[Athen] Converting EPUB to PDF

[George Kerscher]

This is why we want born accessible EPUB from publishers. Oh, and I 1000% agree that the page number navigation needs to be there when there is a print equilivant version of the title.
 
We have to demand this from publishers.
 
Best
George
 
 
From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Susan Kelmer
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2018 9:03 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Converting EPUB to PDF
 
George, this is too simplified.
 
Not every Bookshare book comes with a Word version.  Not every Bookshare book comes with an ePub version.  Most bookshare files I receive are atrociously edited – lack of or misplaced page numbering, no heading levels identified or headings not even there, missing sections like indexes and working table of contents, etc.
 
Bookshare may be making strides, but they are definitely not there yet.  We edit CAREFULLY for our students because we want them to have what they need.  99% of the time, Bookshare is not it.
 
 
Susan Kelmer
Alternate Format Production Program Manager
Disability Services
University of Colorado Boulder
303-735-4836
 
 
From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> > On Behalf Of George Kerscher
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2018 8:53 AM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network' <athen-list at u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu> >
Subject: Re: [Athen] Converting EPUB to PDF
 
Dear Susan,
 
First, Bookshare is now making Word files available. There is a wide range of formats available from Bookshare. Better to just download the format you are looking for rather than going through the torture of converting these materials yourself.
 
Also, Bookshare is making EPUB available, which provides a rich reading experience for everybody, including persons with disabilities.
 
Probably more importantly, publishers are creating Born Accessible EPUB that are fully accessible. This eliminates the need to get a format that is different from what everybody else is reading.
 
If there is anything I can do to helpg DSO folks  provide the materials their students need, feel free to call upon me.
 
 
Best
George
George Kerscher Ph.D.
-In our Information Age, access to information is a fundamental human right.
Chief Innovations Officer, DAISY Consortium
http://www.daisy.org
Senior Advisor, Global Literacy, Benetech
http://www.benetech.org
President, International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) 
http://www.idpf.org
Member of the National Museum and Library Services  Board (IMLS)
http://www.imls.gov
Chair Steering Council Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), a division of the W3C 
http://www.w3c.org/wai 
Phone: +1 406/549-4687
Cell:+1 406/544-2466 
Email: kerscher at montana.com <mailto:kerscher at montana.com> 
 
 
From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> > On Behalf Of Susan Kelmer
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2018 7:41 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu> >
Subject: Re: [Athen] Converting EPUB to PDF
 
Andrea, this is basically what we do with Bookshare files.  Most of my sighted students have no interest in learning to navigate a bookshare file, so we convert to word, add in page numbers and heading levels (because those do not exist or are poorly done in most bookshare files) and then convert word to PDF, or just give the student the word files.
 
Isn’t it amazing the hoops we jump through for your students?  This is also why I am so angry about publishers finding yet another few hoops we have to jump through to get what our students need.  Why are they making things more difficult?
 
Susan Kelmer
Alternate Format Production Program Manager
Disability Services
University of Colorado Boulder
303-735-4836
 
 
 
From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> > On Behalf Of Andrea L. Dietrich
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2018 7:03 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu> >
Subject: Re: [Athen] Converting EPUB to PDF
 
I use a free program called Calibre (also available in a “portable” version in case you don’t have the ability to install software on your computers yourself). It’s designed as a general ebook management program, but it has really good conversion capabilities. The only issues I’ve had with epub to PDF are that sometimes the conversion will divide pages in odd places, and that there are usually no original page numbers to correspond to the hard copy of the book.
 
Depending on your time constraints, you might want to convert the epub to .docx, add page breaks manually in Word, and then convert that file to PDF so that you can “recreate” the original publisher layout for the book, but obviously that’s more time-consuming.
 
Good luck!
 
-Andi :) 
 
--------------------------
Andrea Dietrich 
Cornell University 
Student Disability Services 
Cornell Health, Level 5
110 Ho Plaza
Ithaca, NY 14853 
 <http://sds.cornell.edu/> http://sds.cornell.edu
 
Tel. 607.254.4545 
Fax. 607.255.1562
 
Office Hours: 
Monday-Thursday 8:15AM-4:45PM 
Friday 8:15AM-4:00PM
 
From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> > On Behalf Of Robert Spangler
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2018 8:54 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu> >
Subject: [Athen] Converting EPUB to PDF
 
Hello, is it possible to convert from EPUB to PDF and, if so, how would I go about doing it?  We distribute PDFs only to our students unless otherwise requested, but a publisher on AccessText is stating that Epub is the only option available from them.


 
-- 
Robert Spangler
Disability Services Technical Support Specialist
rspangler1 at udayton.edu <mailto:rspangler1 at udayton.edu> 
Office of Learning Resources (OLR) - RL 023
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