We are committed to providing equitable and inclusive access to our web content and services, and strive to follow best practices as recommended in the Web Accessibility Initiative's Web Content Availability Guidelines (WCAG) when creating and updating web content.

OCLC, the provider of our patron-facing discovery system, is committed to inclusive design and accessible products for all. To this end, the latest iteration of the WorldCat Discovery platform and associated services is designed to meet the WCAG 2.1 AA standard.

The Kreitzberg Library subscribes to many electronic resources provided through a variety of commercial vendors and publishers, most but not all resources were designed for maximum accessibility.  Students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to contact us with any issue concerning the electronic journals, books, and databases.

The library's databases display full-text articles in two formats: PDF or HTML.   HTML articles may be read by read aloud software.  PDFs can present some issues depending on how the articles were scanned. In some cases, security features (to prevent the document from being altered) may interfere with a PDFs accessibility.  If the document is not accessible, it may not be read at all or it may be read in the wrong order so additional assistance is available.

Text to Speech Tools for PDFs

Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat both have a read aloud feature. This feature will allow PDFs that are ADA accessible to be read out loud.

NOTE: The best way to make use of Adobe's accessibility features is to use Adobe in conjunction with your assistive technology screen reader software.

The instructions below are intended for machines that do not have assistive technology installed on them.

To turn the read aloud feature on:

In Windows OS:

• open the PDF
• go to the View option at the top of the screen and select Read Out Loud and then scroll down to the last option listed called, Activate Read Out Loud
• click on the screen to begin reading

To pause, select a specific section, or, read to the end of the document, select view, the read out loud option, and then the appropriate option (pause, etc.).

In Mac OS:

• open the PDF
• go to the Edit option at the top of the screen and select Speech and then select the option, Start Speaking
• reader will start automatically

To stop, select Edit at the top of the screen, then select Speech, and last select the option, Stop Speaking.