Statement on Accessibility

The University of Minnesota Press is committed to making its publications inclusive and accessible to the widest audience possible.

The University of Minnesota Press is committed to making its publications inclusive and accessible to the widest audience possible. Books published by the University of Minnesota Press are available through Bookshare (bookshare.org), an accessible online library for people with print disabilities. We endorse the Society for Disability Studies guidelines for accessibility in scholarship and are working to expand capacity to make our books accessible. The University of Minnesota Press fully supports the guidelines and is invested in meeting them.

In our work, accessibility means a shift from a publishing mindset that assumes audiences read solely with their eyes, and intentionally also considers those who read with their fingers and ears. It helps our print books be more visually effective for those who can’t see colors; it helps our ebooks better function with assistive technology to convert text to speech or to output braille; it enables customizable fonts to help people with dyslexia and low-vision readers, and more. It allows people who are visually impaired to access and navigate the graphic elements of our books and website and social media engagements, such as images, graphs, tables, maps, and interviews, through alternative text, long descriptions, or captioning embedded in the code and accessible through reading devices. 

Working toward accessibility is an effort to build flexibility into our program so that our publications might be maximally usable, whatever the needs or preferences of our readers.

Accessibility Working Group

An interdepartmental Press working group meets regularly to set a standard for these efforts, including the following:

  • Determine best overall accessibility practices.
  • Define accessibility standards for our Press.
  • Establish integrated workflows to acquire, develop, produce, and market accessible products in-house and identify technological challenges and opportunities for integrated workflow.
  • Build on existing conversion sources for products outside in-house scope.
  • Update manuscript preparation guidelines for authors for submitting more accessible products.
  • Develop goals and timeframe for phased accessibility of our products.



How do I know if a book is accessible?

Books with digital versions in EPUB format that have accessibility features can be found here and are indicated on our website with the text "Accessibility features" in the description on the product page.

Accessibility features for EPUBs have been focused primarily on meeting accessibility standards and creating textual descriptions of images for books. Titles in the accessibility program have features such as basic textual descriptions of images (alt text).

Ebook support

Available ebook reading systems vary widely in their support for accessibility features. Visit EPUB Test for accessibility support information for specific platforms, or contact us if you have a question about the best reading system for your needs.

Contact us

Readers needing an alternative format of a University of Minnesota Press publication, who have questions about how to find and access University of Minnesota Press books, or who require assistance or wish to report an issue related to accessibility of any content we produce, please send an email to ump@umn.edu. (If applicable, please include the URL or book title and the specific problems you have encountered.)

COLLECTION: Browse University of Minnesota Press books with accessible EPUB format