Alternative Text Materials
Disability Support Services (DSS) provides alternative format materials to ensure equal access to course materials for qualified students. These materials include, but are not limited to, Braille, digital accessible formats for supporting screen readers/audio output and enlargement. An alternative format, when possible, is provided only for courses for which the eligible student is currently enrolled. All materials will be provided in accordance with all copyright laws and exceptions.
DSS will make every attempt to provide the desired format, however this process can take up to six weeks. All alternative textbook requests must be submitted when course registration is complete each term.
Requesting Alternative Text Materials
Students who are requesting books in alternative formats should complete the following steps:
- Register with DSS and meet the eligibility criteria for alternative text materials.
- Enroll or be enrolled in the course for which the materials are being requested.
- Review textbooks required for the course. If your textbooks are not listed at the time of registration, contact your professors to identify the required textbook for the course(s). Students can also engage the GW bookstore to search for textbooks as well.
- Locate your books using the Useful Resources listed below first. Many publishers now provide both print version and e-book options, check if the e-book is accessible for your needs.
- Complete the Alternative Text Materials Service Request and submit your proof of purchase three weeks prior to the start of the semester if:
- You are unable to locate your textbook.
- Your textbook is unavailable in an electronic format or the digital version is not accessible.
In order to ensure a smooth process, please upload sufficient proof of purchase, such as a receipt or shipping confirmation for the textbook(s). An order summary is not sufficient proof of purchase, as it does not prove that the text was actually purchased. DSS will not begin processing your request until adequate proof of purchase is received.
Note: If you’re purchasing Kindle eBooks, the built-in VoiceView Screen Reader reads everything onscreen aloud, including the menus and the pages of e-books, and it will even automatically turn pages as it reads aloud. Please test VoiceView against your purchased books before submitting the Alt-text Materials request. Other resources for purchasing eBooks include Vital Source, RedShelf, Amazon Audible, etc.
Alternative Text Material Timelines
Please place your requests at least three weeks ahead of each semester. Alternative text materials from DSS will be sent to your GW email account. The turnaround time is about 7-10 business days, but sometimes it takes longer to receive files from publishers.
Please use the following dates for your alternative material requests:
- Fall semester: August 1
- Spring semester: December 1
- First summer session: April 15
- Second summer session: May 15
We recognize that our text conversion deadlines occur prior to the start of each semester's classes and that you may not know which books you will need. We recommend that you refer to the Requesting Alternative Text Materials section above or contact your professors to inquire about their book selections after you have registered for their classes.
If you are unable to speak with your professors before the start of the semester, please request your alternative text materials as soon as you have identified the books you will need to be converted, even if it is a few weeks into the semester.
Manually Converting Books
If we cannot obtain the books from the publishers or known networks, we can manually scan and convert the content to an electronic format. This process requires that the bookbinding be cut off to allow the pages to be scanned and that it be replaced with a spiral binding. Not all textbooks can be manually converted. We will always contact you first via email to gain your permission to have your book(s) cut.
Publishers usually don’t accept proof of purchase of rental books. It is possible that you will be asked to change your purchase option in order to receive an accessible format from the publisher. You may also want to check with your retailer about returning a rental book in spiral binding before agreeing to cut-and-scan.
Upon being rebound, the original hardcopy textbook(s) will be returned to you, and you will be able to sell the book(s) back to the university bookstore at the end of the semester, should you wish to do so.
In the event that you opt not to have your bookbinding cut after we exhaust all resources to acquire the accessible formats, DSS may not be able to provide the alternative format accommodation.
Useful Resources
Please utilize the following resources to identify if your texts may already be available in electronic format on the web at no cost.
DSS Resources
- Sponsored Licenses for All GW Students
- BookShare
- Collections: The largest online repository of digital content.
- Benefits: No need to submit proof of purchase or a service request to DSS; instantly download the available text or listen to the content using BookShare Reader.
Visit BookShare.org to learn more. Contact dssat
gwu [dot] edu (dssat[at]gwu[dot]edu) if you have any questions regarding a BookShare account.
Other Resources
- Project Gutenberg
- Collections: Classical studies, philosophy, literature, and history books.
- Student membership is not required.
Visit Gutenberg.org to learn more.
- Librivox
- Collections: eBooks of various genres recorded by volunteers in the public domain in USA.
- Browse the Catalog
Visit Librivox.org to learn more.
- Open Library
- Collections: Books in BookReader, PDF, and ePub formats. BookReader editions can be read online at any time, in any web browser, and on any device.
- Create an account
Visit OpenLibrary.org to learn more.
- DC Talking Book and Braille
- Collections: Books and magazines in audio and braille format
- Instructions on account creation
Visit DC Talking Book and Braille for those who are Blind/Low Vision or print disabled.
- HathiTrust and Text Mining
- Digitized books for research and educational computational investigation
- Browse the full HathiTrust Digital Library (HTDL)
Visit HathiTrust and Text Mining to learn more.