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Funding and governance of library and information services for visually impaired people: international case studies
Part2:Country studies
South Korea
Materials provision
Braille
Original materials supplied: ----.
Conversion: transcripter (specialist)
On-demand: Yes
Stock: It depends on the sort of books: 21286 books for 5275 titles in total
Targets for range/depth/speed: Its range is very wide, as literature, tactile drawing book for the children, illustrated animal/plant book, map, textbook and reference for study for the university students, and technical reading materials related with the vocation. Its speed for the production of a book is depends on the kinds of book.
Audio Daisy
Original materials supplied: ----.
Conversion: Reader (volunteer like housewife or narrator) or TTS
On-demand: Yes
Stock: It depends on the kinds of book. 1927 books for 954 titles in total
Targets for range/depth/speed: Its range is very wide, as literature, tactile drawing book for the children, illustrated animal/plant book, map, textbook and reference for study for the university students, and technical reading materials related with the vocation. Its speed for the production of a book is depends on the kind of books.
Braille Books Production
The Library produces Braille books in diverse areas such as education, work, and rehabilitation as well as specialised books, and books on religion, philosophy, culture, literature and children’s books. This amounts to 300 books per month and 3,000 per year. [http://infor.kbll.or.kr/new/eng/biz_intor.asp]
The library provides the following services:
Books for leisure/recreation/informal learning
Large format print
Braille
Newspapers
Weekly audio summary
Daily on-line delivery of formatted XML files
Magazines
Large format print
Audio on standard CD or cassette
Braille
Official publications/public information
Large format print
Audio on standard CD
Braille
The library also provides (to Visually Impaired People):
- Online access
- Training in Braille
- Training in use of alternative formats and equipment
- Loan of standard consumer equipment such as CD players and cassette players
Decisions about which titles are to be converted to an accessible format are made by:
- Committee of experts chooses titles: 20% of titles
- Winners of literary prizes/reviews: 20% of titles
- On demand by the clients: 40% of titles
- Other (please specify): 20% of titles
DAISY in Korea
The Korean Braille Library is the only organization in Koreas that authors DAISY contents (Approx. 1,900 books for 950 titles).
In past, there were no authoring tools developed in Korea, so MyStudio and LP-Studio/Pro were used to author DAISY contents. The number of hardware players distributed was very small.
Authoring tools are important in increasing the amount of DAISY content. The Korean Braille Library has entrusted the development of an authoring tool to HIMS. KBL will distribute this authoring tool to all organizations for visually impaired people that want to publish DAISY contents in Korea. Development started in May 2006; a beta version is expected in December 2006 and field test in January
2007. The launch of the final version will be February 2007. It will be distributed to all Braille libraries and welfare centers in Korea. KBL and HIMS will train someone in each organisation in ten cities to use the authoring tool. [DAISY in Korea, August 2007, K. S. Choi/ HIMS