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Previously the 700 regular braille borrowers around Australia could only gain access to titles in libraries other than their own through a system of inter-library loans which resulted in time delays and was administratively cumbersome.
Avid braille reader, Joan Lederman who is also President of the Australian Braille Authority and the International Council on English Braille, believes that 'the new arrangement will give people who are blind or vision impaired like myself access to many more books much more rapidly'.
Joan lives in suburban Sydney and says one of the significant benefits is that 'people in remote areas like the Kimberleys will now have the same variety of titles as borrowers in the cities'.
Borrowers can access the collection using braille, large print or disk catalogues, on the Internet or with a free telephone call. They then have borrowing access to all 12 000 titles catalogued through an on-line computer system. The title is mailed directly to the borrower from the library in which it is stored.
This system also provides information to borrowers about the number of available copies of each title and when titles are due for return and subsequent reborrowing.
The 12 000 titles in these collections represent 90 per cent of the total recreational reading braille titles available in Australia. It is envisaged that other smaller collections will also join the ABLS in the future to provide a complete access system for all braille titles in Australia.
For the last 100 years braille readers have been served on a State basis with consequent variations in availability of books. Now, due to the work of the CABA members, Australian braille readers have direct access to the combined collection no matter where they reside.
For further information contact Barbara Fewtrell, Royal Blind Society, 4 Mitchell Street, ENFIELD NSW 2136. Tel (02) 9334 3333 Fax (02) 9334 3557 E-mail: bfewtre@rbs.org.au.
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA, Canberra, ACT 2600,
AUSTRALIA, ABN: 28 346 858 075
Telephone + 61 2 6262 1111; Facsimile +61 2
6257 1703; TTY: 1800 026 372