eBooks Accessibility
Many of our books are available through the Library catalogue. You can read these on a PC, laptop or phone; you do not need an e-reader device to see them. These eBooks can be downloaded onto your personal devices, but you can only read them in the online viewer if you're using a College computer.
Most eBooks can be adapted to aid accessibility, such as with larger font sizes, or use with screen readers. Depending on the Library eBook provider, there may be different accessibility options available. This guide will help you to maximise your access to each type of eBook.
Please contact the Library if you need help with using eBooks.
Ebooks accessed on the VLeBooks platform (sometimes also listed as Browns Books) have the following accessibility features:
- Large font
- High contrast
- Highlight links
- Underline links
- Greyscale
- Adjustable background colours
- Dyslexic font
- Read aloud
Global accessibility settings can be located in the footer of the VLEbooks website, and individual eBook options are located in the top ribbon when viewing an ebook online.
More detail can be found at VLEbooks accessibility guidance.
eBooks provided by Ebsco can typically be viewed online as PDFs or EPUB documents. Accessibility features:
- Zoom
- Adjustable font size
- Compatible with Microsoft Edge's 'read aloud' feature
More detail can be found at EBSCO user guide.
Ebook Central offers
- Text-only mode, enabling pdf books to be downloaded as text only instead of images
- Dyslexic font (only at top level search, not within the books)
- Zoom
- Highlight
There are no read aloud functions, and the online viewer is not comptable with Edge's read aloud feature. Proquest recommend chapters be downloaded which can be opened and read aloud in Edge or other text-to-speech tools.
More detail can be found at ProQuest Ebook Central accessibility statement.