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In late 1994 La Trobe University provided funding to establish facilities to improve access to library information resources and services for clients with special needs. The funding was provided from a quality assurance grant allocation which arrived at a time when funding was being sought by the Equity and Access unit and the organisation was coming to terms with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.
The funding has enabled workstations and related equipment to be established in three University libraries: the Borchardt Library at Bundoora, the Bendigo campus library and the Wodonga campus library.
The selection of equipment was made by the University Equity and Access Unit, student representatives and a small project group in the library in consultation with groups such as the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind and after visits to other library sites in Melbourne. This was a long process with an even longer learning curve. The library wanted to understand the needs of our users, what technology was currently available and to ensure that we could support and maintain such a service and facility in the library. We also had to continue with our other work.
The project was developed in the context of the University Disability Action Plan, which is a university-wide plan developed and implemented by the University Equity and Access Unit.
Our goal was to provide appropriate equipment for hearing and sight impaired students to improve access to library holdings and services with funding provided from the Quality Assurance allocation at three campus libraries.
The strategies planned to achieve this goal were to:
Bundoora Campus
The Bundoora Campus library is the main library providing support to a large multi-disciplinary group of academic staff and students. The collection of over one million monographs, serials and audio visual collections is now supplemented by a range of technological tools to assist both access and delivery, ranging from Internet work stations to an internal video network. This is the context in which the new 'Equity and Access' equipment was added. The equipment included:
All of the equipment allows the library to provide special access to anything which can be displayed on screen, such as the library catalogue, CD-ROM databases and Internet resources. It also allows print resources to be converted into text files using the scanner which can be saved to disk or used in the library. There are a number of technical hitches still to be solved, but ultimately it means that the more resources which are published electronically, the better the access via this workstation.
Video access has been improved because we now record the closed caption text off-air, if available, as part of our normal off-air acquisition program. All laser discs in the collection which contain closed captioning can be used in the library. This amounts to around 40 titles, allowing better access for a number of disciplines which use cinema as primary texts.
All this equipment has been integrated into the Library Audio Visual (AV) Services area, where resources can be booked in advance and assistance can be provided to set up facilities to suit individual student requirements. For example, a student was able to do an exam on the workstation to enable the text to be enlarged.
The overall responsibility for assisting students with support for special access and assistance across the university is the Equity and Access Unit. This unit will approach the library when new students require orientation and reader education which can include specialised equipment needs. The library also has a responsible staff member for students with special needs in each library. The AV Services Division is responsible for service provision, set up and booking.
Technical support is provided by the AV Services Division as it is for other equipment in the area. A full-time technician is employed and all client service staff are able to assist users or refer queries appropriately.
Bendigo Campus
At the Heyward Library, Bendigo Campus, a PC workstation is also available to library users with special needs. The station is linked to the campus library network and provides scanning facilities, speech synthesis, zoomtext software and laser printer facilities.
The station has been named 'Information Station (Equity & Access, Assistive)'. It is located in Information Services which has a CD-ROM network and Internet stations. This facility was made available to users in July 1996.
All library staff have been provided with demonstrations and training sessions utilising the equipment. The Campus Disability Liaison contact person and Student Services staff have attended a demonstration session and discussion of equipment application to student need.
Promotion of the information station is currently taking place through newsletters, contact librarians and the Library Liaison Committee.
The facilities are now being used by a number of students in a variety of ways. We still have a long way to go to make the service an easily acceptable mainstream library operation, but we feel we have made a good start. It is also proving to be very valuable to share experiences across the library service, together with approaches taken to particular student needs.
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