ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 8, Number 71 July 19, 1999 In this issue: NCLIS Hearing on Library Services for Individuals with Disabilities On July 8 at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) conducted a hearing on library services for individuals with disabilities. NCLIS Chair Jeanne Hurley Simon said that since the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (P.L. 94-142) and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-336) were in place, the Commission was interested in next steps and what new technology has meant to individuals with disabilities. Throughout the day-long hearing, presentations were made by representatives of fifteen groups and several individuals. Simon introduced NCLIS commissioners, including Vice Chair Martha Gould, Joel Valdez, Abe Abramson, Rebecca Bingham. Winston Tabb, representing the Librarian of Congress and Betsy Sywetz, deputy director of the Office of Library Services, Institute for Museum and Library Services, were also present. The following suggestions were made for improvement of services or training for librarians, volunteers and library staff: * Library collections to provide more information for hearing parents and use of the Internet for broader access to information * Services where more TTY machines could be available and storytelling hours for children where signers could be provided * Access where use of signed or captioned videos could be expanded * Changes in copyright legislation so that copyrighted material could be adapted in other formats for individuals with disabilities * Need for reliable information for students, parents and adult learners * Need for training and staff work in terms of working with those with learning disabilities, and other physical disabilities. * Low-sighted people have difficulty recognizing icons and computers need to have verbal messaging as well as icons. * Difficulty of using a mouse or ball device for the physically impaired, a touch screen technology would be helpful Below is a brief summary of the panelists and their presentations: * John Day, librarian at Gallaudet University and past president of ALA's Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA), cited current copyright law which can prevent access to materials since the law prohibits format change of written text. Day is working with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions and other national library associations as well as the U.S. Copyright office to develop model legislation to provide adequate and appropriate exemptions needed by people with disabilities. He asked NCLIS to lend its support to help make the needed changes in the law. * Osborne Day, government relations director for the Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexia, said his organization has the largest collection of textbooks in the world. They do not compete with the Library of Congress service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, but tape educational material for students. They serve more than 72,000 students, many of whom are dyslexic and learning disabled. Day said they are in the process of converting to digital audio books. * Julia Dunlap, a catalog librarian from Arkansas State University, said there was concern on the part of prospective employers about the added cost of TTY devices and interpreters. She cited the need for warning devices like flashers in addition to fire alarms and said films should have closed captioning. * James Gashel, governmental affairs director for the National Federation of the Blind, felt more work was needed to encourage the publishing industry to make material available in non-visual formats. * Audrey Gorman, director of ASCLA's Roads to Learning, the Public Libraries' Learning Disabilities Initiative, spoke of the needs of learning disabled students and adults. * Alice Hagemeyer, representing Friends of Libraries for Deaf Action, said there was need to do outreach by libraries to the deaf and hearing-impaired community. She said a product she has developed to provide information about deaf services will soon be available online. * Sara Hamrick, information services director at Gallaudet University library, spoke on behalf of ASCLA and provided copies of all three sets of guidelines developed by ASCLA for library services to various communities. * Scott Marshall, vice president of the American Foundation for the Blind, said if there was a universal design that was flexible even Web sites could be designed to be accessible. He said currently an adaptive machine reading a Web page might say "welcome to "image." * Bonnie O'Day made a presentation on activities of the National Council on Disability, an agency created to advise Congress and the Administration on Disabilities. * Ellen Perlow, a librarian from Denton, TX, said there was a need for adaptive technology labs in library schools, inclusion of people with disabilities as part of library school curricula. She said she supported ASCLA's century scholarship fund to recruit individuals with disabilities into the profession. * Bernadette Stork, administrator of the Pinellas Florida Public Library Cooperative/Talking Book Library, described services provided to individuals with disabilities in Pinellas County, one of the most densely populated counties in Florida. She asked the Commission to help spread the word about the need for these services in all libraries, the need for training, outreach and sign language courses to help make libraries more accessible. * Carolyn Sung, chief of the Network Division of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress, described services provided by the NLS and its distribution of tapes through library systems. She introduced Michael Moodie, NLS research and development officer, who spoke about the NLS plan for Digital Talking Books. * James Wendorf, executive director of the National Center for Learning Disabilities, Inc., said that libraries were not necessarily learning disabled friendly places in terms of book placement, signage and individual help. * Elbie Yaworsky, director of the Electronic Information Network, presented information on the LSTA-funded project that serves seventy library sites in Allegheny County including the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's 20 locations and provides a wide variety of assistive technology and training for the area's individuals with disabilities. * Nolan Yelich, librarian of Virginia, represented the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA). He noted the long history of library services to individuals with disabilities enabled by provisions of the Library Services and Construction Act and now the Library Services and Technology Act. He said Virginia had passed new legislation adopting a Comprehensive Internet Policy for the Commonwealth and adopting a strategic technology plan for public libraries. The legislature enacted the Information Technology Access Act, created to secure benefits to the blind or visually impaired. All the legislation has language addressing individuals with disabilities. At the close of the hearing the Commission announced that the hearing record would be open for further comments with a deadline of August 8. Any written statements should be sent to Barbara Whiteleather, National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, 1110 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Suite 820, Washington, D.C. 20005-3522. ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. 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