TIU is a member of “Bookshare,” an accessible online library for people with print disabilities (http://www.bookshare.org). Bookshare is currently funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). As appropriate, a student is added as a member and can download books directly from the website. Books can be converted to MP3s and downloaded to personal listening devices. You have free access to the books in Bookshare collection. You do not have to buy the book before downloading it from Bookshare.com.
- You always have the option of purchasing a digital copy of your textbook, rather than paper, and using the available software below, or what you already have, for your computer to read it to you.
- The first step is to search your personal Bookshare account for your textbook.
- If you cannot find the book on Bookshare, fill out a book request form on Bookshare to see if they can get it for you.
- If the book is not available on Bookshare, you can make a book request using the online form at https://www.bookshare.org/bookRequest. Bookshare is the preferred way to secure copies of your textbooks.
- If you cannot find the textbook on Bookshare, after purchasing or renting a personal copy of the textbook, complete a Digital Book Request Form online here. You are also eligible to search for books at http://www.archive.org. The Internet Archive is a partner collection that Bookshare members can use to search for books outside of the Bookshare collection. The Internet Archive has a large collection of books, including over 3 million DAISY titles, including periodicals and older reference materials.
- To search for books in the Internet Archive, go to Advanced Search (https://www.bookshare.org/search), and select "Internet Archive" from the "Collections to Search" dropdown.
- Use this email for any correspondence with the Thrive Center regarding digital books: thrivedigitalbooks@tiu.edu.
- You can read a book from Bookshare on your computer using the software below or with the Bookshare Web Reader (https://www.bookshare.org/cms/get-started/how-read-books/read-your-own)
Reading Software
Digital books can be read on your computer using text to speech readers such as VoiceOver on Apple products or other options found on your computer.
Bookshare Member Preferred Tools
https://www.bookshare.org/cms/help-center/reading-tools/member-preferred-tools
Apple products will read what is on the screen with VoiceOver.