The journey of alternate format textbooks in Manitoba

1
The journey of alternate format textbooks in
Manitoba

• Susan Doerksen
• Carolyn Wiebe

2
How it works

• Students register with DS
• DS advisor downloads their booklist
• If there are no texts listed, DS calls
  professors, departments, etc. to get the text list

3
How it works

• DS emails list to Special Material Services (SMS)
• SMS searches databases in U.S. and Canada
• SMS lets DS know what can be ordered
• DS informs student what is available

4
How it works

• If a student has a visual disability, texts are
  ordered from the publisher and sent to SMS for
  production in alternate format

5
Concerns with the system

• Many of the books ordered are older or American
  editions
• There are significant delays waiting for
  instructors to pick their texts
• Instructors change editions or texts after we
  have ordered

6
Concerns

• Students are unhappy with response times from DS
• Students do not tell us when there are problems
• Why can only students with visual disabilities
  have texts produced for them?

7
Positives of Cooperation

• SMS and DS have great working relationship
• We keep tabs on each other so if something hasnt
  arrived or texts havent been sent, the other
  party is reminded

8
Positives of Cooperation

• Students have one go-to person if there are
  problems
• Once we know the text information the process is
  very quick