[Athen] Any new solutions to this publisher proof issue?

[Deborah Armstrong via athen-list]

The other thing to add here, is that department of rehab can be slow to purchase a book. So we colleges can get sued for not providing alt media in a timely manner, yet publishers can require a proof of purchase before we get an electronic copy to remediate and yet the student cannot purchase it yet because they either don't have the rehab authorization or the instructor hasn't put in the bookstore order yet.
Being on the quarter system, the whole timely manner thing is a big issue for us.


From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman22.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Deborah Armstrong via athen-list
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2026 4:02 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Athen] Any new solutions to this publisher proof issue?

I've had this problem the 25 years I've done this job, and I am curious if it's a problem for others as well.
It's the middle of the winter quarter. The Spring quarter starts April 6.
One of my more diligent students loves getting her books on time, so she's learned to make the alt media request early.
The publisher wants either a receipt or information about the full name of the course, what date the book was purchased and where, and how much was paid for the book.
Now our bookstore hasn't even begun to stock books for Spring quarter. My student got her information by bugging the department dean mercilessly until she got a book list for her Spring course.
I would like to reward such dedication by having her book early, but she has to actually purchase the book before I can get a PDF to be remediated.
The big barrier is the academic freedom that allows our instructors to make last-minute decisions about the books they plan to use for a course. I have talked to faculty about this relentlessly and I am simply ignored.
I can do simple remediations myself but the service I use for anything complex wants the books early, and they prefer a syllabus so for example if they do Braille, they only transcribe/emboss required portions of a book. But I never see a reading list if I'm lucky until the second week of the 12-week quarter, primarily because instructors like to get a feel for the class first before issuing a reading list. And many instructors decide on the fly what to read next week and never issue an assignments list. Over 50 per cent of our teaching faculty is adjunct and hard to track down at the best of times too.
This is community college, so maybe it's less of an issue at the university level.
--Debee

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