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New York, New York, January 26, 2009
Busy students and other researchers now have a new reason to appreciate WilsonWeb full-text databases. WilsonWeb's new ReadSpeaker tool converts the databases' HTML full-text articles into audio files for immediate listening or downloading for later, with no plug-ins or special software necessary. Listen to articles as streaming audio or save the files in MP3 format to iPods and other portable devices, for listening as you commute, relax or exercise. The new tool covers content from some 2,500 publications back as far as 15 years.

ReadSpeaker also makes WilsonWeb's full-text content accessible to a wider range of users, including people with dyslexia and other learning challenges, users whose low vision, blindness, or physical handicap makes it difficult to read a standard printed page, and others who might like to hear as well as read the words, such as users who struggle with English or those challenged by low literacy.

For the sight-impaired, ReadSpeaker opens a new world of content to complement the lauded Talking Book programs in libraries around the U.S. What Talking Books does for book literature, WilsonWeb's ReadSpeaker does for a wide range of periodical content. For fiction lovers, ReadSpeaker even delivers the more than 4,200 short stories provided in full text on Wilson's Short Story Index database.

Twenty of WilsonWeb's full-text databases will feature ReadSpeaker, including Applied Science & Technology Full Text; Art Full Text; Biological & Agricultural Index Plus; Book Review Digest Plus; Current Issues: Environment; Current Issues: Health; Current Issues: Reference Shelf Plus; Education Full Text; General Science Full Text; Humanities Full Text; Index to Legal Periodicals Full Text; Library Literature & Information Science Full Text; Readers' Guide Full Text, Mega Edition; Readers' Guide Full Text, Select Edition; Science Full Text Select; Short Story Index; Social Sciences Full Text; Wilson Business Full Text; Wilson OmniFile Full Text, Mega Edition; and Wilson OmniFile Full Text, Select Edition. Each is available for free 30-day trials.

"WilsonWeb has always met Section 508 requirements," said Ron Miller, Director of Product Management, referring to ordinances that oblige system compatibility with screen-reading devices. "With ReadSpeaker, we exceed 508, enhancing accessibility for an important segment of the public."

About H.W. Wilson

Since 1898, independent publisher H.W. Wilson has provided researchers with references produced with unmatched editorial integrity. More than 60 H.W. Wilson databases—indexes, abstracts, full text resources, plus the acclaimed Retrospective Collection—meet the research needs of customers around the globe. From the long-popular Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature to today's widely-praised Current Issues: Reference Shelf Plus and Current Issues: Health, H.W. Wilson products are created for librarians, by librarians. Over 150 Wilson editorial staff members with MLS or MLIS degrees—multi-lingual trained librarians and subject specialists--build the Wilson references each day.

Contact: 
Roseward Sky
Phone (800) 367-6770, x2272
Email: rsky@hwwilson.com

Frank Daly

Phone: (800) 367-6770, x2312

Email: fdaly@hwwilson.com