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Accessibility at Ikeda Library: Services & Technology

Services for Patrons with Disabilities at Ikeda Library

What We Can Help With

Speak to library staff for assistance in: 

  • Accessing physical materials from shelves 

  • Navigating and accessing eResources  

  • Interlibrary Loan (ILL) and Document Delivery 

  • Photocopying, scanning, or using the microform reader 

  • One-on-one research consultations 

  • Accommodations for Library events (including, but not limited to, transcripts, pre-printed presentations, closed-captioning, and recordings) 

  • Don’t see a service you’re looking for? Contact us and we will be glad to help! 

How to Find Help

How to Find Help

Chat – Communicate with librarians via MS Teams Chat for assistance with research or any questions you may have. This is our preferred method.

Consultation - Schedule a research meeting with one of reference librarians for an individual instruction session.

Email – Contact us at libraryservice@soka.edu. We are checking our email daily. A library staff member will respond to your questions as soon as possible.

Telephone – Call the main library number at 949-480-4205 to speak with a library staff member. 

For specific contact information, please see our Staff Member Directory.

Services

Other Services:

Document Delivery 

Print materials within the Ikeda Library collection, such as periodical articles and book chapters, can be scanned and delivered electronically. Please contact the Library directly at library@soka.edu. 

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) 

As a member of the largest world-wide resource sharing network of libraries, OCLC WorldShare, Ikeda Library is able to borrow books and periodical articles from other libraries at no charge to our campus community. Periodical articles are typically delivered by email, and books are mailed to the library and then checked out from there to the patron. 

For information on how to make an ILL Request, please review our ILL LibGuide.  

Alternate Reading Formats & Materials

Alternate Reading Formats & Materials

Bookshare 

Bookshare is an ebook library that makes content accessible for people with reading barriers in ways that work for them. Bookshare has over 940,000 titles that can be read, listened to, engaged with in Braille or large font, and more which are also compatible on various technology devices. Ikeda Library and Student Affairs have finalized and activated our institutional account. To create an account, please contact Brian Durick, Director of Student Services.

 

External Resources

Become a Braille Library Patron

Register to become a Braille Library patron to and borrow playback machines, books on cartridge or in braille, and descriptive videos and subscribe to magazines on cartridge or in braille. You also have access to foreign-language titles through the NLS. To become a patron you must meet the following criteria, which must be documented by a competent authority such as a physician, nurse, optometrist, therapist, hospital or nursing-home professional, social worker or librarian. Family members are not eligible to certify as a competent authority.

  • Persons who are “legally blind,” which means that your vision is 20/200 or less in your better eye with corrective lenses. People with 20/200 vision can only see at 20 feet letters that a healthy eye can see at 200 feet. You are also legally blind if the widest diameter of your visual field is 20 degrees or less in your better eye. In other words, you are legally blind if you cannot read the big “E” on an eye chart at 20 feet.
  • Persons with a visual disability who are unable to read standard print even with correction and despite optical measurement.
  • Persons who cannot hold a book or handle standard printed materials because of physical limitations.
  • Persons with a reading disability resulting from organic dysfunction that is sufficiently severe to prevent them from reading standard printed material. Note: This condition must be documented by a doctor of medicine.

Download and complete the application on the official website or call the Braille Institute Library’s toll-free line at 1(800) 808-2555 and they’ll be happy to send it to you by standard mail.

Request Materials from the National Library Service

The National Library Service can deliver or provide free downloadable books in braille or audio with human-voice narrators. To get books if you live in the United States or its territories, contact your local braille and talking book library. Find a Library or call 1-888-NLS-READ (1-888-657-7323) to be connected with the library serving your area. If you are unable to locate a library or wish additional assistance, please contact NLS via nls@loc.gov  , call (202) 707-5100 or toll-free 1-800-424-8567, or request an application packet be mailed to you. To get books if you are a United States citizen living overseas: Email the overseas librarian  at NLS or call (202) 707-5100.

The regional library serving Orange County, CA is:

Braille Institute
Library Services
741 North Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, CA, 90029-3594
Librarian: Tina Herbison
Library Code: CA2A
Telephone: (323) 660-3880
Toll-free (In-state): (800) 808-2555
FAX: (323) 662-2440
E-mail: THerbison@brailleinstitute.org 
Web site: https://www.brailleinstitute.org/library External