Text in Alternate Format
Alternate Format
An alternate format text accommodation supports students whose disability impacts their reading. Students with a qualifying disability can receive books in a format that matches their abilities and best supports their learning. Common examples are physical books in a digital format (e-books or PDFs), Braille, and text-to-speech.
Read&Write
Accessibility Resources at Minnesota State University, Mankato offers students a free license of Read&Write, a reading and writing software. Read&Write will read text aloud on a computer with built-in highlighting, study tools, and writing support.
More information on downloading and using Read&Write
Where to Find Accessible Books
Here are a few places to buy accessible, electronic versions of books. Accessibility Resources does not endorse any of these services and is only providing links to these services for your information.
- Bookstore in the CSU - Many publishers sell their textbooks in a format that is already accessible. If that format is not readily available, the book can be requested in the needed format from Accessibility Resources for qualifying students.
- Accessibility Resources - Contact Accessibility Resources at ar@mnsu.edu if you already receive Alternate Format accommodations.
- Cengage Unlimited - Service providing e-books published by Cengage
- VitalSource - Online e-book store
- Bookshare - Free Online Accessible Library (contact Accessibility Resources for details)
- Amazon - The Amazon Kindle bookstore has rentals and purchasing available.
- Apple Books - The Apple Books app has rentals and purchasing available.
Alternative Text
- Students whose accommodation plans include alternate formats can request books, articles, and other readings in their needed format.
- Students who qualify must submit their requests under the Alternative Formats page on the left side of the MavAccess portal: MavAccess
- If possible, submit request(s) as soon as possible. Some requests require significant amounts of time to process and we want to get the materials out as quickly as possible.
- Due to copyright laws, proof of purchase must be provided before the texts are provided. You can learn more about types of proofs and how to submit them here: Submitting Proof of Purchase.
- Note: students can request alternate formats before purchasing the book.
- Students will receive a notification email when the text is ready for download, delivery, or pickup.
Textbook Look-Up Tool: You can look up your textbooks on the Minnesota State University, Mankato Official Bookstore website. This information can also be found on MavAccess.