Bethesda, Md., USA
(March 15, 2002)

Today, NISO, the National Information Standards Organization,
announced that the national standard for the Digital Talking Book
(ANSI/NISO Z39.86-2002) has been approved.

A Digital Talking Book (DTB) is a collection of electronic files
arranged to present information to the blind and physically
handicapped reader via alternative media. The most common medium will be
human speech. However, a DTB produced in accordance with the new
standard can include a file containing the contents of the document in
text form, thereby permitting output via synthetic speech, refreshable
braille display devices, or visual display in large print.

The NISO DTB standard, whose development was coordinated by the
Library of Congress's National Library Service for the Blind and
Physically
Handicapped (NLS), will make electronic resources presented in DTB
format more accessible to print-disabled readers worldwide. "The
five-year effort was completed by an international committee
representing a broad range of stakeholders dedicated to providing
alternative-format materials to print-disabled readers," explained
Patricia Harris, NISO Executive Director. The standards project was
coordinated by Michael M. Moodie, NLS Research and Development
Officer, who chaired and organized the NISO Digital Talking Book
Committee's meetings and work groups from its inception in 1997 through
the final approval of the standard by the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI) on March 6, 2002.  "This standard will facilitate the
efficient presentation of information through a variety of alternative
media and will make it easier for readers to navigate the digital
world," Moodie
said.

The international community partners with NLS in this complex effort
are the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (of
the American Library Association); American Council of the Blind;
American Foundation for the Blind; American Printing House for the
Blind;
Blinded Veterans Association; Canadian National Institute for the Blind;
the DAISY Consortium; Hadley School for the Blind; Assistive Devices
Industry Office-Industry Canada; IsSound Corporation; National
Federation of the Blind; Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic; Talking
Book Publishers, Inc.; Telex Communications, Inc.; VisuAide, Inc.; and
the World Blind Union.

"The ANSI/NISO DTB standard is built on specifications and needs
formulated by blind and visually impaired users, who were heavily
involved in every aspect of the development effort, "Harris said. She
noted that "during the development process, the full committee met
eleven times across the United States and Canada and smaller working
groups met countless times in person and via conference calls and
e-mail."

In explaining the importance of the DTB standard, Moodie said "it
makes possible a powerful, flexible reading system that easily adapts to

different types of documents and different user needs. It provides a
framework under which a person or agency can create DTBs ranging from
a very simple novel to a long, complex reference work or textbook. The
standard was built as far as possible on existing standards and
specifications, so programming skills and software tools developed for
other purposes can be applied to the DTB world."

"The real beauty of the DTB standard is that it allows users great
flexibility in how they read those DTBs-some will want a straight,
linear reading experience, while others will need sophisticated
functions that allow random access to sections of the DTB, the ability
to turn on or off elected elements (e.g., footnotes), and the
capability to set bookmarks, highlight portions of text, or do keyword
searches," Moodie said.

According to Frank Kurt Cylke, NLS Director, "The bottom line is that
this single standard addresses the requirements of a range of agencies
serving users with a wide variety of reading needs. It is truly a
universal standard that will benefit the blind community for
generations to come."

The International Coalition of Access Engineers and Specialists
(ICAES) named NISO as one of the winners of their 2001 Collaboration and

Coordination Award for its work in developing the DTB specifications.

This standard, like all NISO standards, is available for downloading
free from the NISO web site (http://www.niso.org ).

About NISO: NISO is the only U.S. group accredited by the American
National Standards Institute to develop and promote technical
standards for use in information delivery services providing voluntary
standards for libraries, publishers and related information technology
organizations. All NISO standards are developed by consensus under the
guidance of experts and practitioners in the field to meet the needs
of both the information user and the producer. For information about
NISO's current standardization interests and membership possibilities,
please visit the NISO website at http://www.niso.org .

About NLS: Over the past seventy years, the National Library Service
for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), Library of Congress, has

been a leader in provision of library services to blind and physically
handicapped individuals. Each year it distributes 23 million books and
magazines to a readership of more than 759,000 individuals who cannot
read regular print for visual or physical reasons. NLS functions as
the largest and frequently only source of recreational and information
reading materials and services for a segment of the population who
cannot readily use the print materials of public libraries. The NLS
International Union Catalog contains 382,000 titles in 22 million
copies. The average reader borrows 40 recorded books and magazines a
year. As an integral part of the Library of Congress, NLS every year
selects, produces, catalogs, and distributes 2,000 full-length books
and magazines in 2,000,000 braille and recorded copies. Reading
materials
are distributed to a cooperating network of 141 regional and
subregional libraries where they are circulated to eligible borrowers.
Reading materials and playback machines are provided free to borrowers
and returned to libraries by postage-free mail. For additional
information
about NLS, please visit its web site: http://www.loc.gov/nls .

For additional information contact:

For NISO: Marilyn Geller Communications Coordinator National
Information Standards Organization Telephone: (301) 654-2512 E-mail:
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For NLS: Robert E. Fistick Head, Publications and Media Section
National Library Service for the Blind  and Physically Handicapped The
Library of Congress Washington, DC 20542 Telephone: (202) 707-9279
E-mail:  [log in to unmask]