Hello AXSLIB and ACCESS-L folk,

Steve Noble of RFBD asks about trends in access to libraries by users who have
print disabilities.  I wonder if we shouldn't be asking new questions.
Considering:
* increasing numbers of print-disabled have a computer at home;
* increasing numbers have access to the internet;
* a significant proportion of blind people have difficulty getting to a library;
* those who can get to a library may have their own access system,
which they might prefer to use rather than using whatever the library has;
* increasingly the access system will be available on a pocket computer
which the user could take to the library;
* only a small proportion of blind people can read Braille;
* the emerging de facto standard for mark-up of text is HTML with CSS;

the questions I would ask are:
1. Can the library provide information to customers on floppy disc or CD-ROM,
in ASCII or HTML form?
2. Can the library provide information to customers via internet?
3. Can the library provide remote access to their services via the internet?
4. When a print-disabled person goes to the library, can they be provided
with a means to electronically record results (e.g. results of a search,
a piece of etext, or text output from an OCR machine) on floppy disc to
take away with them (just as a sighted person might get a print-out or
use a copier)?
5. When a print-disabled person goes to a library, can they plug in their
own access system to enable them to use the computer-based services that the
library provides?

I'd be interested in whether any libraries can answer more than the first
two questions in the affirmative.

Cheers from Chiswick,

John
--
P.S.  Here is the message to AXSLIB to which I am responding.
In message  <[log in to unmask]>
[log in to unmask] writes:

>I am trying to get a sampling of current trends among libraries for the
>provision of accessible texts to library users who have print disabilities.
>I am particularly interested in getting feedback from academic libraries, but
>information from any library would be useful.
>
>Here are my questions:
>1. Do you provide special services on demand at all times your library is open,
>or only during certain posted times?
>
>2. Do you have OCR electronic reading packages such as Reading Edge or
>Telesensory Domino portable readers for patron use?
>
>3. Do you provide a braille embosser for patron use on demand?
>
>4. Do your staff ever assist patrons in finding accessible texts through the
>use of the NLS, APH, or RFBD online catalogs on the Web?
>
>5. Are your OPAC terminals equipped with text enlargement or screen readers?
>
>6. Do any of you use microfilm OCR technology such as recently released by
>Xerox?
>
>Feel free to answer any or all of these questions.  The feedback will help me
>get a good sampling of access provisions currently in use.  And of course,
>the more replies I get the better the sampling, non-scientific though it may
>be.
>
>Thanks for your help,
>Steve Noble, Technical Consultant
>Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic
>Member, Project EASI Equal Access to Software and Information
>Co-Moderator AXSLIB-L Access to Libraries Listserv
>Contributing Editor, ITD Information Technology and Disabilities
>Vice-Chair, Kentucky Assistive Technology Service Network Advisory Board

--
Access the word, access the world       Tel/fax +44 181 742 3170/8715
John Nissen                             Email to [log in to unmask]
Cloudworld Ltd., Chiswick, London, UK   http://www.tommy.demon.co.uk