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Funding and governance of library and information services for visually impaired people: international case studies
Part2:Country studies
Canada
Copyright
An international copyright exception does not yet exist. There are barriers to international resource sharing of materials in alternative formats.
Education
There is a lack of a uniform educational strategy to engage all sectors about the information gap and the need for an accessible library service.
Factors relating to assistive technologies and services
In 2004, a survey by the CLA Working Group resulted in a response from 24 Canadian institutions (public and university libraries) indicating their best practices dealing with the provision of assistive technologies for library users with print disabilities. Very few institutions provided a full set up of equipment (CCTV, computer stations with magnification software, JAWS and refreshable Braille, reading machines, scanners with OCR, Braille embossers, synthetic speech input and closed captioning equipment). Others had some of the above. Most had at least one input and one output technology. One reported having Industry Canada’s Web 4 All system. The survey revealed the following common challenges:
- Having trained staff on hand to help their library users
- A need for constant vigilance in updating the equipment with the consequent learning curve
- Lack of a standard setup and training materials to assist librarians in better serving their library users with print disabilities
Barriers respondents would most like to remove
Funding
The inability to get a workable digital file in a timely manner so that the appropriate format can be produced simultaneously with the print at no greater cost.
Copyright
Print impaired people are covered under the current Canadian Copyright Act exception within the definition of ‘perceptual disabilities’. “Perceptual Disability” means a disability that prevents or inhibits a person from reading or hearing a literary, musical, dramatic or artistic work in its original format, and includes such a disability resulting from
- severe or total impairment of sight or hearing or the inability to focus or move one’s eyes,
- the inability to hold or manipulate a book, or
- an impairment relating to comprehension.
The Canadian Copyright Act [Canada, Copyright Act, RSC1985, c. C-42, http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-42/index.html] was revised in 1997 to provide exceptions permitting the production of alternative format materials while protecting the rights of publishers.
The Council on Access to Information for Print-Disabled Canadians (the Council) in its 2001 Submission on the Copyright Reform Process [Council on Access to Information for Print-Disabled Canadians. Submission to the Copyright Reform Process (14 September 2001), http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/incrp-prda.nsf/en/rp00250e.html] requested that the act be revised to include additional exceptions for large print publications and for the noncommercial narrative description of cinematographic works to ensure that print-disabled Canadians have equal opportunity to access content irrespective of its format.