Newsletter IFLA Libraries Serving Persons with Print Disabilities Section 2011/1 The IFLA/LPD Newsletter is issued twice a year. Editors: Minna von Zansen Celia Library, Finland E-mail: minna.vonzansen@celia.fi www.celia.fi Jenny Craven National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Manchester, UK E-mail: cravenj@btinternet.com The Newsletter is available at http://www.ifla.org/en/lpd Content Welcome from Chair 2 IFLA LPD blog - call for news items and bloggers 3 LPD Mailing Lists 4 Performance Measures update 4 The Personal Download Service 5 CNIB Library Partners Program: Beginnings 7 South African Library for the Blind - Provincial Mini Library Launch 10 February 2011 10 TIGAR Project - Q&A 11 Ulverscroft/Ifla Best Practice Awards 13 Braille is boring 15 Estonia - Award for Estonian language interfaces for technical devices for the blind 18 News 19 Standing Committee - New member profiles: 19 Standing Committee Members 21 Welcome from Chair The LPD section of IFLA meets twice a year once at the Annual World Library and Information Congress and the other in late January or early February. For some strange reason which I assume is historical we always try and find the coldest place to visit, in 2010 it was Helsinki with minus 17 degree temperatures. This year we met in Osaka, Japan graciously hosted by Misako and Hiroshi. Whilst not as cold as Helsinki it certainly required a coat and on my last day it snowed. Mind you anything would be cold to someone who came from 30 plus degree temperatures in Australia. Still it was beautiful and our two day meeting was fruitful. LPD Committee mid-year meeting in Osaka. In addition to our section meeting we participated in a one day conference on print disabilities which was excellent for the exchange of information, programs and ideas and Hiroshi and Misako took us on a tour of the National Diet Library and the Nippon Lighthouse library service. The manifesto that the committee has been working on for the past twelve months was presented to the professional committee and the Governing Board of ALIA in December 2010. It was agreed that the manifesto for libraries serving persons with print disabilities be presented to UNESCO in 2012. The proposed manifesto can be found on our LPD pages. I was invited to attend the CLM face to face meeting at the IFLA office in The Hague in April 2011. A working group has drafted an instrument, for consideration by the Member States of WIPO. After wide consultation with librarians, representatives of Member States and other knowledgeable individuals, this working group has developed a "Treaty on Copyright Exceptions and Limitations for Libraries and Archives". In preparation for the work on exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives scheduled for November 2011, Draft Treaty on Copyright Exceptions and Limitations for Libraries and Archives Also in April I attended the two day IFLA Presidential meeting held in The Hague, this two day meeting focused on Access to Information, Copyright and Open Access. Koen Krikhaar (Dedicon) and I met with the Library staff at the Polish Association for the Blind. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the work of our section and to encourage them to join LPD and the DAISY consortium. The WIPO stakeholder’s platform was due to meet in April 2011 but this was cancelled after the announcement from the World Blind Union that they needed to pull out of any projects that were being used to hinder the progress of the Treaty. In keeping with our strategic plan, we have prepared an outline document for our members enabling you to promote the work of the LPD section to encourage more members. This document provides what needs to be presented allowing you the option to create your own powerpoint slides. This document can be downloaded at: http://www.ifla.org/en/lpd/presentations Congratulations to Minna Von Zansen, Margaret McGrory, Kari Kummeneje, Hiroshi for their development of the programme for Puerto Rico, I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 16th August at 4pm. On Friday the 12th August David Fernández-Barrial has organized a meeting with representatives from libraries serving persons with print disabilities in Central and South America this will be hosted by the National Library of Puerto Rico, we will take this opportunity to get to know each other, learn what our colleagues are working on, identify any prospects for collaboration, and promote our section. Best regards, Julie Rae. LPD Chair IFLA LPD blog - call for news items and bloggers After encountering some problems with the anti-spam software -now ably sorted out by the IFLA web team - the IFLA LPD blog is now live at http://blogs.ifla.org/lpd/ We'll be blogging any items of interest to do with library services for print disabled people internationally, as well as updates on the activities of the IFLA LPD Section. If you would like to forward any news items, events or other information from your country, or better still contribute directly to the blog yourself, please email Jon Hardisty - jon.hardisty@rnib.org.uk LPD Mailing Lists There are two mailing lists that can be used to inform and communicate within the LPD community. IFLA-LPD: This is a forum for discussing matters of interest relating to libraries and information services for persons with print disabilities. Anyone interested in these is welcome to join this open mailing list. If you want to join this list, please go to http://infoserv.inist.fr/wwsympa.fcgi/info/ifla-lpd and follow the instructions to subscribe. If you want to submit a message of your own to this list, please send it to IFLA-LPD@infoserv.inist.fr. Please note that the capacity of this mailing list is limited; i.e. you cannot send any attachments or otherwise large messages. LPDSC: This mailing list is restricted to the LPD Standing Committee members only. If you are a SC member but have not joined this list, please go to http://infoserv.inist.fr/wwsympa.fcgi/info/lpdsc to subscribe. To submit a message to this list, send it to lpdsc@infoserv.inist.fr. Large e-mails or attachments cannot be sent using this list due to limited capacity Performance Measures update It is often clear that, when we try to compare data with colleagues internationally about how we are performing as organisations serving print disabled persons, we are not making a direct comparison. We have no common performance measures we can use, and we often measure slightly different things for our own purposes which are not precisely the same as those measures that other organisations employ. Last year, IFLA LPD began a project to address this problem. The project aims to develop some common performance measures for libraries and organisations serving print disabled persons. Representatives from 15 LPD member organisations met with colleagues from IFLA's Statistics and Evaluation Section and UK public libraries at a workshop in Manchester, UK. We established some draft measures that might be useful to organisations like ours. Since then, we have worked with our Statistics and Evaluation colleagues again at IFLA Gothenburg to refine these into a document that organisations can use to score the measures on how useful and relevant they find them, and feed back to the working group. Although the deadline for this has now passed - and lots of great feedback and data has been received from a number of member organisations - we would still be very interested in your thoughts if your organisation is unaware of this initiative or for some reason you haven't received the document. Please email Jon Hardisty: jon.hardisty@rnib.org.uk. The working group is now meeting to collate the feedback and revise the performance measures down to a smaller list of those that are most useful to our organisations. Our task then will be to ask you to take the measures back to your organisations and libraries and use them to collect some live data, and to find a way in which we can store and compare our results. Look out for further updates after this year's IFLA Congress. Jon Hardisty, RNIB National Library Service, UK. The Personal Download Service Personal Download is a service that allows the user to download their talking books at home using their own computer. All Swedish citizens with a print disability due to visual or other impairment have access to this service provided by The Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille. When registered, the user have access to all 90 000 titles available in the TPB digital library. To use the Personal Download Service patrons need to have a computer with an internet connection. Background In Sweden, TPB cooperates with libraries to ensure that people entitled to talking books receive access to their books. Swedish libraries have been able to download talking books since 2003 when TPB released a trial version for college libraries. The new Copyright Act of 2005 gave Swedish libraries the right to apply for a permit [talbokstillstånd] to download talking books to download from TPB’s digital library, and to lend them to those who are entitled to talking books. Student Direkt After allowing libraries to download narrated books for a few years, TPB began to investigate whether the service could be extended to individual patrons. In the autumn of 2008 three university libraries were contacted: Lund University Library, the library at Södertörn University College, and Lärum Library for Teacher Education at Stockholm University. Together we worked out a routine for how to introduce and demonstrate the service to the students. Some 80 students who were already using talking books were invited to participate in trying out the service called Student Direkt. The test participants were so positive about the Personal Download Service that all students with talking books were offered access to the service for the fall semester, 2009. As of May 2011, there are over 3000 students all over Sweden who download their talking books. Daisy Direkt As a result of feedback from students and college librarians, TPB made a number of improvements. An important issue, resolved prior to the release in public libraries, was to make it possible for patrons under 18 to use the service. The next step was to introduce the service to borrowers at public libraries and school libraries: DAISY Direkt. During the autumn of 2010 and spring of 2011, Hilde Androis, project manager, travelled to every county in Sweden, presenting the Personal Download Service for local libraries. By September 2011, all public libraries will have this as a regular service. The next will be concentrating on getting school libraries on board. Who is entitled to talking books? In Sweden, anyone with a print disability due to impairment is allowed to borrow talking books. This means that our patrons may be partially sighted, elderly with poor vision, persons of all ages with dyslexia , as well as those who quite simply cannot hold a book – just to name a few. Estimates indicate that while our target audience is 6% of the population, we are not even reaching a tenth of this figure. However, with the Personal Download Service we hope to attract and increase the number of people using talking books. The Service: Registration The service is easy to use and looks the same for both the library and individual patrons. To get started, the individual user simply needs to contact his or her local library. The library in turn will enter the user into TPB’s Client Registry. The registry is available to libraries via a web interface through a log in. Upon registration, library staff demonstrate how to download a talking book and inform users of their rights and obligations. Users are required sign an agreement that must be approved before they can start using the service. Once registration is completed, an auto-generated e-mail is sent to the user with username and password information. Downloading Talking Books Downloading talking books from TPB's digital library is simple. First look the book up in TPB's Digital Library (TPB-katalogen) which is available on the Internet at http://katalog.tpb.se/ then place it in a download list and make a choice whether to burn the book on a CD or read it in an MP3 Player. At this point, the login page appears, the user logs in, and the talking book is downloaded as files to the computer. Finally, the user can choose how to read the talking book: with an MP3 player, a reading program in the computer, a memory-based DAISY player or on a disc in a traditional DAISY player. Growing User Rates Approximately 5000 patrons are currently using the Personal Download Service and the numbers are increasing by about 100 per week. The number of personal downloads is increasing in relation to decreased download rates experienced by local libraries. The service is much appreciated by users and library staff alike. Future Having successfully introduced Personal Download to all libraries throughout the country, the next step will be a national campaign for all patrons. Hilda Androls Project Manager Digital Services The Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille (TPB) CNIB Library Partners Program: Beginnings Section 32.1 of the Canadian Copyright Act permits the production of alternative formats for people with perceptual disabilities. It covers print disabilities related to vision or hearing loss, the inability to hold or manipulate books, and impairments relating to comprehension. CNIB’s mandate, however, is to provide services to Canadians who are blind or partially sighted. In response to requests from Canadians with print disabilities unrelated to vision loss, the Partners Program was originally conceived as a subscription-based service for public libraries. Administered on a cost-recovery basis, the program enabled public libraries to borrow from the CNIB Library on an inter-library loan model. Without adequate resources for promotion, support or training, Partner Libraries were left to their own devices in the delivery of accessible library service. The combined effect of subscription fees and limited support resulted in extremely low participation by public libraries. One of the difficulties the former program faced was due to the inherent inequities of a subscription-based program. Large libraries with substantial budgets were able to buy in and provide access for their patrons with print disabilities. For small libraries with limited resources, the program was out of reach. 2010: A New Beginning After more than ten years in operation, the Partners Program received the boost it needed. Funding from four provincial governments to support CNIB Library services to clients in these provinces allowed CNIB Library to offer the program to all public libraries in Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Available services were expanded, marketing and outreach support provided for public libraries and training sessions offered for public library staff. Ontario: An Illustrative Case Study Ontario is Canada’s most populous province, and illustrates the positive results of government support for the Partners Program. Under the original, subscription-based program, less than 5 per cent of Ontario’s public libraries accessed the service. With the infusion of funding from the Ontario government, things quickly changed. Today there are more than 200 public library systems in Ontario enrolled in the program, representing 64 per cent of libraries in the province. Three service delivery models are available to Partner libraries, which may be combined to meet the local needs of individual libraries. Deposit Collections More than 10,000 DAISY audio books on CD are on deposit in 80 public libraries across the province. The deposit collections of DAISY audio books on CD are permanent collections, which Partner libraries catalogue and circulate to eligible patrons. The size of these deposits is based on the population served by individual libraries, ranging from 100 to 500 titles each year, with tailored subject profiles that suit local requirements. Deposit collections are automatically refreshed with new titles at regular intervals. Inter-Library Loan Public libraries can access the entire CNIB collection via inter-library loan, including braille, printbraille and described video in addition to DAISY audio. This inter-library loan model has levelled the playing field for libraries with varying budgets. Without the expense of acquiring, storing and maintaining accessible collections, libraries of all sizes can meet the needs of their community. Direct Patron Registration Eligible patrons of public libraries can register for CNIB Library service. People with any print disability or barrier to print – visual, physical or learning disabilities – can access the CNIB Library’s online resources and have books in any format delivered directly to their home or to their local library for pickup. Marketing & Outreach Promotional bookmarks, posters and press releases highlight the resources available through the partnership. To date, Ontario libraries have requested over 5,000 copies of the bookmarks and close to 500 posters. Partners Program staff are also engaged in targeted outreach to national and provincial organizations that support people with print disabilities other than vision loss, to promote use of the CNIB Library through the public library system. These organizations have all helped promote the program through newsletters, websites, email lists and blogs. Training More than 300 public library staff in Ontario have benefited from training sessions. In-person, web-based and teleconference training is available in both English and French. Regular sessions introduce public library staff to the services and resources available through the Partners Program. Additional telephone and email support is available. Resources for training and support have contributed to increased public library participation in the Partners Program. Partnerships & the Future of Accessible Library Service The CNIB Library Partners Program illustrates the potential that exists when the resources of a non-profit library meet political will and commitment to accessibility. Government funding has laid the foundation of a new partnership between the CNIB and more than 300 public libraries in Canada. These early adopters of the Partners Program are paving the way towards a truly accessible nationwide library service in Canada. With sufficient government support for this partnership, we are optimistic about a future where all Canadians with print disabilities have access to equitable library service through their public library. Emily Tufts, CNIB Library Partners Program Lead. CNIB, Canada. South African Library for the Blind - Provincial Mini Library Launch 10 February 2011 After months of planning and many miles travelled by Project Co-ordinator Pumla Mahanjana, the SALB in conjunction with the Eastern Cape Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture, was are able to celebrate the launch of the Eastern Cape Provincial Mini Lib Project on 10 February 2011 at the Humansdorp Cultural Center. The launch which showcased the Humansdorp Public Library was attended by MEC Xoliswa Tom, and celebrated the project’s success, with the completion of five minlibs which are now operational with the necessary assistive equipment and reading material. With the support of the selected local (Kouga) municipality the SALB, DSRAC and the new members of the completed Minilib facility enjoyed an informative and entertaining programme, which was kicked into high gear with a colourful and energetic dance performance by Protea Club Group. Formalities continued with an introduction of the project by Ms Pumla Mahanjana, followed by an address by Mrs Mabandla Senior Manager of Library Services who acknowledged her support of the EC Provincial MiniLib Project and satisfaction at its successful completion. Mrs Mabandla also had an exciting announcement, as she declared the intentions of the Library Service to continue to expand the worthwhile project at other Eastern Cape libraries in the future. To provide the honorable MEC Xoliswa Tom, attending press and the audience with a better understanding of the tools that the MiniLibs have been equipped with, demonstrations were given by new Humansdorp MiniLib members. Mr Joseph Hlela showed the audience how much he enjoys listening to Xhosa poetry by playing a snippet of a poem on his Victor Reader, as well as demonstrating how he keeps up to date with his favourite Magazine titles, using a document reader. The specialized JAWS computer software was demonstrated by Mr Marthinus Pietersen, as he navigated a Word document on a MiniLib computer. The programme continued with the honorable MEC Ms. Xoliswa Tom acknowledging the value of the project for the visually impaired community. She also emphasized the opportunities created by a project like this and encouraged visually disabled people to use the Minilib facility. Louise Wolmarans, South African Library for the Blind TIGAR Project - Q&A What is TIGAR? TIGAR stands for Trusted Intermediary Global Accessible Resources. The project was launched in November 2010 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Stakeholders’ Platform. How long will the project last? TIGAR is a three-year pilot project. What is the project’s aim? The aim is to facilitate cross-border transfer of copyright-protected works in accessible formats among various national institutions or “Trusted Intermediaries”. What is a Trusted Intermediary? These are notably national libraries serving people with print disabilities. What will TIGAR do? The TIGAR project aims to provide the technologies and mechanisms to facilitate the cross-border transfer of accessible versions of copyright-protected books between Trusted Intermediaries (TIs), in an efficient and timely manner. The project focuses on the development of partnership and building confidence among stakeholders, as well as on the development of technical solutions, operational processes and business models. So, what does this mean in practice? The TIGAR project will create a virtual global collection of books in accessible formats. Ultimately, patrons of participating TIs will be able to search, select and download these books worldwide electronically. TIGAR will not engage in distribution of books physically. Who will it support? It will support both business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) operations. B2B operations will include the aspects of transfer of publisher files from rightsholders (RHs) to TIs, as well as exchange of accessible version of copyrighted books between TIs. B2C operations will cover the aspects of search, discovery and access to books requested by consumers who are the patrons of participating TIs. How much will it cost my organization to join TIGAR? Due to the large variety of environments in which TIs and RHs operate worldwide, it is difficult to indicate costs at this stage. Consultations with participating organizations and operational experience gained during the initial pilot implementation will allow for a determination of the costs to participate and exchange through the TIGAR network, which could then be compared, for example, against the costs to produce in-house. Can my organization participate in TIGAR and if so, how? A not for profit organization that engages in activities facilitating access to protected works in accessible formats for people who are print disabled and that satisfies the project’s Trusted Intermediary (TI) Participation Criteria can request participation in the TIGAR network. An author, publisher and any other copyright holder can also participate in the TIGAR network as a Rightsholder (RH) by completing the RH Participation Application. Who are the Rightsholders? Rightsholders or Rightsholder Organizations (RHs) are either publishers, authors, or organizations mandated to represent publishers or authors including publishing associations, authors associations or reproduction rights organizations (RROs). What is the definition of ‘people with print disabilities’? For the purposes of the TIGAR project, any definition that already exists in a statutory exception or a licensing agreement in the country of the TI that distributes accessible copies to people with print disabilities will take precedence. In the event that neither exists, the default definition is: Any person who is blind or who has an impairment of visual function which cannot be improved, by the use of corrective lenses, to a level that would normally be acceptable for reading without a special level or kind of light or who is unable, through physical disability, to focus or move his eyes to the extent that would be acceptable for reading or who is dyslexic and, whose disability results in an inability to read a commercially available standard edition of works and, who can be helped to read by reformatting the content (but, for avoidance of doubt, requires only a change to the graphic presentation of the original text and does not require the text itself to be rewritten in simpler terms to facilitate comprehension). When will the project be implemented? In response to comments and concerns raised during initial consultations with TIs and RHs regarding a proposed licensing agreement that will satisfy the needs of all stakeholders, a ‘Fast Track’ implementation approach has been developed which will operate under a (‘work in progress’) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between each TI and WIPO, and between a RH and WIPO. What is happening now? The TIGAR project management team is currently reviewing the MOU with a number of TI organizations around the world as well as their in-country RHs. Once the MOU is signed, the pilot implementation can begin. It will be limited in scope to the exchange of electronic files of accessible versions of books (DAISY and Braille) between TIs from their existing collections, to enable early progress, gain practical experience and build confidence. If I want to know more, what should I do? Please email tigar@wipo.int Ulverscroft/Ifla Best Practice Awards Due to the success of previous awards (which are described in the article), the Trustees of the Ulverscroft Foundation have agreed to the LPD Section’s request to provide funding for awards in 2011-2012 and have generously offered to support individual awards to a maximum of £10,000. The deadline for submissions will be 31 October 2011 and the visits must be completed by 31 October 2012. The application forms are in preparation and should be available shortly after this article goes to press on the Ulverscroft Foundation website at www.foundation.ulverscroft. com or from Joyce Sumner, Ulverscroft Foundation: Email: j.sumner@ulverscroft.co.uk, Tel: 0116 236 1595. What we now know as the Ulverscroft/IFLA Best Practice Awards actually began in 1982 as the Frederick A. Thorpe Travelling Fellowship in recognition of the pioneering work of Frederick Thorpe founder of Ulverscroft Large Print Books Ltd, publisher and pioneer of large print books for libraries world-wide. In his later years Frederick Thorpe founded the Ulverscroft Foundation, which was registered as a charity in 1972 with the aim of serving the needs of visually impaired people. The current Ulverscroft Foundation Ulverscroft/IFLA Best Practice Awards began in 2003. There were two awards, sponsored by the Ulverscroft Foundation. One for organisations for a project which develops library services for print disabled people and encourages co-operation between libraries. The other was for individual awards for library workers both professional and non-professional in any part of the world, to gain from the knowledge and practice of others in the profession and to enhance their personal development. Since 2003 the awards have been made every two years. In 2009 the Foundation allocated £20,000 for the 2010 awards. Individuals from Iran, Norway, Egypt, Belorussia, Egypt, France, Iran, South Africa and the UK have travelled to libraries in many diverse countries. Three individual awards were made in 2010. Firstly to Mark Freeman, Libraries Manager of South Tyneside Library Service and Chair of Share The Vision, in the UK to extend his knowledge of how the specialist libraries for print disabled persons operate and to build on existing links between the libraries in the North East of England and the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Mark visited South African Library for the Blind and was particularly interested in their MiniLibs service in local communities. Kathy Teague and Wendy Taylor, Librarians at the RNIB National Library Service in the UK were responsible for coordinating the Cataloguing Working Group of the IFLA LPD’s Global Library Project and were involved in the acquisition of a new library management system by the RNIB NLS (read their article in the 2010-2 LDP Newsletter: http://www.ifla.org/files/libraries-for-print-disabilities/newsletters/LPD-Newsletter-2010-2%20_2_%282%29.pdf) Yasmine Youssef, Librarian at the Taha Hussein Library for the Blind and Print Disabled at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt, is the library’s specialist in the production of DAISY books. Yasmine visited DAISY South Africa to provide expert assistance in their development of DAISY production and to understand the challenges posed by accommodating 11 official languages. The visit enabled Yasmine to enhance her ability to develop services at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and to assist developments in other Arabic speaking countries. The organisation award for 2010 was awarded to the Shanghai Pudong New Area Library, China. Since 2002 this library has provided a unit which offers extensive free ICT training for the local visually impaired community but the need and demand for this service exceeds their capacity. In April 2010 the library moved to a new building which was six times the size of the old library and they wished to greatly expand their services for visually impaired people. The aim was the employment of visually impaired people as trainers and to provide free training and expenses to visually impaired people from poorer provinces so they can develop services locally. This project is ongoing and the Ulverscroft Foundation receives regular updates on their progress. Reports from the award winners can be found on the Ulverscroft Foundation website at www.foundation.ulverscroft.com Joyce Sumner Secretary. Ulverscroft Foundation Braille is boring Braille is currently stuck in the doldrums, becalmed by a lack of innovation and scare stories concerning its demise. It is so often talked down as a useful means of accessing information. After all, the world of ever improving synthetic speech and its ability to render large amounts of information quickly is much more fun. Isn't braille that boring format that is stuck to the page, without application in the bright world of computing? Many of my acquaintances would say I am mad and I surely am if I believe such rubbish. Braille equals independence for many blind people and is as relevant today as it was 200 years ago. So why does braille feel strangely threatened by every bit of new technology that comes on the scene? Is it capable of keeping pace with the information age? There is a great deal of research and development, but how much of it is based around research questions linked to user-based scenarios? How much of a market is there for new products and are the major organisations of blind people doing enough to bring innovations to fruition? Anyone who has experienced the power of using a braille display with a computer or IPhone cannot fail to be impressed by the ability of braille to reflect the broad perspective of information we now all need to access. I don't know why, but I take information in more easily when I read it on a refreshable braille display as opposed to synthetic speech, feel closer to the author, more confident in my ability to quickly find things such as telephone numbers or bank account details. Further research in to the retention of and confidence in information access needs to be undertaken not to enable us to prioritise one means of accessing information over another but to identify how harnessing various means can benefit blind and partially sighted people. Refreshable braille displays are phenomenal, but they are too expensive and have not seen significant development in many years, relying largely on the same method to raise and lower pins. There is no international standard addressing how spatial information should be delivered on a linear display and there should be. There have been attempts to develop a multi-line display but all have either failed or been too expensive to be useful. Only the most wealthy countries and fortunate people can benefit from this technology and there is an urgent need to develop something new and mass market. It is interesting that the development of digital talking books has benefited from collaboration between major organisations resulting in millions of whatever currency you care to name being spent on delivering a better way to read to many thousands of people. Is it the turn of braille to experience such a coordinated effort leading to the innovation of new ways to read? The Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) Consortium is spear-heading developments in accessible publishing and is thankfully addressing how braille can be more easily produced from e-books and other materials, but there is still so much more to do. We have traditionally and inextricably linked braille with books and magazines, but there is evidence that, in some countries, the way in which people use braille is changing. I very rarely read braille books, but I use braille more than at any time in my life to access the world around me. Further understanding in to the manner in which the use of braille is changing is essential and will inform the further development of braille services throughout the world. For instance, extending the concept of braille on pharmaceutical packaging to other products will be better supported if we can evidence the importance of such information in braille. Many thousands of hours of expertise has been devoted to various braille code simplification and unification projects with differing degrees of success. I advocate that it is essential for such unification to take place within language groups but that unification across language groups is a mirage and that to chase it will detract from other vital areas of development. There is a continued perception that braille is hard to learn and that people can get on just as well with other modes of accessing information. Many countries have crowded national curricula with little time for children to learn additional things such as contracted braille. We need to better understand how new modes of teaching and learning impact the teaching and learning of braille and what changes might need to be adopted to give every child who wants to learn it time and space to achieve that goal. We need to understand when it is practical and sensible for people who lose their sight in later life to learn braille, developing universal touch diagnostic tests to identify when people have the tactual perception to learn braille. The importance of national and international standards cannot be over-emphasised. I know I am taking the right medication because of the standards developed in the European Union governing braille on pharmaceutical packaging. Such standards may best be supported by legislation and regulation and it is encouraging to note the continued development of standards covering signage and product labelling at the International Standards Organisation level. It is deplorable that so much resource is expended duplicating materials which cannot easily be transferred between countries due to copyright restrictions. This situation is particularly acute for braille where transcription resources are wholly outstripped by demand. The World Intellectual Property Organisation is currently considering a treaty which will go a long way toward addressing this issue. The World Blind Union should be fully supported in this endeavour through the provision of examples of instances where people are not able to read what they want to read. Finally, you could be forgiven for thinking that braille is for serious people and serious study. It is talked about with due reverence, linked to learning and achievement and often in a way which fails to capture the imagination. Picture a group of people playing a game of cards using braille. Imagine only having braille badges at your next conference. Using braille can be fun and exciting and more needs to be done to capture the imagination of those who can obviously benefit from its use. Braille has a bright future, of that there is no doubt. It can have a dazzlingly bright future if new innovation can be encouraged, enabling the development of braille and its many uses to keep pace with a rapidly changing world. Peter Osborne Chief Braille Officer RNIB Estonia - Award for Estonian language interfaces for technical devices for the blind In Estonia, Mother Tongue Day has been celebrated on March 14 since 1999. One of its aims is to highlight and award outstanding actions in the field of the Estonian language. At this year’s ceremony, the Language in Action Award for 2010 went to a working group formed by the non-profit organization Jumalalaegas and Estonian Library for the Blind. The working group consisted of Janar Vaik, Artur Räpp, Igor Markatshov and Sandra Meigas. The award was given for developing Estonian spoken command interfaces for various electronics devices for blind people. This action won the prize from the official jury formed by the Estonian Minister of Education and Research and it was also the favourite in the public vote. In Estonia, most of the speaking technical aids for blind people were previously in English. Now, thanks to the Estonian language interfaces, it is much easier to listen to audio books, save lecture texts, scan and listen with a speech synthesizer to printed text, blood pressure and blood sugar measurements, consult the time of day, perform calculations, determine various colours, weigh and measure things and battery charges. This development has increased the use of special devices and improved the everyday life of many blind people in Estonia. Special aids for blind people in their mother tongue have simplified their usage and at the same time highlighted the importance of language, including accessibility issues in general. This action and the interest of the media increased public awareness, providing new and valuable information to people who were not familiar with the community of blind and visually impaired people. Priit Kasepalu, Information Manager, the Estonian Library for the Blind News Let’s Read! Reading, Print Disabilities and Young People IFLA/LPD Satellite Meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, 8-9 August 2012 For more information, please visit http://www.nlb.no/sitepageview.aspx?sitePageID=1173 Standing Committee - New member profiles: David Fernández-Barrial My name is David Fernández-Barrial and I am the foreign-language librarian at the National Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), in the Library of Congress, Washington DC, USA. I was born in Miami, Florida to Cuban parents, studied philosophy and later library and information science at the Catholic University of America. I have been at NLS since August of 2009 and I have worked at the Library of Congress since February of 1996. I have held a variety of positions in the Library, including Copyright Examiner, Systems Analyst, Senior Information Specialist and Team Leader in the Copyright Public Information Office. I am also a proud member of the American Library Association, and ALA’s Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies; the Social Responsibilities Round Table; and REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library Services to Latinos and Spanish Speakers. I am always interested in the acquisition of digital talking books and electronic and press braille books and magazines in other languages for the use of our patrons with print disabilities. Please feel free to contact me at dafe@loc.gov if your library has any material in languages other than English that it is interesting in selling or donating to NLS. Bitte Kronkvist Bitte Kronkvist is Manager of the Marketing Division of the Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille (TPB). She has been working with the Library Service to people with print disabilities for over 20 years. She started at public libraries at the end of the 1980s and continued during the 1990s as a regional library adviser. Since 2001 she has been working at TPB, and has among other things developed the Swedish model of cooperation with University Libraries and the service to student with print disabilities. Latest Revision: 10 Aug 2011 Copyright © International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions www.ifla.org Standing Committee Members Chair: Julie Rae, General Manager Community Information Access, Vision Australia. Secretary: Koen Krikhaar, Manager, Library Services, Dedicon. Joint Information Co-ordinator and Treasurer: Jenny Craven, Assistant Information Specialist, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Joint Information Co-ordinator: Minna von Zansen, Service Manager, Celia Library. 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. Bitte Kronkvist, Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille. 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. David Fernández-Barrial, Foreign Language Librarian. National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) Library of Congress, U.S. 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.