Course Materials

The LAS office produces accessible format course materials. This includes textbooks, custom courseware, and class readings. Here is how to do that.

1. First, register through SAS (Student Accessibility Services).  
2. Fill in the Transcription Request Form. We recommend that students contact the LAS office as soon as possible with their course information as it can take 4 - 6 weeks to obtain or convert course material.
3. You must purchase a copy of the textbook and/or courseware and bring the original receipt to the LAS office. While we are working on your transcription, we encourage you to use the scanner in CATS to scan your text and keep up with your readings.
4. Students requiring transcription of class readings are required to provide the associated course outline and any additional readings that needed for the course. Please contact your professor or assigned TA directly for advanced outlines if they are not readily available.
5. We will begin the process of transcription immediately upon request; however, we share the completed files using Dropbox or by USB key once we receive your authorized agreement and any necessary receipts. 

Note: 

• You are required to sign an agreement each term stating that accessible text provided to you is not shared with anyone else and all files will be deleted at the end of term.
• We work on requests on a first come first served principle, with those who have purchased their books prioritized over those who have not.
• At the end of term all issued Dropbox links are terminated. If you have difficulties accessing Dropbox or please contact the office, we will work with you to find other options.

Requesting Accessible Library Books (From our local Catalogue)

All library material can be requested in an alternate format except materials too fragile for scanning.

Requesting a book is easy once you are registered with LAS.

• Search for the text you require in the library catalogue.
• Click on the "Request Accessible Copy" link in the record. Some of the fields are pre-filled for you. Only your name, email address, and ACE token are required.
• We will then process your submitted request and contact you as soon as the material is ready.

All students registered through LAS are assigned an ACE token at the beginning of the year. The token is found in the LAS Info email. If you have lost your token, please contact the office and we will provide it. Faculty and staff who qualify may contact Human Resources to request access. ACE is a collaborative approach to creating accessible material through the Ontario Council of University Libraries. You can find out more about ACE here. You are welcome to search the ACE repository for books, you may access any books that you find of interest without requesting additional permission.  Your token is your permission.  ACE supports 5 different formats: PDF, B&W PDF, DAISY, TXT, and ePub.  If you need a different format please contact the office.

If the item you need is not held at McMaster, please contact us with the following information: Title, Author, Publication Date, ISBN (if possible) and library and we will work to get an accessible copy to you.

Requesting Accessible Books (Outside of our Institution)

If you cannot find the text you require from the library, please fill out the form below and we will try to acquire a copy for you and have it converted to accommodate your needs.

Click HERE to request