Support for reading and writing

Do you need extra support when reading and writing? Here you find information about the library's resources and aids available for you. You can also contact our librarians for more information.

Ask a question or book a personal introduction. Use the subject area "Support for reading and writing".

Order recording or adaptation of course literature

If your mandatory textbook is not available in Legimus you can order it here.

Book resource room

Book here if you have access to the resource rooms.

We can assist you

If you need support with reading and writing you can:

get a personal introduction by librarians to the available support
listen to your course literature
study in calm resource rooms
use assistive technology on your computer.

Who are qualified to receive reading and writing support?

Reading and writing support is available for you with:

difficulties with reading, absorbing information and comprehending text, such as dyslexia
visual impairments
hearing impairments
neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism, adhd or add
a physical impairment that makes printed books difficult to handle
a temporary reading impairment, for example caused by illness.

Personal introduction

You can book one of our librarians for a personal introduction to the available support. At the introduction we will demonstrate computer programs that makes reading and writing easier. We will also create an account for you so that you can borrow "talking books" in audio formats from the digital library Legimus.

Use the library contact form to book a personal introduction or ask a question. Use the subject area "Support for reading and writing".

Adapted course literature

You have the right to get access to your mandatory textbook in an adapted format if you have trouble reading printed books. For instance, you may need to listen to it or read it using various aids instead. The most common adaptation is getting your literature in an audio format, so called "talking books".

Use an app or a computer to listen to talking books

You borrow books in audio format from the digital library Legimus. Our librarians help you to get access to the service. We can also help with navigating the Legimus home page, since it's in Swedish.

You can listen to the books through your computer or using an app on your phone or tablet.

Legimus

Order adaptated course literature that's not already available

If your mandatory textbook is not available in Legimus you may order it via the library. Order the adaptation of the book in good time before you need it. Just producing the book will take Legimus around 8-12 weeks.

Order recording or adaptation of course literature

Resource rooms and computers with assistive technology

Resource rooms

If you need an extra calm environment or adaptations when studying you can gain access to our resource rooms. In the rooms you find computers with

advanced spelling programs
screen magnification software
speech synthesis
scanner.

There are three resource rooms at the central university library and a temporary resource room at the Medical library.

Book resource room

Computer programs in the resource rooms

For reading:

Claro read plus - speech synthesis
Claro bookreader - speech synthesis for pdf files
Zoom text - a magnifying program with speech synthesis
Easy reader - program for reading talking books on a computer
Easy converter - program for converting Word-documents to talking books

For writing:

Spell right 2 - spelling software
Gustavas ordböcker - dictionaries in Swedish/English and Swedish with speech synthesis and word prediction
Omnipage - optical character recognition (OCR) program, making many different file formats and documents searchable and possible to edit

Programs to download to your computer

All students at Umeå university can download programs that make reading and writing easier. The programs aid through:

speech synthesis
spelling and grammar checks
predicting and suggesting words.

Find more information about the available programs on the student web:

Software for students

We work with support for reading and writing

Henrik Andersson Librarian

+46 90 786 90 84

Ulrika Lindén Librarian

+46 90 786 88 06

Maria Martinsson Librarian

+46 90 786 59 92

Emil Öhlén Librarian

+46 90 786 56 74

Annika Pudas Librarian

+46 90 786 91 73