Disability Support & Accessibility: E-Resources accessibility

We have a range of electronic resources available for our library members, both onsite and offsite. The availability of remote access to e-resources for different categories of library member depends on the licensing agreements with the e-resource providers. Full information about access restrictions for each e-resource is available on our A-Z Databases page.

Many of the library’s electronic resources have accessibility features available. The majority of the e-resources to which the library subscribes support accessibility by providing content in accessible formats that are compatible with assistive software and other tools. There are also a small number of e-resources that have more extensive accessibility features built in to their online platforms, which are detailed in the subsequent sections of this guide.

To find out more detailed information about the accessibility of a specific e-resource, please visit the individual page for the e-resource on our A-Z Databases page. On the page for each e-resource, we have provided accessibility information where available. This information is based on testing carried out by staff in July and August 2024. 

Most of the library's e-resource platforms provide all their content in formats that are compatible with the use of screen reading software, such as HTML or accessible PDF formats. Further details of the formats in which each of the e-resource platforms provide their content can be found on the individual pages on the A-Z Databases page.

Unfortunately, there is some content on some subscription e-resources that has copy & paste restrictions placed by the publisher. In these cases, screen reading tools that require selecting text may not work.

Additionally, some e-resource platforms provide some of their content as scanned images in PDF format which are not fully accessible and may also not be compatible with screen reading software. This is most common with platforms that provide access to older documents and materials, as these documents are frequently provided as scanned images of text. 

A small number of the library subscription e-resources platforms have built-in text-to-speech readers. These are:
•    Taylor & Francis Online (ejournals)
•    SCC Online
•    EBSCOhost (for content in HTML format on some databases such as Academic Search Complete)

Many of the library's subscribed e-resource platforms have options for modifying the visual appearance of on-screen text. In the majority of cases, the platforms provide some limited settings for altering the visual appearance of content, such as zoom up to 400%. In cases where content is provided in non-accessible formats, there is usually still some degree of magnification or zoom available.

A few e-resource platforms have more advanced settings for changing the appearance of text built in, such as:
•    Taylor & Francis Online (ejournals) [enlarge text, change font and background colour, OpenDyslexic font, on screen reading ruler]
•    Ebook Central [‘OpenDyslexic typeface’ mode]
•    vLex Justis [change of font, size, and alignment]

Additionally, it is possible to change the visual appearance of content on e-resource platforms by altering the settings on your web browser or PDF reader or by downloading browser extensions. These modifications should apply to the majority of content provided by the library's e-resources platforms.