2008 Woodie Awards
Alternative-formatted textbooks difficult to obtain
Derek Simons
Issue date: 1/8/07 Section: News
UMKC graduate student Kyle Warwick, 33, has a print disability. To study, he needs his textbooks in an audible format.
"My first semester here, in spring 2006, was very difficult," said Warwick. "I didn't get the materials until many weeks after my courses had started. This affected my grades."
Several factors can contribute to the length of time involved in the process. If the publisher cannot provide an alternative formatted textbook, the university must find its own solution. Besides the physical equipment and staff hours needed to prepare the books, sometimes course textbooks are not available at the UMKC bookstore until the last moment. There are also copyright law issues.
"When a student brings us a textbook, first the binding must be removed," said Scott Laurent, director of the UMKC Office of Services for Students with Disabilities (OSSD). "The pages are scanned, encoded into the correct format, and burned onto a compact disc. The book is then re-bound and returned with the accompanying CD to the student."
The office used UMKC's Roo Prints for binding and scanning last spring, Laurent explained.
"We started outsourcing in the fall because Roo Prints was often swamped with work at the beginning of each semester," he said.
Laurent has followed closely the changing technologies and laws involved with providing this service. The University started using scanning and text recognition three years ago. Before then, part-time assistants were paid to read textbooks into a tape recorder.
"We now guarantee a two-week turnaround time, but often it is much faster," said Laurent. "The accuracy of the text has improved to 95-98 percent with our new software, and the costs greatly reduced."
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, universities have the legal obligation to provide "reasonable accommodation" to all students. Communication must be "as effective as" that provided to non-disabled persons. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) considers the three basic components of effectiveness as "timeliness of delivery, accuracy of the translation, and provision in a manner and medium appropriate to the significance of the message and the abilities of the individual with the disability."
"My first semester here, in spring 2006, was very difficult," said Warwick. "I didn't get the materials until many weeks after my courses had started. This affected my grades."
Several factors can contribute to the length of time involved in the process. If the publisher cannot provide an alternative formatted textbook, the university must find its own solution. Besides the physical equipment and staff hours needed to prepare the books, sometimes course textbooks are not available at the UMKC bookstore until the last moment. There are also copyright law issues.
"When a student brings us a textbook, first the binding must be removed," said Scott Laurent, director of the UMKC Office of Services for Students with Disabilities (OSSD). "The pages are scanned, encoded into the correct format, and burned onto a compact disc. The book is then re-bound and returned with the accompanying CD to the student."
The office used UMKC's Roo Prints for binding and scanning last spring, Laurent explained.
"We started outsourcing in the fall because Roo Prints was often swamped with work at the beginning of each semester," he said.
Laurent has followed closely the changing technologies and laws involved with providing this service. The University started using scanning and text recognition three years ago. Before then, part-time assistants were paid to read textbooks into a tape recorder.
"We now guarantee a two-week turnaround time, but often it is much faster," said Laurent. "The accuracy of the text has improved to 95-98 percent with our new software, and the costs greatly reduced."
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, universities have the legal obligation to provide "reasonable accommodation" to all students. Communication must be "as effective as" that provided to non-disabled persons. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) considers the three basic components of effectiveness as "timeliness of delivery, accuracy of the translation, and provision in a manner and medium appropriate to the significance of the message and the abilities of the individual with the disability."
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