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Article Excerpt
ABSTRACT
Technological change has been the norm for libraries serving people who are blind or otherwise print disabled. Technology is required to produce and disseminate books in various formats, and technical devices are often used as a means for a person to read the books. However, the development of digital technology combined with the evolution of the Internet has prompted significant change for library services and operations in the past few years. The CNIB Library recognized the opportunity to create more content faster, provide more choice and accessibility, and to streamline and revolutionize processes by building the Integrated Digital Library System (IDLS) in partnership with industry technology leaders. This article describes the technology of the IDLS and the impact on the organization.
"For many people, technology can make things easier. For people who are blind, technology makes things possible."
--Jim Sanders, President and CEO, Canadian National Institute for the Blind
INTRODUCTION
Libraries have always relied on the evolution of technology to acquire, organize, and disseminate information. It can be argued that libraries serving people who are blind or otherwise print disabled are often a step ahead with technical innovation. These libraries must often produce the very materials that other libraries would purchase for their collection. In the case of libraries for the print disabled, technology is required by the library to produce that book in audio, braille, or tactile format. A person who cannot read regular print must find other means of reading; technological devices to magnify print, electronic braille, synthetic speech output or human-narrated audio books are current options. Finally, libraries serving people who are blind are often centralized but serving a population scattered nationally. Technology is required to support this service-delivery model.
In 1997 the CNIB laid out a road map with yearly objectives to reach the goal of fully trained staff and volunteers operating in a digital environment and producing digital products to be delivered from Web-based services as well as distributed by traditional postal methods. In 2000 CNIB developed a plan for an Integrated Digital Library System (IDLS). The reasons for this were twofold. On the one hand, CNIB's decision could be seen as one born of necessity and survival given the cumbersome and increasingly obsolete nature of analog production and distribution technologies, upon which libraries for the blind have been dependent for the previous quarter century. However, the vision was also a result of the synchronicity of the development of digital technologies and the evolution of the Internet, which presented opportunities to dramatically improve the timely delivery of accessible content to print disabled Canadians. Such opportunities would have been unconscionable to ignore given the dearth of published material available in alternative formats and the length of time required to convert this content into alternative formats.
The following principles guided the development of the IDLS:
Library Service
--Expand and improve choice in formats and access points
--Enable independent management of library services by the end user or "client"
--Decentralize service and allow for seamless community or home access to a national service
--Expand content and ultimately eliminate the gap in availability between print and alternative formats Production Processes
--Streamline and automate production processes and create the "single source file/multiple formats output" model
--Store, archive, and preserve the collection
--Adhere to international standards
This article will discuss the impact of the development and implementation of the IDLS on the CNIB Library. The first section describes the service impact, the second describes the impact on book production, and the third describes in more detail the core technology.
What, then, is the IDLS? What constitutes an IDLS varies from one library to the next. From the earliest conceptual stages CNIB defined its IDLS as an integrated system to handle the creation, management (acquisitions and cataloging), preservation, and distribution of all its digital library content.
BACKGROUND: ABOUT THE CNIB LIBRARY
The CNIB Library provides print disabled Canadians with access to a collection that is comparable to that of a medium-sized public library but with national scope and unique formats. A print or "perceptual" disability includes vision loss, a learning disability such as dyslexia, or a physical disability that prevents the holding of a print book. The library service is just one of a number of services CNIB provides to Canadians who have vision loss. A sample of other services include teaching white cane skills, vision enhancement techniques, and daily living skills. While most CNIB services are provided locally in communities across Canada, the library is centrally managed. The service is directly available to registered CNIB clients--more than 100,000 people who have vision loss. For those with a print disability other than vision loss the service is available through community partnerships, such as public libraries. A cost recovery fee is charged to the partner agency.
The CNIB Library is somewhat unique in that it is one of the few libraries for the blind in the world not federally funded or government owned. The CNIB is a charitable organization and receives approximately 80 percent of its funding from donations from the private sector. The government provides some project funding, and Canada Post provides the highly valued service of free library postage for people who are blind.
The Collection
The collection reflects the reading and information needs of all ages, education levels, cultures, and regions within Canada, in English and French. Since the inception of the CNIB Library in 1918, format circulation went from a single format (braille) and increased over the years to nine formats now available in 2007: braille, print-braille, tactile, DAISY audio, online digital audio, online resources, e-text, e-braille, and descriptive video. The CNIB Library currently has 60,000 titles and 400,000 items/copies in its physical collection and more than 25,000 electronic resources including books, magazines, and newspapers accessible through the CNIB Digital Library. Newspapers and magazines are also available by phone. For children, the library provides access to specialized online resources such as chat rooms, games, and homework help.
Unique Ways of Serving
Because the library is located centrally, clients access services in the following ways: receiving books and other materials in the mail, accessing books and information resources online, and/or by visiting their local library. Phone access is also available for some resources. A core team of Reader Advisors registers clients for services and in most cases will create a personal profile for the client containing format preference, language, service frequency, subjects (fiction and nonfiction), and authors. A profile also indicates if the client does not want to receive material that includes strong language, violence, or explicit sexuality. The library's system compares the service profiles with what is available...
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