Alternative Textbook Policy

Policy:

Students with disabilities who require alternate access to printed material and have received approval for this accommodation may receive textbooks in an alternate format. Eligibility for this accommodation is determined on an individualized basis, and students must demonstrate a substantial disability that requires alternate materials.

In order to ensure that textbooks are available at the beginning of each semester, all textbook requests must be submitted to Accessible Book Creations (ABC) no later than eight weeks prior to the start of the semester/term. Failure to do so may prevent the student from receiving alternative format textbooks on time. Students are responsible for obtaining textbook information as soon as they register for classes. Students needing assistance to obtain this information may contact accessiblebooks@byu.edu. Requests will be processed in order of the date they were received.

Reasonable accommodations depend upon the nature and degree of severity of the documented disability. While consideration will be given to the specific format requested by the student, if another suitable format is available that addresses the student's functional limitations, that format may be granted.

A student adding a course after submitting book requests will follow the original procedure for requesting alternative textbooks through booktracker.byu.edu. If a student drops a course, a cancellation request for the associated books should be submitted at booktracker.byu.edu. Any additional books requested will be processed according to the date the request was received, and will not be processed with the original requests. Therefore, a student's class schedule should be finalized as soon as possible when submitting book requests to avoid delays.

Proof of purchase (preferably store receipts) for all books requested must be provided before the ABC will process a student's requests. Proof of purchase is submitted through booktracker.byu.edu. If materials are purchased from a private individual, the individual selling the books should draft and sign a receipt containing the book title and purchase price. Pursuant to copyright law, alternative textbooks will not be provided without a valid proof of purchase.

Note on E-book requests: E-books can be made accessible (with text to speech) by utilizing the Kurzweil extension via Chrome and typically do not require reformatting by the ABC. All requests submitted for E-books will be cancelled and the student will be notified by email. Students may e-mail accessiblebooks@byu.edu with questions or concerns.