Newsletter IFLA Libraries Serving Persons with Print Disabilities Section 2009/2 The IFLA/LPD Newsletter is issued twice a year. Editors: Minna von Zansen Celia Library P.O. Box 20 FI-00030 IIRIS, Finland Tel: +358-9-2295 2231 Fax: +358-9-2295 2295 E-mail:minna.vonzansen@celialib.fi www.celialib.fi Jenny Craven The Centre for Research in Library and Information Management (CERLIM) Dept. Information and Communications The Manchester Metropolitan University Geoffrey Manton Building Rosamond Street West Manchester M15 6LL UK Tel: +44-0-161 247 6142 Fax: +44-0-161 247 6979 E-mail: j.craven@mmu.ac.uk www.cerlim.ac.uk The Newsletter is available on www.ifla.org In this issue A Word from the Chair Braille Celebrations New Standing Committee Members Resolution Obtained by LPD at the P3 Satellite Meeting, August 2009 P3 Conference: People, Public Libraries, Publishers Connecting with the Future: Report on DAISY2009 Conference in Leipzig, Germany New Research on Learning Braille for People with Acquired Sight Loss News Photos of SC Members 2009 Standing Committee Members A Word from the Chair It has now been sometime since most of us were together at the IFLA convention in Milan. A number of events have occurred since then and this report will provide an update. However firstly I would like to say a big thank you to Bente Dahl Rathje for her leadership of the section committee over the past years. She has been instrumental in enabling our name to be changed to truly reflect the work we do. She has represented us at every level within IFLA and at other forums she has attended on our behalf. One such representation has been the support shown by IFLA of the LPD resolution presented at the Milan conference asking for IFLA to: • work for further ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by their national governments, and to take action to enhance its implementation and monitoring • work with international partners on highlighting and including the development of library and information services to persons with a disability, in implementation and monitoring of the United Nations Convention. • advocate for cross border collection sharing and lending, such as envisaged in the Global Library Project for print-Disabled Users, in view of international regulations, such as the proposed WIPO Treaty; • work for inclusive (inter)national reading and library campaigns Thankfully Bente is staying on the section committee so we can continue to utilise her wisdom and sagacious advice. Global Library Thanks to RNIB who have provided funds to the DAISY Consortium we now have a project manager employed for 3 days per week. The current status of the project is that the Discovery and Access and the Shared cataloguing working groups are finalising the specification and this is due at the end of November. At the same time Margaret McGrory and myself will pull together a strategic document, which incorporates the functional specification and outlines the future direction of the project. It is expected that this final report will be available for us to discuss at our next Section meeting in Helsinki (late January 2010) as we will need to endorse the direction and process developed as recommended by the Global Library Steering committee. Members of the Global Library Steering committee representing LPD apart from myself are Koen Krikhaar, Francois Hendrikz, and Helen Brazier. WIPO During October I have been involved with meetings and email correspondence in relation to the WIPO Treaty for Print Disabled People. The WIPO Treaty for Improved Access for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons has been tabled at WIPO by three countries, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay. This treaty aims to help ensure that all persons who are reading disabled throughout the world being can access published material and so access books for education, employment, learning or recreation. To achieve the sharing of accessible books between reading disabled people's organisations and resolve the problem mentioned above, there is a need for international harmonization of limitations and exceptions to copyrighted works. An international treaty on copyright exceptions for reading disabled people would be an effective way to do this (please refer to www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=122732). The treaty would: • Create limited exceptions to the exclusive rights of authors under copyright, in order to make an accessible format of a work, and to distribute copies to people who have reading disabilities • Allow the cross-border export and import of accessible works that are created under such exceptions • Allow the circumvention of technological protection measures, when this is necessary to render a work accessible • Make provisions in private contracts that are contrary to the exceptions null and void. The exceptions in the treaty are split into to two categories. For activities undertaken on a non-profit basis, the exception is easier to use, and does not require payment of royalties to authors. There is also the possibility of a for-profit company using the exemptions, but only when an accessible format is "not reasonably available in an identical or largely equivalent format" from the copyright owner, and when the for-profit entity provides both notice and "adequate remuneration" to the copyright owner. The non-profit exception is mandatory, but countries are allowed to opt out of the for-profit exception. Trusted Intermediaries project At the November 2008 Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meeting the Rights Holders proposed the establishment of a Stakeholders Platform (SP) which would be promoted through SCCR under the auspices of WIPO. Within the scope of the SP, a Working Group (WG) on Trusted Intermediaries was created. This WG is made up of representatives of both print-disabled persons and Rights Holders who have negotiated a set of guidelines to govern cross-border exchange of material protected by copyright between Trusted Intermediaries (TIs). Two documents, as tasked by the Stakeholder Platform, have been drafted: "Trusted Intermediary Guidelines", and "Trusted Intermediaries - Pilot Outline". Representatives of print-disabled persons and rightsholders have negotiated a set of guidelines to govern cross-border exchange of material protected by copyright between Trusted Intermediaries (TIs). The TI Guidelines are developed as high level principles to serve as a prototype for real life testing before finalization (the pilot phase). IFLA 2010 Our next IFLA meeting will be held Gothenburg Sweden 10-15th August. The theme of the Gothenburg conference is open access ideas and suggestions for papers should be sent to Koen Krikhaar, Bente Dahl Rathje or Francois Hendrikz. Julie Rae LPD Chair Braille Celebrations Celebration of Louis Braille 200th Anniversary in Russia The program of celebration for 2008-2009 “Braille Readings” included more than 40 events devoted to the promotion of the Braille system. The main tasks were the distribution of information about the life and work of Louis Braille, stimulating interest of the Braille heritage, encouraging more visually impaired people to learn the relief-dot system of reading and writing to enable them to participate successfully in society. In March of 2009 the Russian State Library for the Blind and Institute of Professional Rehabilitation and Personnel Training of All-Russian Association of the Blind held an International conference devoted to the 200th Anniversary of Louis Braille «Braille: history and modern times». The conference brought together many people from various organizations working with the visually impaired: representatives of government, special councils, libraries, publishing houses and schools. To provide more people with information about the Anniversary of Louis Braille and results of the RGBS conference RGBS. More than 120 works from 30 special and public libraries took part in the All-Russian competition for the best creative work “Book and visually impaired people: family reading organizing”. Distinguished and young persons demonstrated great interest and resourcefulness in organizing family reading and the provision of the relief-dot system for visually impaired people. One of the most outstanding anniversary events was a book exhibition “Louis Braille phenomenon — 6 dots script” presenting large collections of books and magazines, materials, illustrated documents about Louis Braille's life and creativity. The exhibition generated immense interest as it contains rare editions and photos of the history of Braille in Russia. A virtual version of the exhibition will be accessible on the RGBS site next year. An audio record is available through library loan, on the Internet and by telephone. A set of events was devised for visually impaired young children: The program “Magic points”, quizzes and games, creative family parties, “meetings with the first book”. List of topics, competitions and excursions were provided for older children. The most popular was the competition for students of different ages “A Braille letter to Louis Braille”, which was organized by RGBS and a publishing house for the blind “School bulletin”. Blind children from different regions of Russia wrote letters to Louis Braille as to a person very dear to them. They described their life, favourite lessons and books. In all sincerity they wrote about friends, hopes and prospects, expressed their gratitude to Louis Braille for the invention of the relief-dot system that gave blind people support in their lives. For specialists — librarians, teachers and psychologists — working with visually impaired people RGBS organized exhibitions of rare Braille editions, prepared sets of materials “Musical Braille”, “Mathematical Braille creating for special, public and school libraries”, “Digital Braille”. The important task of this work is to provide public libraries, schools and institutions with information about methods for teaching visually impaired students. The program will be continuing in the network of integrated education and library service after 2009. This very special event was provided for elderly people who cannot go out of their homes. They could participate in the action “Bookmark”. Bookmarks were enclosed in all Braille books distributed through the non-stationary library service and elderly readers could write their impressions of the book and recommendations for other readers using the relief dot system. Similar actions were organized for a wide range of Library readers: “Let’s exchange of opinions after reading” and a distance conference of visually impaired readers “Why I’ll read Braille always…” There are a lot of interesting, fascinating and helpful Braille books. RGBS invited to readers to talk about books which impressed them most of all, which encouraged deeper thought and even changed their lives. The letters that were not obtained during the program became the base of an exhibition “The readers recommend”. In December 2009 RGBS held a conference for readers where the results of the whole anniversary program were discussed. The conference was very well attended. All participants received letters of appreciation and commendation prizes. The anniversary year is over but the work in distribution of Braille literacy will be continued. The program “Braille readings” gave this process a creative impulse and placed it into a new level of effectiveness. Elena Zakharova, Galina Elfimova, Russian State Library for the Blind Braille Celebrations in Croatia During the whole of 2009, the Croatian Library for the Blind has performed lot of activities to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Louis Braille’s birth. January: A competition in Braille reading was organized in local branch organizations of the blind. February: The project named “For those who watch with a heart” started in cooperation with the Archaeological Museum of Zagreb and the Croatian glagolitic youth at elementary school near the library. Pupils of third classes were the target group. The aim of project was to acquaint pupils with old and different letters as Braille, hieroglyphs and glagolitic alphabet. Workshops were held at schools, and pupils made Braille letters out of clay and were writing hieroglyphs and glagolitic letters with ink and feathers - there was a lot of fun for children. A Braille workshop was mainly held by young blind persons and this workshop was the most interesting for the children. The exhibition of pupils’ works was combined with small ceremony at the end of project. May: The library organized a national competition in fast and expressive reading in Braille. There were two categories 1) for primary and secondary school children; and 2) for adults. The absolute winner in both categories was a young blind girl Ela Radic, 12 years old, with 183 words per minute. June: An exhibition named “Books, Champagne and Wine with Stories” was held for the whole month at the library. The oldest Braille books and music were exhibited together with bottles of champagne holding tin plates with Braille letters and Louis Braille figure. September: The same exhibition was set in the town library of Šibenik on the Adriatic coast. The library organized a round table named “Dispersion of library services for the blind and visually impaired in Croatian public libraries”. The Director of Croatian Library for the Blind was the guest speaker at the meeting of Croatian central libraries. October: An exhibition named “Touch and Feel the Story” was set in the library as the result of ten years work on an approval of Braille titles on the packing of drugs. Well known Croatian drugs manufacturers were represented. November: The exhibition “Books, Champagne and Wine with Stories” was set in the town library of Pula, at the northern part of the Adriatic coast. The promotion of a poetry book by a blind author in ink print, and audio and Braille versions was organized on the same evening. It was a joint project of the Croatian Library for the Blind and Town public Library of Pula. The famous Croatian psychologist Dr. Sci. Mirjana Krizmanic promoted a Braille edition of her popular book “Web of Life” which was presented at a book fair held in Zagreb. December: The closing ceremony marking the 200th will be the official opening of the exhibition “Books, champagne and vine with stories” at the City Museum of the town Vukovar, situated in the northeast part of Croatia on December 2nd. The town of Vukovar is a symbol of the suffering of Croats in the homeland war. At the same time this exhibition will be an introduction to the celebration of 3rd December-International Day of Disabled Persons. Sanja Frajtag Director of the Croatian Library for the Blind New Standing Committee Members Sanja Frajtag My name is Sanja Frajtag. At the beginning of 2009 I became a member of the IFLA LPD Standing Committee. I am a senior librarian and since 2000 Director of the Croatian Library for the Blind. It is the only such library in the whole of Croatia that offers its services to blind and visually impaired people. As a member of Zagreb and Croatian Library Association I participated in the drafting of the Standards for public libraries and reviewed the Croatian edition of Guidelines of Library Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired. I am also a member of the Public library Section of library services for the blind and visually impaired - I have participated in numerous professional conferences in Croatia and abroad - a Member of IFLA-Section of Libraries for the Blind over many years - in 2009 I was rewarded with a newly established award of the National and University Library in Zagreb for a special contribution to the work and development of Croatian librarianship. Elena Zakharova I work in the Russian State Library for the Blind since 2001. As a Deputy Director I am responsible for research, methodical and coordination work of The Special Libraries Network in the Russian Federation, take part in organization and conducting professional actions in the RF regions, and in training activities. Also, I deal with developing a system for integrated library services for disabled people in collaboration with public libraries. I have more than 60 publications. Sanela Osmanagic I was born in 1972 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Elementary and high school I graduated with great success. I graduated from the Faculty of Political Science, Department of Journalism. I have 14 years of working experience at the Library for the blind and visually impaired persons in B&H, including 8 years as Assistant Director. During this period, I planned and realized a series of successful projects e.g. with the Government of Japan, OSCE, Aktiva Synskadade, Radiohjälpen (Sweden), First female Lions Club, and the embassies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I try to cooperate with similar institutions in our region. I am the editor of a magazine for blind and visually impaired persons called “Light of Thought” (Science and Culture), which appears monthly on CD for 440 library members. I work as the head of the publishing and production; according to the Library ISBN data Center our library is among the 10 most successful publishers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I write for other magazines, mainly on issues of blind and partially sighted people. I am married and have a 10 year old daughter. Resolution Obtained by LPD at the P3 Satellite Meeting August 2009 At the end of the P3 IFLA Satellite Meeting held in Mechelen, Belgium August 2009, delegates succeeded in defining a resolution on the theme “Print disabled people have the right to equal access to books, knowledge and information at the same time, cost and quality as everyone else”. This was also supported by the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by several national authorities. IFLA emphasized the importance of this resolution at the IFLA Conference in Milan. [the resolution is available at: www.debibliotheken.nl/content.jsp?objectid=21907] On behalf of LPD Bente Dahl Rathje, Nota: Danish National Library for persons with Print Disabilities P3 Conference: People, Public Libraries, Publishers P3 was a satellite Conference to WLIC 2009 in Milan, organised by the IFLA Libraries Serving Persons with Print Disabilities Section, and took place this year in Flanders and the Netherlands for the first time: in Mechelen and in Maastricht. This theme was “P3: People, Public Libraries, Publishers”. The Luisterpuntbibliotheek (Flemish Library for Audio and Braille Books) and its Dutch partners Vereniging Openbare Bibliotheken (VOB) (Association of Public Libraries), Dedicon en het Loket Aangepast Lezen (Office for Adapted Reading) were responsible for the practical organization of the conference. It was carried out with the support of the Flemish authorities and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Speakers from all over the world discussed the importance of cooperation and partnerships with public libraries and publishers. No less than 28 presentations, with contributions from 15 different countries from Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Oceania provided the form and content to this conference. Day 1: Publishers The opening of the conference on August 18th was delivered by Karel Tobback, the then Head of Office of the Flemish Minister for Environment, Nature and Culture Joke Schauvliege and by the inspired South African IFLA president Ellen Tise.They immediately set the tone, putting forward a plea for access to information for all, without exception, as a basic human right. They both strongly emphasized the development of service networks in cooperation with other public libraries and socio-cultural organizations, and the international exchange of know-how and best practices. The personal IFLA theme which Ellen Tise is advocating during her presidency is “Driving Access to Knowledge”, and she links this up perfectly with the theme of access to information for all. She also reaches out to the world of publishers, with the opportunities that a Global Library is offering, with the far-reaching possibilities of a digital standard and digital content, and pleads for an appropriate exception for persons with print disabilities with regard to copyright. On this first day, publishers and the library community weighed the pros and cons against each other. We witnessed a striking unanimity. The basic principle: Information accessible to all is not a right or a privilege, it is a necessity! Yes, there were many questions asked. Especially difficult ones: such as how and when can content be provided simultaneously in different reading formats; accessible to all? How can we find the right balance between the interests of authors and publishers, and the needs of our end users? How can we develop consistent, inclusive thinking in a model that is acceptable for all? And this from the production process, the production of content, over the distribution to the information service where everyone can read this content – in any way and in any form. Some striking examples were provided: The Dutch publisher Rubinstein, in cooperation with Dedicon (the production centre for Daisy books in The Netherlands), has plans to offer audio books as regular audio CDs and in Daisy format; and in Germany, it is already possible to purchase Daisy books on amazon.de or argon-verlag/katalog-daisy.php. The e-book is also related to Daisy: EPUB (electronic publication), the international open standard for e-books from the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), has been developed in consultation with the world-wide Daisy consortium and is a subset of the Daisy standard. Some highly important themes recurred throughout the whole conference, from Marian Koren’s (VOB) interview with Ellen Tise (IFLA) at the end of the day, going perfectly together with the current IFLA themes: • to provide access to knowledge and information for all and to develop a ‘Global Library’; • to work from a user-directed (read: demand-directed) attitude; and- to develop partnerships with other libraries and all relevant organizations outside the traditional library sector. Day 2: Public Libraries Wednesday August 19th focused on partnerships with public libraries: examples of good practice alternated with national initiatives. Also, how special and mainstream public libraries join efforts to promote reading differently and to make it known, in order to reach more people and allow everyone to read. The situation at national, regional and local levels was also discussed. We heard, for instance, how a library service on the local level for dyslexic people was set up successfully in Denmark. Another great story was how ‘Visually Impaired Persons’ in Kenya became VIPs and had a ‘unit’ of their own at their disposal in their local library, where they could find important information in Braille, audio books in different languages and an adapted computer, especially equipped for them with reading software. England and Australia on the other hand have a lot of experience with reading groups for persons with print disabilities, and it was explained by The Netherlands how libraries can attract persons with physical disabilities and allow them to read. The situation in Flanders was also discussed: Streekgericht BibliotheekBeleid Antwerpen (Region-oriented Library Policy Antwerp), the first province to introduce Daisy in libraries, pursuing an overall approach and paying attention to Daisy players, Daisy books and the training of library assistants, with the contribution of all partners: Luisterpunt, the province and the libraries. The conclusion at the end of this day was that the best results by far are achieved by an overall, well thought-out approach, where different partners (policy, supporting organizations, welfare organizations, libraries, users) and levels (local, regional, national) think and act together. Day 3: People Finally, on Thursday August 20th, a visit was organised to the Centre Céramique (public library) in Maastricht to focus on the users. Questions posed included: How do they experience the services which are customised to meet their needs? What suggestions do they have for us? Are changes needed, or is everything perfect as it is? Some good practice examples were presented, including a promotional film for the library services intended for persons with print disabilities, the Loket Aangepast Lezen’s streaming provision, and a visit to the Anders Lezen Punt in the library, equipped with an adapted PC for visually impaired people, the presentation of Dedicon’s Braille production and the Daisy pipeline. Finally, representatives of the user’s councils of Sweden, The Netherlands and Flanders were called upon to speak. The most important finding was that feedback from users with regard to the service is regarded as essential for effective further development, but that these councils have not existed for very long and are still being developed at an organisational and strategic level. The outcome of the P3 Conference has yielded a Summary and a Resolution: Summary The P3 Conference has laid down three important objectives: 1. To establish a Global Library with materials which are accessible to all. 2. To enter into partnerships with other (international) publisher and library organizations to influence the (international) policy on knowledge and information; 3. To support directives and best practices for structural cooperation with public libraries. A number of action points are attached to each of these objectives (see www.luisterpuntbibliotheek.be) Resolution At the end of the P3 Conference, a step forward was made for the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by more national authorities, and for the further implementation and monitoring of this convention through actions such as: • further development of an (inclusive) library service and an information policy for persons with print disabilities; • pleading for internationally shared collection and lending possibilities (Global Library for Print Disabled Users); • inclusive (inter)national reading improvement and library campaigns. • IFLA has emphasized the importance of this P3 resolution in Milan and has committed itself to further influence authorities. The full programme and the presentations held at the P3 Conference: www.debibliotheken.nl/P3IFLA2009 Luisterpunt (and P3 Summary and P3 Resolution): www.luisterpuntbibliotheek.be and http://daisyBraille.bibliotheek.be Saskia Boets, Luisterpuntbibliotheek saskia.boets@ luisterpuntbibliotheek.be www.luisterpuntbibliotheek.be Connecting with the Future Report on DAISY2009, Leipzig, Germany More than 300 participants from 25 countries were counted during the event week DAISY2009 in Leipzig/Germany. They were hosted by the German Central Library for the Blind (DZB Leipzig) from the 21st to 27th September 2009. It was a week full of knowledge and expertise all around DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System). The comments of the participants ranged from "absolutely wonderful" to "the best yet". DAISY2009 started with the German-language conference entitled “Barrier-free Preparation of Documents”, which took place from 21st to 23rd September. About 20 presentations were given, with a very broad range of topics. Many of the contributions dealt with several problems of and solutions for accessibility of PDF documents, described different aspects of DAISY players and the production of DAISY books, and broadened the perspective of accessibility – showing the meaning of “easy language” and the importance of online accessibility for deaf persons. The goal of this conference was to give users of adaptive technology an intense exchange of knowledge and experience with representatives of publishing houses, libraries and IT companies – to form new networks and synergies. The goal was reached completely. The German-language conference was followed by a DAISY User Forum on Wednesday 23. It was open for everybody who wanted to learn more about DAISY, who was curious about new DAISY offers or wanted information about DAISY players. The day was an interesting experience thanks to diverse events, such as discussion forums, awards and presentations on new DAISY products. On the international level, the most important event of the week was of course the DAISY International Technical Conference, taking place from 23rd to 25th of September. Nearly 50 presentations brought everyone up to date on the progress of DAISY implementations and tools, and even more crucially, on plans for the future, including new tool and system developments. This was exactly the aim of the conference which had the slogan “Connecting with the future”. On Wednesday evening the 150 participants were warmly welcomed by Thomas Kahlisch (Director of DZB), Elke Dittmer (President of MEDIBUS – German Media Association for Blind and Vision Impaired People) and Marc Van der Aa from Plextor (Premium I sponsor). Thomas Kahlisch expressed the key terms for this night: “eat, drink and network” – which became a winged word for the whole conference. On Thursday morning, the participants were officially welcomed by Eva-Maria Stange, Minister of Science and Art of Saxony. Then, the day started with two inspiring keynote speeches: Hiroshi Kawamura (President of the DAISY Consortium) gave his ideas on “Designing a global library for persons with print disabilities”. John Gardner (President Viewplus Technologies”) talked about “Scientific Journals Go DAISY”. The conference day was subsequently split into two sessions. The first dealt with DAISY in libraries serving persons with print disabilities: Librarians from all over the world showed their DAISY developments. In the second session, companies and other providers of DAISY presented and explained their new products. For Thursday evening DZB had arranged a private chamber concert at the world famous concert hall Gewandhaus, followed by dinner at the restaurant Ratskeller which is one of the most beautiful restaurants in Leipzig. It was an excellent musical experience and traditional and gourmet food of Ratskeller for those who had booked the social event. Friday morning began with two more keynote speeches. Sharing was the main topic of Betsy Beaumon’s (Vice President, Benetech): “Bookshare presentation: Partnering to Deliver Online Accessible Materials”. “DAISY Road Map 2009”, the keynote given jointly by George Kerscher, (Secretary General, DAISY Consortium) and Markus Gylling (CTO, DAISY Consortium) brought participants back to the focus of the conference: "DAISY connecting with the future". The Road Map and revision of the DAISY Standard were the primary components of this keynote. The day was then again divided into two sessions. One session contained new DAISY projects and developments at libraries, the other one was filled with presentations from university representatives who talked about their research processes and their developments. The conference was accompanied by an exhibition of adaptive technologies. 24 vendors showed their new DAISY products. After two days full of DAISY distribution models, DAISY implementation updates, DAISY tool development, Braille and DAISY, images in DAISY and content transformation and creation, Elke Dittmer closed DAISY2009 thanking all the contributors who made the conference being a successful event. More information, contents and documentations on DAISY2009 website www.daisy2009.de Jenni Handschack Conference Management DZB Leipzig New Research on Learning Braille for People with Acquired Sight Loss RNIB has published the first major research on teaching and learning Braille for adults with acquired sight loss, conducted by the Visual Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research (VICTAR) at Birmingham University. This looked at the UK situation from the perspective of both Braille learners and those involved in teaching Braille to them. It gives us a much clearer picture of the level of provision in the UK and of what needs to happen to improve the situation. While we found some excellent services and some highly motivated individuals, we found no consistent system or shared view on the role of Braille or how to teach it, and a very inconsistent level of provision across all parts of the UK. We found a lack of promotion of Braille and knowledge about basic equipment that people can use. Despite all this, those who learn even the most basic Braille value it very highly, many having learned it for the challenge or to meet people, as much for as its functional uses. The executive summary and the full papers are available at: www.rnib.org.uk/aboutus/Research/reports/accessibility/Pages/access.aspx For further information, please contact Mandy White on +44 1829 730089 or mandy.white@rnib.org.uk News Man Booker Prize and RNIB bring Mantel’s ‘Wolf Hall’ to blind and partially sighted readers A ground-breaking decision by the Booker Prize Foundation means that for the first time, every book short listed for the Man Booker Prize, including Hilary Mantel’s ‘Wolf Hall’ was available to blind and partially sighted readers at the time the winner was announced (10.30pm Tuesday 6 October). National charity, RNIB, has produced the short listed books in Braille, giant print and Talking Book formats. The Man Booker Prize introduced a clause requiring publishers to provide an electronic file of each long listed book to RNIB. This allowed production of short listed books to begin as soon as these where were announced. Once again, the Man Booker Prize have shown a fantastic commitment to blind and partially sighted people’s right to read and are the first book prize to introduce a clause like this. RNIB’s Julianne Marriott says: “The Man Booker Prize has taken a significant step to bring new writing to blind and partially sighted people, so they can read the books that everyone is talking about. Reading opens a world of imagination that is often taken for granted, but the reality is that 96 percent of books are never made available in a format that can be read by people with sight problems. “At RNIB we applaud the continued commitment of the Man Booker Prize to blind and partially sighted people’s right to read and invite other book prizes to follow their lead and work with us.” As in previous years, the production of the books has also been funded by those connected to the Prize. The Man Group plc Charitable Trust has paid for the production of the Talking Book versions and the Booker Prize Foundation for the Braille and giant print versions. When people begin to lose their sight many think that they will have to lose the joy of reading. But thanks to generous donors and initiatives like this, RNIB’s National Library Service can keep the world of books open to blind and partially sighted people. Blind and partially sighted people can read all the short listed books by contacting RNIB’s National Library Service on 0303 123 9999, email library@rnib.org.uk or visit www.rnib.org.uk/library Jodi Award for Digital Access Online The Jodi Awards for accessible cultural websites and digital media are annually granted by the Jodi Mattes Trust in Great Britain. The Jodi Mattes Trust was established to promote equal access to, and equal enjoyment of, art and culture for disabled people through the use of digital media. Jodi Mattes (1973-2001) was a tireless champion of equal access to culture for disabled people. On Wednesday 2 December Dedicon and Loket aangepast-lezen received the Jodi Award 2009 for the category “Digital Access Online - International Award” for the “Streaming spoken books for people with a reading impairment” project. This streaming service is one of the components of the online catalogue on the Loket aangepast-lezen website, developed by Dedicon for Loket aangepast-lezen (Loket Aangepast-lezen is the front office for ordering leisure lecture for print impaired people in the Netherlands,) and the VOB (Dutch Public Libraries Association). Another winner in this category was the Regional Library of Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic: the Library is one of the few in the Czech Republic, and internationally, to provide Sign Language information on its website. The Library website also publicises services for visually impaired people. www.knihovna.kvary.cz/ Latest Revision: 23rd December 2009 Copyright © International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions www.ifla.org Standing Committee Members Chair: Julie Rae, National Manager Library Services, Vision Australia. Email:Julie.Rae@visionaustralia.org Secretary: Koen Krikhaar, Manager, Library Services, Dedicon. E-mail: kkrikhaar@dedicon.nl Joint Information Co-ordinator and Treasurer: Jenny Craven, CERLIM, Manchester Metropolitan University. Joint Information Co-ordinator: Minna von Zansen, Service Manager, Celia Library. Marja-Leena Ahola-vom Dorp, Librarian, Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille. Galina Sergeevna Elfimova, Head Librarian, Russian State Library for the Blind. Sanja Frajtag, Director, Croatian Library for the Blind. Jon Hardisty, Senior Librarian, RNIB. Keun Hae Youk, Chief Librarian, Korean Braille Library. Francois Hendrikz, Director, South African Library for the Blind. Dr. Thomas Kahlisch, Director, Deutsche Zentralbücherei für Blinde zu Leipzig. Hiroshi Kawamura, Technical Advisor, Information and Culture Center for the Blind. Kari Kummeneje, Head of Lending Department, The Norwegian Library of Talking Books and Braille. Margaret McGrory, Vice President & CIO and Managing Director, CNIB Library. Misako Nomura, Director, Information Center, Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities. Sanela Osmanagic, Assistant Manager, The Library for the Blind and the Visually Impaired in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ju Ok Park, Deputy Director, The National Library Support Center for the Disabled, the National Library of Korea. Steve Prine, Jr. Assistant Chief, Network Division, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress. Geert Ruebens, Director, Flemish Library for Audio books and Braille. Elena Zakharova, Deputy Director, Russian State Library for the Blind. Special advisers: Helen Brazier, Head, National Library Service, RNIB. Courtney Deines-Jones, Principal and Founder, The Grimalkin Group. Christopher Friend, Chair of WBU Global Right to Read Campaign, Programme Development Advisor, Sightsavers International.