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.
• Cengage Unlimited - Service providing e-books published by Cengage
• VitalSource - Online e-book store
• Bookshare - Free Online Accessible Library for students with specific types of disability. Contact Accessibility Resources for more information.
• Amazon - The Amazon Kindle bookstore has rentals and purchasing available.
• Apple Books - The Apple Books app has rentals and purchasing available.

Students are encouraged to find and purchase their textbooks in the format they need directly, if possible. If your class requires a book that you cannot find digitally, and you have E-text as an accommodation on your plan, follow the process below or contact Accessibility Resources at 507-389-2825 or ar@mnsu.edu.

Students requesting books in a physical format like digital-to-print or braille can submit their requests as normal using the following process.

Alternative Text

1. Students whose accommodation plans include alternate formats are encouraged to find the books in the format they need and purchase them directly. If unavailable, students can request books, articles, and other readings in their needed format.
2. Students who qualify must submit their requests under the Alternative Formats page on the left side of the MavAccess portal: MavAccess
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.