digitized books through its online catalog, Skyline. These books can be accessed directly from the catalog. The Auraria Library was the first library in the nation to load these books. The books are open-access so anybody can read them.
Reserve Readings in the Library
For years, professors have been sharing their favorite readings with students through the library's reserve program. By now, many of those readings are photocopies-of-photocopies-of-photocopies. This isn't all that great for sighted students but it is really bad for those using screen readers. Since professors don't use reading software, I am sure they have no idea. You can help spread the word by letting your instructors know that if they plan to share readings, a high-quality electronic article is better than a physical copy and that HTML or Word is easier for remote access than PDF.
Services
The Auraria Library can show you how to use the adaptive technology of your choice to find books, articles, and more. Don’t be handicapped by ignorance! Easy one-hour tutoring sessions are available as well as individual research appointments for specific topics or assignments.
Other Services: Pulling books and materials, reading tables of contents or sample chapters, orienteering in the library, remote access support, and phone reference including Relay Colorado phone reference. After Hours computer with adaptive software and Magnavision are available in the library. Photocopying assistance is available at the Clicks! Center in the library. The Access Center and other computer labs can also help convert PDF files into Word or HTML.
Services we cannot provide: Reading service, scanning or conversion of hard copy materials, or audio recording of materials. The Auraria Library offers services to Auraria students registered with the Access Center, Disability Resources, and the Disability Office. We cannot offer academic support services to the general public.
Auraria Library Website Shortcuts for Jaws, Voice Over, and other Text to Speech Screen Reading Software:
A Beginning Guide
At the library home page http://library.auraria.edu navigate to the first edit box captioned “search the library’s web site”. All the shortcuts listed below begin at this box.
Audio books At the library home page http://library.auraria.edu go to the box captioned “search the library’s website”. Enter the word “eaudiobooks” (spelled as one word) in the edit box and hit the “go” button. Select the link titled “audiobooks.html” Next, click on the link for Net Library digital eaudiobooks”. On the Net Library page select the link “eaudiobooks”. There will be a pull down menu to select the type of search you want—title, author, keyword or subject. For example, select author and enter Asimov, Isaac. Select the book you want to read and click on “download this eaudiobook”. You are all set! You will even have a choice of CD quality or radio quality.
E-Books from Net Library (you provide the sound with your screen reader) Follow the instructions above. When you arrive at the Net Library page you will hear “basic search”. There is a pull-down menu to select the type of search you want—author, title, subject, or keyword. Enter your search. Select the book you want to read and click on the link for “view this ebook”. Just as with a hard copy title, you may not find the book you are looking for because the library has not purchased it. It does not mean you are searching incorrectly. Net Library also has a link to free e-books and to some electronic full text journals.
Print Books (shortcut in progress)
Magazine and Journal Articles A database called Academic Search Premier, an Ebsco product, is a good starting place to perfect your skills. It is a very user friendly,multi-topic index and has lots of full text, much of it in text-reader-friendly HTML format. Begin at the library home page at the edit box captioned “search the library’s website”. Type Academic Search Premier and hit the go button or enter key. Go to the link provided to open the database. Select “preferences” and turn off “display auto complete keyword search suggestions”. Get out of the preference box. Listen for the word “Find”. It will be followed by an edit box (search box). After entering the search term of your choice the cursor will take you to a pull down menu called “select a field”. Just ignore this—leave it at its default setting and skip over it to continue. There will be two more free text edit boxes just like the first. In total, you can enter up to three keywords or search terms. Because they are linked with the word “and” it will make a cohesive search. When you have entered up to 3 terms, you can tab forward to “refine search” and “limit your results”. There is a box you will want to mark for full text. Hit the “search” button when you are ready. Magazine and journal articles will pop up in bibliographic format. You will hear the article’s author, the article title, the journal in which it appeared, and so forth. After the bibliographic entry there will be a link captioned “full text”. You must click on “full text” to get the whole article. Sometimes the service will give you HTML text, sometimes it will give you PDF, and sometimes it will give you a choice. After you have opened up the article, you can read it, save it, send it to your email or print it. When you are finished, a link at the top of the article titled “result list” will take you back to your list of articles. Searching note: Academic Search Premier and the other article databases work on a descending search. The more words you put into the search, the less you will get. If you are getting too few results, take some words away. Use all 3 search lines if you need them. Don’t try to stuff all your keywords on one line or you will only confuse the computer.
Newspapers (shortcut in progress)
Statistics At the library home page http://library.auraria.edu go to the edit box captioned “search the library’s website”. Type in the word statistical and hit the go button. Navigate to the link titled “databases and indexes” and click on it. Next, click on the link titled “LexisNexis Statistical”. Now select the link captioned “search abstracts”. Just like Academic Search Premier, there are 3 blank boxes where you can enter up to 3 terms. Just like Academic Search Premier, leave the pull down menu at its default setting which in this case reads “all fields”. The page will offer you a whole bunch of choices for limiting your statistics. You could ask for statistics by age, race, income, state, et cetera. For the beginning researcher, I would suggest you skip over all of this and just hit the search key near the bottom of the page. For example, if you typed blind in box one and United States in box two and hit the search button, you would get 21 data sets. Select the one you like and click on the “go to abstract” link. Lexis will tell you exactly where the statistics came from, give you the bibliographic information to site the source in your bibliography, and then Jaws will read you the text where the statistics appear. Sometimes, Lexis will even give you an additional link to the complete full text document from which the statistics were extracted.
General Library Information At the library home page http://library.auraria.edu go to the edit box captioned “search the library’s website”. Type in the words FAQ General and hit the “go” button. Next click on the FAQ General link provided. Here you will find information about the library’s hours, borrowing policies, phone numbers, and other useful information.
Interlibrary Loan Service (shortcut in progress)
The Auraria Library subscribes to lots of Gale databases including Academic One File, General Business File ASAP, Contemporary Authors, Gale Virtual Reference Library and many more. Her are some new, voice features for students who do not read conventional text....
- ReadSpeaker® text-to-speech technology, which allows users to hear audio readings of all articles available within the platform
- The convenience of downloading articles in MP3 file format to be played on an iPod or other audio devices
Recordings For The Blind (RFB&D) Mountains and Plains Chapter invites you to join them along with Honorary Chairman and Denver Poet Laureate, Chris Ransick, as they hold their annual Colorado Authors' Day on October 28. The event will take place at the local Colorado Boulevard recording studio location from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Books written and read by authors from all over the state will be featured at this event, and for the first time in the history of RFB&D Colorado Authors' Day, the event will also feature writing workshops open to the public (depending on availability). For more information contact mliddiard@rfbd.org
What's New? September 2009
The Department of Modern Languages Computer Lab and Multi-Media Center is equipped with thirty five PC's. With fast Internet connectivity, students can gain information from the World Wide Web very quickly in any language. The multi-media center features ready access for handicapped students. This includes large video monitors, easy access, and other ADA recognized features. If you are taking a language class, check out the facility which is located in Plaza Building Room 115.
What's New? August 2009
New Program Seeks to Make Alternative Textbooks for Visually Impaired Students Available Faster
While music-recording companies have been fighting people who illegally share songs, book publishers are looking to expand file-sharing for college students with print-related disabilities.
AccessText, a new service that rolled out a beta version this week, has created an online database that makes it simpler for disability-student services at colleges to track down alternative forms of course materials from book publishers. When electronic versions don't exist for a particular book, the college would get permission to scan the pages so a student could either make the font larger, or use other text-to-speech or refreshable Braille reading devices.
Bruce Hildebrand, executive director for higher education at the Association of American Publishers, says the new service will maximize resources and get students materials faster.
Dawn V. Adams, digital-media-accessibility specialist at the Alternative Media Access Center at the University of Georgia, has been the first person to try out AccessText. With the new program, she says she is able to get books easier than she has in the past, and the turnaround for receiving an answer from a book publisher is as fast as before, if not faster.
"It’s streamlining the work that I do," says Ms. Adams, who serves more than 877 students throughout the University System of Georgia. "All I have to do is go to one Web site for five different publishers and click a few buttons. It’s a really big timesaver."
AccessText, a new service that rolled out a beta version this week, has created an online database that makes it simpler for disability-student services at colleges to track down alternative forms of course materials from book publishers. When electronic versions don't exist for a particular book, the college would get permission to scan the pages so a student could either make the font larger, or use other text-to-speech or refreshable Braille reading devices.
Bruce Hildebrand, executive director for higher education at the Association of American Publishers, says the new service will maximize resources and get students materials faster.
Dawn V. Adams, digital-media-accessibility specialist at the Alternative Media Access Center at the University of Georgia, has been the first person to try out AccessText. With the new program, she says she is able to get books easier than she has in the past, and the turnaround for receiving an answer from a book publisher is as fast as before, if not faster.
"It’s streamlining the work that I do," says Ms. Adams, who serves more than 877 students throughout the University System of Georgia. "All I have to do is go to one Web site for five different publishers and click a few buttons. It’s a really big timesaver."
What's New? June 2009
Baltimore, Maryland (June 25, 2009): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) filed suit today against Arizona State University (ASU) to prevent the university from deploying Amazon’s Kindle DX electronic reading device as a means of distributing electronic textbooks to its students because the device cannot be used by blind students. Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “Given the highly-advanced technology involved, there is no good reason that Amazon’s Kindle DX device should be inaccessible to blind students. Amazon could have used the same text-to-speech technology that reads e-books on the device aloud to make its menus accessible to the blind, but it chose not to do so.
The Auraria Library has acquired a new DVD set, Idioms and phrases in American Sign Language. This five DVD series is excellent for deaf students as well as interpreters, teachers, and parents. Idioms cover all facets of everyday life and include both silent, written, and sign language equivalents. Film and Video HV2474. I35 2008 (5 DVD set)
What's New? April 2009
The Auraria Library has added several hundred more screen-readable e-books from Greenwood Press. Each title can be found in the library's catalog. You can also do a sample search at http://tinyurl.com/d2h5ft.
What's New? March 2009
In 2009 the L3 Literacy Lab at the Center for Hearing, Speech and Language will be open to adults during the day and after school for younger students. Visitors will have access to software such as: FastForWord, a remarkable program to increase reading levels; Interactive Metronome, a computer program which coordinates headphones, hand and foot sensors, and music to improve motor planning, sequencing, and timing skills; the Brain Fitness Program to address processing changes that occur with age; and L.A.C.E., a listening and auditory enhancement training computer program. For more information about upcoming dates and times, check the website at www.chsl.org.
100,000 Digitized Books!
The Auraria Library recently made available 100,000 digitized books through its online catalog, Skyline. These books can be accessed directly from the catalog. The Auraria Library was the first library in the nation to load these books. The books are open-access so anybody can read them.
Reserve Readings in the Library
For years, professors have been sharing their favorite readings with students through the library's reserve program. By now, many of those readings are photocopies-of-photocopies-of-photocopies. This isn't all that great for sighted students but it is really bad for those using screen readers. Since professors don't use reading software, I am sure they have no idea. You can help spread the word by letting your instructors know that if they plan to share readings, a high-quality electronic article is better than a physical copy and that HTML or Word is easier for remote access than PDF.
Services
The Auraria Library can show you how to use the adaptive technology of your choice to find books, articles, and more. Don’t be handicapped by ignorance! Easy one-hour tutoring sessions are available as well as individual research appointments for specific topics or assignments.
Other Services: Pulling books and materials, reading tables of contents or sample chapters, orienteering in the library, remote access support, and phone reference including Relay Colorado phone reference. After Hours computer with adaptive software and Magnavision are available in the library. Photocopying assistance is available at the Clicks! Center in the library. The Access Center and other computer labs can also help convert PDF files into Word or HTML.
Services we cannot provide: Reading service, scanning or conversion of hard copy materials, or audio recording of materials. The Auraria Library offers services to Auraria students registered with the Access Center, Disability Resources, and the Disability Office. We cannot offer academic support services to the general public.
Auraria Library Website Shortcuts for Jaws, Voice Over, and other Text to Speech Screen Reading Software:
A Beginning Guide
At the library home page http://library.auraria.edu navigate to the first edit box captioned “search the library’s web site”. All the shortcuts listed below begin at this box.
Audio books At the library home page http://library.auraria.edu go to the box captioned “search the library’s website”. Enter the word “eaudiobooks” (spelled as one word) in the edit box and hit the “go” button. Select the link titled “audiobooks.html” Next, click on the link for Net Library digital eaudiobooks”. On the Net Library page select the link “eaudiobooks”. There will be a pull down menu to select the type of search you want—title, author, keyword or subject. For example, select author and enter Asimov, Isaac. Select the book you want to read and click on “download this eaudiobook”. You are all set! You will even have a choice of CD quality or radio quality.
E-Books from Net Library (you provide the sound with your screen reader) Follow the instructions above. When you arrive at the Net Library page you will hear “basic search”. There is a pull-down menu to select the type of search you want—author, title, subject, or keyword. Enter your search. Select the book you want to read and click on the link for “view this ebook”. Just as with a hard copy title, you may not find the book you are looking for because the library has not purchased it. It does not mean you are searching incorrectly. Net Library also has a link to free e-books and to some electronic full text journals.
Print Books (shortcut in progress)
Magazine and Journal Articles A database called Academic Search Premier, an Ebsco product, is a good starting place to perfect your skills. It is a very user friendly,multi-topic index and has lots of full text, much of it in text-reader-friendly HTML format. Begin at the library home page at the edit box captioned “search the library’s website”. Type Academic Search Premier and hit the go button or enter key. Go to the link provided to open the database. Select “preferences” and turn off “display auto complete keyword search suggestions”. Get out of the preference box. Listen for the word “Find”. It will be followed by an edit box (search box). After entering the search term of your choice the cursor will take you to a pull down menu called “select a field”. Just ignore this—leave it at its default setting and skip over it to continue. There will be two more free text edit boxes just like the first. In total, you can enter up to three keywords or search terms. Because they are linked with the word “and” it will make a cohesive search. When you have entered up to 3 terms, you can tab forward to “refine search” and “limit your results”. There is a box you will want to mark for full text. Hit the “search” button when you are ready. Magazine and journal articles will pop up in bibliographic format. You will hear the article’s author, the article title, the journal in which it appeared, and so forth. After the bibliographic entry there will be a link captioned “full text”. You must click on “full text” to get the whole article. Sometimes the service will give you HTML text, sometimes it will give you PDF, and sometimes it will give you a choice. After you have opened up the article, you can read it, save it, send it to your email or print it. When you are finished, a link at the top of the article titled “result list” will take you back to your list of articles. Searching note: Academic Search Premier and the other article databases work on a descending search. The more words you put into the search, the less you will get. If you are getting too few results, take some words away. Use all 3 search lines if you need them. Don’t try to stuff all your keywords on one line or you will only confuse the computer.
Newspapers (shortcut in progress)
Statistics At the library home page http://library.auraria.edu go to the edit box captioned “search the library’s website”. Type in the word statistical and hit the go button. Navigate to the link titled “databases and indexes” and click on it. Next, click on the link titled “LexisNexis Statistical”. Now select the link captioned “search abstracts”. Just like Academic Search Premier, there are 3 blank boxes where you can enter up to 3 terms. Just like Academic Search Premier, leave the pull down menu at its default setting which in this case reads “all fields”. The page will offer you a whole bunch of choices for limiting your statistics. You could ask for statistics by age, race, income, state, et cetera. For the beginning researcher, I would suggest you skip over all of this and just hit the search key near the bottom of the page. For example, if you typed blind in box one and United States in box two and hit the search button, you would get 21 data sets. Select the one you like and click on the “go to abstract” link. Lexis will tell you exactly where the statistics came from, give you the bibliographic information to site the source in your bibliography, and then Jaws will read you the text where the statistics appear. Sometimes, Lexis will even give you an additional link to the complete full text document from which the statistics were extracted.
General Library Information At the library home page http://library.auraria.edu go to the edit box captioned “search the library’s website”. Type in the words FAQ General and hit the “go” button. Next click on the FAQ General link provided. Here you will find information about the library’s hours, borrowing policies, phone numbers, and other useful information.
Interlibrary Loan Service (shortcut in progress)
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TobeyStein |
Latest page update: made by TobeyStein
, Oct 14 2009, 11:43 AM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by TobeyStein
79 words added 1 word deleted view changes - complete history) |
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