Services for Special Needs

Webster University support

Webster students who wish to use the Library and require additional accommodations (besides those listed below) should contact the Webster University Academic Resource Center 314-968-7495 for assistance prior to a library visit.

Library facility information

• Parking. Handicapped parking is available along the Edgar Rd. side of the library. Visitor parking is also available in the Garden Plaza Parking Garage on Garden Avenue. You must sign the sheet by the 1st floor Service Desk if you use any of these spaces. If the visitor spots in the garage are filled, you may park in any space as long as you sign in at the library. Additional campus visitor spaces are available in front of Webster Hall, along side of Loretto Hall, behind the University Center, behind the Alumni House, by University Admissions and the Loretto-Hilton Center. If you have questions about parking on campus, please contact the Webster University Office of Public Safety at 314-968-7430.
• Elevators. An elevator is located in the Cyber Café and at the south end of each floor.
• Rest rooms. A family/accessible/unisex rest room is available on the 1st floor in the Cyber Café. Additional rest rooms can be found at the south end of each floor by the elevator.
• Floorplans for each floor are linked from our main Emerson information page.
• Retrieving Materials from the Collection: The library staff will help patrons who need assistance to locate or retrieve books and other materials in the library. Ask at the first floor service desk or call 314-968-6952 for more information.

Library adaptive technology (ADA)

Most of the following items are available in the Adaptive Technology Room (ADA) on the 2nd floor, see floorplan. Many programs require training for first-time users. Webster University students should contact the Academic Resource Center for information or call 314-968-6952 to make an appointment at the library for training.

• Kurzweil 3000: Kurzweil is a comprehensive software package including synthesized reading, OCR, digital annotation, test-taking, and word-processing capabilities. Kurzweil 3000 presents material in either visual or auditory formats. It may be able to help students with visual impairments, learning differences or disabilities, ESL concerns, difficulty reading, or test anxiety.
• OpenBook: OPENBook is an optical character recognition (OCR) scanning software used for scanning and reading printed text. Books or papers are placed on the scanner, scanned, and translated into speech. Users "listen" to the scanned text with headphones. The text is also displayed on the monitor and can be considerably enlarged. A yellow cursor movers over each word as the text is "read" into the headset. Because the text is displayed on the screen, it may also improve reading skills.
• Zoom Text screen magnification software: Zoom Text is a computer program that magnifies the computer screen and is designed to assist the visually impaired. The software can increase the size of the screen from two to 16 times it's normal size and includes the ability to modify display colors to increase contrast, invert colors (i.e. white letters on a black background), or switch to a grayscale display.
• Dragon Naturally Speaking/Dictate: This software allows a patron to create documents by dictation and to operate Windows with a set of vocal commands. The advantage of this software is that it "learns" to understand an individual's voice as he/she speaks naturally. With Dragon Naturally Speaking/Dictate a user can compose documents in Word by vocal commands.
• JAWS (Job Access With Success): This software reads the computer screen to users. It is particularly useful for reading web pages as well as windows and menus that appear on-screen. Headphones are provided so that other library users are not disturbed.
• CCTV: The device provides magnification of materials, reverse imaging, changeable combinations of text and background, and margin adjustments.
• The Pocketmate Handheld Video magnifier: available to check out for use in the library; ask at the 1st floor service desk.
• The Victor Reader Vibe CD-MP3 player: available to check out for use in the library; ask at the 1st floor service desk.