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Policy & strategy

Leading by example – embedding accessibility in strategy and policy

Julia Taylor – subject specialist for accessibility and inclusion – reflects on the questions organisations need to address in order to embed accessibility in their digital leadership approaches. More and more disabled students are accessing mainstream education but there is not always financial support for providing alternative formats, note-taking and study support. This places greater responsibility on […]

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Alternative formats e-books Policy & strategy

Checking the accessibility of your e-resources

When you are procuring new institutional platforms (such as eBook, VLE, content creation platforms) or licences have come up for renewal again, check which of the following features are available. If a significant number of these features are missing you might renegotiate costs based on the extra costs you might incur in supporting print impaired […]

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Policy & strategy

Well, what do you know?

Using simple survey tools to measure your progress in meeting the needs of disabled learners. One of the joys of this work is the privilege of working with a wide range of customers in different institutions and helping to meet their specific needs. However, the specific needs of one organisation sometimes end up being very […]

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Alternative formats Policy & strategy

Alternative formats for alumni and members of the public?

Providing alternative formats for staff and students can be a challenging business. What happens when an external library member or an ex-student library user makes a request? This question came to us recently so we put it to our subject specialists for technology and the law – John Kelly and Jackie Milne worked together to give […]

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Alternative formats Policy & strategy

Alternative formats; where to begin.

How can you improve the offer of textbooks in alternative format for disabled learners, particularly for those hit by changes to the DSA? The best solution is, ideally, to already have an accessible e-book on an accessible e-book platform. Even if the book or platform lacks accessibility they may often be more than adequate for […]

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Alternative formats e-books Policy & strategy

Accessible textbooks – jigsaw piece 2/3

It’s good to share, it’s easy to share, it’s legal to share For many years libraries and disability support teams have had the frustration of wasted time and effort in scanning books that others had already scanned… but that licences prevented them from sharing. Now that copyright laws have changed (see previous blog post) it […]

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Alternative formats e-books Policy & strategy

Accessible textbooks: jigsaw piece 1/3

The Law got better for disabled learners The Copyright and Rights in Performances (Disability) Regulations 2014 legislation enshrined a right for HEI’s to share accessible “intermediate copies” of textbooks with one another. However, the lack of definition of “intermediate copy” meant that, in practice, hardly any sharing was taking place for fear of falling foul […]

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Policy & strategy

How we’re working with – and for – the sector

The times they are a-changing Impending changes to Disabled Student Allowances in England could result in large numbers of students – particularly dyslexic students – relying on the mainstream accessibility practices of your organisation. We’re working hard to help you be efficient and effective in rising to that challenge. What we’ve done Accessibility is best […]