University Library - ADA Services and Resources: Read Aloud Databases

Many EBSCO and Gale databases provide a read aloud option and download to mp3 feature for fulltext articles available in HTML format.

            Select the HTML Full Text link.
            Click on the orange play icon (appearing just under the article's
            title) to start the audio.
            You can select up to three accents from the drop down menu box.
            Click the download icon to download an mp3 file of the audio.

Adobe Acrobat Reader

Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat both have a read aloud feature. This feature will allow PDFs that are ADA accessible to be read out loud for patrons.

In Windows OS to turn the read aloud feature on:

• open the PDF
• go to the View option at the top of the screen and select Read Out Loud and then scroll down to the last option listed called, Activate Read Out Loud
• click on the screen to begin reading

To pause, select a specific section, or, read to the end of the document, select view, the read out loud option, and then the appropriate option (pause, etc.)

In Mac OS to turn the read aloud feature on:

• open the PDF
• go to the Edit option at the top of the screen and select Speech and then select the option, Start Speaking
• reader will start automatically

To stop, select Edit at the top of the screen, then select Speech, and last select the option, Stop Speaking

Full Text - Some of the licensed databases contain citations and abstracts of articles in addition to full text of articles.  To make sure that you access complete articles, click on the full text pre-limit on your search screen.  You may have to use the Advanced Search option or click more search options to display this box.

Scholarly Journals - Your assignments may require you to read artricles from scholarly journals as opposed to popular magazines.  See the link below to learn about the differences between the types of publications.  Licensed databases often allow you to limit your search results to scholarly journals.  Look for the check box that allows you to limit your results to scholarly publications.  Again, this option is found in the Advanced Search mode.

Article types