Talking books for reading impairments

Students at Stockholm University who, due to an impairment, find it difficult to read printed text can obtain access to talking books.

Through the library, you can get a talking book account in Legimus and we will show you how to use and order talking books.

Read more about who may borrow talking books (Legimus)

Legimus

The Legimus website is only available in Swedish, but the site has talking books available in English.

 

To create a talking book account in Legimus

Book an appointment with the library staff to create a talking book account. The library staff will help you to register in Legimus and you get your own account. You will also receive information on how to order and use talking books.

To book an appointment or for questions, please contact us via e-mail talbok@su.se

 

Photo: Niklas Björling
 

Ordering talking books

You may order talking books that are mandatory on your reading list, but unavailable in Legimus. Log in to My Library Account and fill in the form for ordering talking books.

Order talking books here

Please order well ahead as new recordings may take between 8 to 12 weeks to complete. Shorter texts, such as articles, are not produced as talking books in Legimus.

 

 

Speech synthesis

Articles and other texts, which are not produced as talking books, may be read with the help of a speech synthesis. All students at Stockholm University may download the speech synthesis Claro Read Plus through the university web page.

Download ClaroRead Plus

User guide for ClaroRead Plus (Windows)

Documents that are scanned may sometimes be hard for ClaroRead to read. To make the documents readable you might have to use the function "Scan" in ClaroRead Plus.

How to use the scan function in ClaroRead Plus.

 

To make it easier for your students in need of talking books, as a teacher you can do as follows:

  • Ensure that students have access to updated literature lists in good time before the start of the semester. This means that the student will have time to order any course literature that is not already available as a talking book.
  • Submit suggestions to “Ready for course start”. See below the requirements for an order.
  • Make sure that the material which cannot be ordered as a talking book, e.g. articles, is available in an electronic and accessible format.

Students in need of adapted course literature receive it through the web service Legimus. The library helps to register a Legimus account for students who are entitled to it. To gain access to Legimus, the student is required to have some form of disability that makes it difficult to read printed text.

Read more on the Legimus website about who is eligible for an account in Legimus

The most common format in Legimus is talking books. For students with a visual impairment, it is also possible to get course literature in the form of Braille, or as an e-text.  
The adapted literature is produced for Legimus by the Swedish Agency for Accessible Media (MTM).

Order new talking books

Course books not in Legimus can be ordered mainly by students themselves. Students order books by completing the library’s form for talking book orders. When we receive the order at the library, we order the talking books from MTM.

The library’s form for talking book orders

Publish literature lists well in advance before the start of the course.

Production time for a talking book can sometimes take 8-12 weeks. It is therefore important that the students have access to updated literature lists well in advance of the start of the semester in order to have time to order those talking books not already in Legimus.

The teacher can also order talking books on “Ready for course start”

As a teacher, you also have the possibility of requesting that talking books are produced, according to what MTM calls “Ready for course start”. In order for a book to be ordered in “Ready for course start” it must fulfil the following requirements:

  • It is likely that the title will be requested by one or more students with reading disabilities.
  • Therefore, only order books if you know that there will be students on the course who need talking books.
  • The book must not be older than two years.
  • The book must be compulsory on the course.

Orders on “Ready for course start” are sent to talbok@su.se.

The fact that a book is ordered on “Ready for course start” does not guarantee that MTM will produce the book as a talking book. Therefore, it is always a good idea that students who need a talking book also make an order themselves if a book is missing in Legimus.

Use articles and compendiums in available electronic format

MTM does not produce articles or compendiums as talking books. Students who want to have those texts read aloud can use a speech synthesis. There are several different types of speech synthesis, but through Stockholm University all students have access to the speech synthesis ClaroRead Plus. Since students may need to use speech synthesis for texts it is always an advantage if the texts used on the course are in an available electronic format. For example, it can be difficult for a speech synthesizer to read out a text if the copy of the text is very unclear.

 

 

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