Accessible Media: Text: Digital Content | National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials

Text: Digital Content

See also the Text: Overview page in Accessible Media or the e-Resources page in Learn.

Sources of Digital Electronic Text

People with print disabilities may find the following references helpful as they attempt to locate sources of alternate format content. This page highlights accessible options for obtaining both digital electronic text and digital audio. Some resources focus specifically on serving individuals with print reading disabilities while others offer content more widely.

The American Printing House for the Blind is one resource from which qualified students may obtain textbooks in formats such as Braille and large print. APH serves as the National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC). Authorized entities can obtain NIMAS content from the Center. For more information about APH's current activities, see the Accessible Textbook Initiative and Collaboration Project.

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)'s Talking Book Archives consists of an electronic archive of a selection of AFB's production over the last 75 years and includes other features such as an online e-book exhibit, a timeline, and related links.

Higher Education Accessible E-Text Solutions
The AHEAD E-Text Solutions Group focuses on policies, procedures, and best practices in providing the accommodation of digital text for those students who have disabilities that limit their ability to access print in standard ways: blindness, visual impairment, learning disability, and certain mobility impairments. http://www.ahead.org/resources/e-text

Additional resources include—

Accessible Book Collection
The Accessible Book Collection is a non-profit corporation. Its primary mission is to provide high interest/low reading level digital text to qualified persons with disabilities. Government and non-profit schools and others can subscribe to the very affordable Accessible Book Collection and have a large selection of e-books for all their eligible students for a low price. Books from the Accessible Book Collection are available in HTML and XHTML, the latter designed to work with customizable style sheets that provide adjustable fonts, colors, and spacing.
Bookshare.org
Bookshare.org is an online community that enables people with visual and other print disabilities to legally share scanned books. It is designed exclusively for the use of the blind and other individuals with print-related disabilities. As of October 1, 2007, memberships for qualifying U.S. students of all ages including K–12, post-secondary, and adult education are now free, thanks to special funding from the Office of Special Education Programs. U.S. educators and qualifying students have access to tens of thousands of digital books, including textbooks, literature, current popular reading, teacher recommended reading, reference materials, newspapers, and periodicals. Qualifying U.S. students may access Bookshare.org in two ways, either through a school membership or an individual membership. Books from Bookshare.org are available in two specialized formats, meaning formats specifically designed for people with disabilities. The two formats are the NISO/DAISY digital talking book standard and the Braille digital format BRF.
Texas Text Exchange

The additional sources mentioned below may offer content that is free or available for sale. Digital electronic text and digital audio content may also be provided to patrons through public libraries. Check with your local library about the resources listed here, as well as other services to which your library may subscribe. Online book stores such as Amazon.com and Powell's Books also sell audio and electronic books.

For an overview of electronic texts and publishing, consult this factsheet from the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), part of the Library of Congress: NLS Fact Sheet Selected Sources for Electronic Texts. Some resources found on this factsheet may be replicated in the lists below.

Resources presented here may offer free or restricted content. Note that some electronic texts require specific software, and/or a specific computer platform, to read the content. Before downloading and/or purchasing content, be sure that you have both the software required to read it and that the resulting reading experience will be accessible to you.

One example of content that requires software to read it is the Microsoft Lit format. For more information and to download this software, go to the Microsoft Reader page.

The following list contains both databases and direct sources of content: