Dear Ms. Farrier,

your message below, in which you announce Questia Media's new online
research service, was forwarded to me by one of my colleagues. I look
forward to the beginning of my trial subscription. I just hope that the web
interface for your service will be more in compliance with the American of
Disabilities Act then the Marcomedia-Flash "Overview" and "Tour" features on
your "Welcome to Questia" page. The text in the "Overview" promises
"unlimited access to a wealth of human knowledge." Unlimited for whom, I
wonder? Will your new service be accessible to the millions of U.S. citizens
who, because of some form of print disability (e.g. blindness), access the
web with the help of screen reading software? If not, libraries subscribing
to your new service would violate U.S. law and expose themselves to
potential law suits.

For further information, which provides some of the legal background as well
as a perspective that more and more universities in the country are likely
to adopt, I suggest the following two documents issued by the Chancellor's
Office of California Community Colleges: "Guidelines for Producing
Instructional and Other Materials in Alternate Media for Persons with
Disabilities" (http://www.htctu.fhda.edu/amguidelines/am33000.htm) and
Distance Education: Access Guidelines for Students with Disabilities
(http://www.htctu.fhda.edu/dlguidelines/final%20dl%20guidelines.htm).

Sincerely,

Axel Schmetzke, Ph.D.
Librarian/Assistant Professor
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

cc:
members of the AXSLIB-L discussion group
various individuals





-----Original Message-----
From: Christine N Farrier [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2000 11:08 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Introduction: New Resource


Hello,
I would like to take a moment to introduce myself.  My name is Christine
Farrier and I work for a company called Questia Media.  In January 2001, we
are launching an online research service geared towards helping students
write research papers.  The service will contain 50,000 books in the social
sciences and humanities.  Students will be able to access and search the
full-text of books online.  The service is really about revolutionizing
research and democratizing access to scholarly works.  I believe that this
service will be especially useful as a resource to distance learners and
off campus students who either do not have easy access to a university
caliber library or are squeezing an education into a busy life that
includes work and family.
I am providing a link that will allow you to see a demo of the service and
access a complimentary trial.  http://www.questia.com/trial/page/index.html
.  Please let me know what you think and how relevant this service would be
to the constituents that you service. Feel free to forward this e-mail to
anyone else you think might have some interest
Thank you
Christine Farrier
Corporate Strategy