A large percentage of online journal articles, eBooks, and other library materials are available as accessible PDFs that can be read with screen readers or other adaptive technologies. 

However, occasionally we find an older magazine or journal article or eBook that is not accessible. We want to know about those issues, and we want to help you get them resolved. 

Here's what to do and whom to contact in these instances:

• Ebsco
• JSTOR
• ProQuest

Ebsco

Ebsco Journal and Magazine Articles

If you encounter an inaccessible article PDF in an Ebsco database, contact accessibility@ebsco.com. Or email the Libraries at refer@uark.edu, and we will contact them for you. 

Often these older articles will offer an alternative full text in HTML. Full text articles in HTML have a read aloud or Text to Speech option in Ebsco. You can even save the MP3 files to your computer for later consultation. Read more about the Text to Speech function in Ebsco through the link below. 

Like the Read Aloud feature? You can limit your Ebsco search to HTML full text (see link below). 

Ebsco Ebooks

"Check out," printing or downloading of a full text PDF of an eBook may be limited to a certain number of days or pages due to publisher restrictions. If you need to obtain a full text eBook PDF for longer, Ebsco has informed us that they will work with the publisher to provide a "remediated" or converted file. 

If you discover that an eBook file available via EBSCOhost does not include sufficient accessibility support, EBSCO can provide a DRM-free copy of the eBook to the Libraries upon request. Please email the Libraries at refer@uark.edu to send an email to accessibility@ebsco.com with the name of your library, title and ISBN of the eBook in question, and the targeted assistive technology. EBSCO will return the DRM-free eBook file to the requesting librarian via email as soon as possible, within 3-5 business days of the request. 

Useful Ebsco Links

• Ebsco's accessibility main page
• Ebsco ebooks and accessibility
• Keyboard navigation in Ebsco. 

JSTOR

JSTOR will reformat PDFs that are unreadable via screen reader within 3 days. There is a limit of 3 articles per request. Contact JSTOR Support with your article citations. 

Useful JSTOR Links

• JSTOR Accessibility Policies (see link below)

ProQuest

ProQuest Journal and Magazine Articles

ProQuest states that you should Contact ProQuest Technical Support (see link below) "if you have difficulty accessing ProQuest content with adaptive technology. We are able to process 3 documents per request and will respond within 3 days with remediated content or let you know if additional time is required or remediation is not possible."

ProQuest Ebook Central

Unfortunately, ProQuest's conversion service does not apply to full eBooks. In Ebook Central, users accessing the site with a screen reader will be offered the option to enable Accessibility Mode. Create a personal account on Ebook Central to save your view settings. 

If you don't use a screen reader but would like to use the Accessibility Mode option, create a personal account on Ebook Central and send an email to ebooksupport@proquest.com.

"Check out," printing or downloading of a full text PDF of an eBook may be limited to a certain number of days or pages due to publisher restrictions.  If you need to obtain a full text eBook PDF for longer, please contact us at refer@uark.edu, and we will work with ProQuest to try to arrange for a longer checkout time. 

Useful ProQuest Links (see links below)

• ProQuest Accessibility Policies