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Funding and governance of library and information services for visually impaired people: international case studies

Part2:Country studies

Australia

The view from the user’s perspective

Vision Australia

Vision Australia Information Library Service provides access to a range of fiction and non-fiction, reference, newspapers, magazines, textbooks, children’s literature, scientific and academic works through the provision of a free public library service.

To access the collections clients must fill out an application form that is available online, via the post or from a range of local and regional centres. All applications must be signed by an appropriate referee to certify that a client meets the eligibility criterion. Referees include people such as health care professionals, librarian, and teachers.

The library catalogue can be accessed via the phone or on line. Once a client has joined the library the Library Management System (LMS) AURORA is used to construct a reader profile. The LMS automatically circulates the titles, authors, and genres that the client chooses. Materials are currently circulated via the mail (fiction and non-fiction, reference, textbooks, audio-described video) and online (newspapers, scientific journals) with books to be delivered online in the near future. Profiles are dynamic and are updated regularly in conversation with member services librarians who can be contact via a virtual reference services on-line via e-mail twenty-four hours a day or over the phone during business hours and services clients throughout Australia.

A client can suggest a new title for the collection using the “Suggestions” module of the LMS. The acquisition of such a new title depends of Collections Policy and the annual acquisition budget.

Education

Schools

State education authorities provide textbooks in Braille and other formats to primary and secondary schools.

Higher education

A visually impaired person in a tertiary institution checks the Library catalogue to see if the Library holds the item in accessible electronic format. The person accesses the item from their home or in the library and manipulates the data to their preferred format.

If the item is unavailable from the Library in accessible electronic format the student contacts the Disability Officer or the Library at their institution to request the item.

If the library holds the item in print format the Disability Officer or the Library may enlarge the required section if that format is suitable for the student.

If the Library does not hold the print item or if large print is unsuitable the Disability Officer or the Library checks if an electronic version of the text is available commercially and arranges purchase.

If the Library does not hold the print item or if large print is unsuitable the Disability Officer or the Library checks The Catalogue Of Master Copies For Use By Institutions Assisting People With Disabilities maintained by the Copyright Agency Limited. If item is listed arranges to obtain copy in appropriate format

If the item is not listed in the CAL Catalogue the Disability Officer or the Library checks Libraries Australia (the national union catalogue) to see if the item is available in another library in Australia in an appropriate format. If item is listed arranges to obtain a copy.

If the item is not available through those sources the Library contacts the publisher to request an electronic copy or licence to scan if an electronic copy is not available.

The Disability Officer or the Library may choose to use a commercial provider such as Vision Australia or Macquarie Customised Accessibility Services to provide materials in accessible formats.

A reference work

A limited range of reference works, such as general and subjectspecific dictionaries, are available in formats such as Braille for access by people with vision disabilities. However, these are rarely held by tertiary sector libraries. There would need to be specific demand for the purchase of these materials by students with vision disabilities studying at individual institutions given storage and financial issues. If a reference work should be required by a student, they would need to be registered with their institution as a student with a disability. This requires them to contact their disability services section or equity office to have their needs assessed. As part of this process, they would be required to provide supporting documentation from a qualified medical practitioner or allied health professional before being referred to their library for assistance. Next, the student would need to communicate with the reference librarian an their institution library to initially request the work. If available in a suitable format, the library may be able to obtain it from a specialist library on an inter-library loan basis. If it is not available and their was sufficient demand for the work, the library would consider its purchase in the required format when sufficient funds permitted the cost of its production in the required format being met. From the point of view of the vision impaired user, this could amount to lengthy delays in accessing required material.

A periodical

An increasing range of periodicals are available in electronic form. However, many are only available in PDF form which poses problems for vision impaired computer users ? particularly those with access to older technology. If required, an institutional library would need to attempt to source the material or arrange for its conversion in to Word or text format. This would then provide some flexibility for having the material produced in Braille, audio or large print format by the library or suitable accessible format producer.

A scientific journal article or volume

Generally speaking, vision impaired students would need assistance from library staff in accessing hard copy versions for individual transcription in to an appropriate format by an accessible format producer. Alternatively, students may scan material from these sources using equipment available in dedicated areas within individual libraries which house equipment for use by students with disabilities. These courses of action need to be taken in most instances given the limited availability of such resources in accessible format. However, this situation may improve with the increasing use of electronic media for their publication. Libraries will still play an important role in facilitating access by individual students to these resources by providing required computer hardware and software needed by people with vision disabilities to access written information and assistance with conversion of this type of material should its initial format be inaccessible to these users.

An academic book

Generally speaking, Australian tertiary education libraries do not purchase academic texts in accessible formats for use by students with vision disabilities. This function is generally performed by disability service areas of individual institutions. Libraries can, however, play an important role in making hard copies of required academic texts available to accessible format producers on extended loan to allow for their contents to be transcribed in to an appropriate format for use by individual students. The accessible format producers are generally contracted on a fee-for-service basis to undertake this work by disability services areas located separately within tertiary institutions.

General note

In attempting to source the material referred to in the abovementioned situations, students with vision disabilities must plan as far ahead as possible in relation to their accessible format material requirements for study in order to minimise the risk of experiencing considerable delays and frustration in utilising prescribed and recommended educational resources on the same basis as their sighted peers.

User survey

A 2002 survey by Blind Citizens Australia [http://www.nla.gov.au/initiatives/meetings/disabilities/blind.html], the main representative organisation for visually impaired people, found that along with the widely recognised problem of the small proportion of reading matter of all kinds available in accessible formats there is a less well-known problem that visually impaired people have little access to the means of knowing what materials do exist, as catalogues are often inaccessible, even when they are online. This problem of catalogue inaccessibility was worse in the case of public than specialist libraries. It also found that public libraries have paid more attention to access issues for those with physical disabilities than sensory ones; labelling of large print and audio books, lighting and shelving positioning were often poor from the viewpoint of visually impaired people, for example. Technological fixes such as reading machines and computers with screen readers were under-used due to lack of staff trained to understand them and help visually impaired people to use them. The paper also mentions the uneven distribution of special libraries geographically and the fragmented nature of the provision ? though this has been partly rectified by the Vision Australia merger. The survey found that most visually impaired people used 2 or 3 libraries and a significant proportion used 4 or more, including overseas specialist libraries. Two-thirds of people used their local public library.