Text to speech capability exists in some of our databases, for example, our EBSCOHOST and ProQuest databases offer the ability to listen to articles available in HTML format. Our Gale databases offer a “Listen” option that includes the ability to download MP3 files of articles.
While we do not subscribe to a university-wide text to speech service, we present this informational list of tools that could be useful for patrons desiring text to speech options. We do not endorse any particular tool over another. Below are some free tools the reference team has compiled:
ATbar (Free)
Acrobat Reader App (Free, allows you to have PDF files read to you)
Balabolka (Free)
NaturalReader (Free and paid versions)
Orato (Free)
Speechify (Free and paid versions)
(TTS) Reader (Free and paid versions)
NDU Library provides access to some audiobooks through our Overdrive subscription. More information on accessing these titles can be found here. Additional audiobooks can be found on LibriVox, which provides access to free public domain audiobooks (Clausewitz’s On War is an example of a title that might be of interest to students).