Library Accessibility Services (LAS) and Campus Accessible Tech Space (CATS)

All library material can be requested in an alternate format, except items too fragile for the scanning process.

Follow these steps to request your title:

1. Find your book in the Library Catalogue. 
2. Click on the "Request Accessible Copy" link in the record.  Some of the fields will be filled in automatically for you.  The remainder, your name, email address and ACE token are required.  
3. Once you have submitted your request, we will process it and contact you as soon as the material is ready.

All students registered through LAS are issued an ACE token at the beginning of the year.  The token is sent in the LAS Info email.  If you have lost your token, please contact the office, and we can resend it to you.  

Faculty and staff who qualify may contact the office to request access. 

Requesting an Accessible Book Not in our Catalogue

You may find that you need additional research materials that are not available in an accessible format during your studies. Please fill out this form, and we will review your request and attempt to accommodate you in a timely manner. 

ACE

ACE is a collaborative approach to creating accessible material through the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL). Content is curated through the requests from patrons at the 21 OCUL institutions.  By requesting you are helping to grow the collection.  You can find out more about ACE here. 

You are welcome to search the ACE repository for books; you may access any books 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.

**Please note, titles that have been contributed by the publisher will only have PDF files, as always, if you require a different format, please contact the office, and we are happy to help. **

HathiTrust

The Library is a member of HathiTrust. The HathiTrust digital library includes more than 17 million volumes digitized from libraries around the world. The collection is primarily books and includes journals and other published materials, and includes both in-copyright materials and public domain titles. Over 100 universities around the world curate the collection. All items in HathiTrust can be provided in accessible formats. If you would like to request one of these items, please contact the LAS office. We will place a request on your behalf for an accessible version of that material.

Internet Archive

We participate in a pilot project with the Internet Archive.  This project provides access to the over 5 million titles available in the Internet Archive, in an alternate format.  For more information on access to this content, please contact the LAS office.

SensusAccess

As students, staff, or faculty, you have access to an online document conversion system that automates text and image-based file types into different accessible formats. By uploading files through a web interface, one can select from various output options, including audio, Braille, or e-text formats. SensusAccess can be found on the McMaster Accessibility Hub.