EBSCO eBooks accessibility features

Keyboard navigation 

EBSCO eBook Collection is navigable with your keyboard – the tab, enter, and arrow keys. 

Background colour options 

This is not an inbuilt option, but the online viewer is set up to work effectively with browser extensions that change the colour and contrast and downloaded chapters should work with readers with this functionality. Recommendations for the most common browsers are below: 

Microsoft Edge: Go to Settings – Accessibility – Page Colours to change the background colour. 

Read aloud 

EBSCO EBook does not have an integrated text to speech function on its webpages but will work with the following combinations of browser and reader: 

  • Desktop: Edge +  NVDA 

  • Desktop: Firefox + NVDA 

  • Mobile Apple devices: Safari + VoiceOver 

  • Mobile Android devices: Chrome + TalkBack 

If a full book is downloaded to a computer, you will most likely need to use Adobe Digital Editions reader. This works with Voiceover, NVDA and Jaws.  

Text options 

There is no option to change the font. Downloading books in EPUB format allows for changing text with third party tools. 

Formats and offline reading 

EBSCO's online reader provides books in two formats, PDF and EPUB. Many books are available in both formats, while others are available only in one format. 

  • EPUB is an HTML-based format that supports reflowable text. When users resize their browser or access the book on a smaller device like mobile devices or tablets, the text will automatically reflow to adjust to your screen size.  
  • PDF is an image-based format that keeps the look and feel of a printed book. The book has a set number of pages with a fixed width. These books may not display as well on smaller devices and may require additional zooming. 

Some eBooks can be downloaded and viewed with Adobe Digital Editions. 

For more information see EBSCO’s EBook Accessibility User Guide and FAQs