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Forum on
Library Services for People with Disabilities
The second Forum
on Library Services for People with Disabilities was held at the National
Library on 10 December 2003.
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Bruce Maguire,
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
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Melissa Willan,
Copyright Agency Limited
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Collette O'Neill,
Blind Citizens Australia
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Most action items from the 2002 meeting had been accomplished, with a
major one being the setting up by the Copyright Agency Ltd of a database
to record details of masters of accessible format materials created in
the university sector. Over 2500 records have been added to the database,
and Sue McKnight of the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL)
will encourage members to continue to add records. The Human Rights and
Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and the Australian Vice Chancellor’s
Committee (AVCC) have also set up a Steering Committee on Accessible Curricular
Materials.
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Discussions on the day covered areas such as implementation of the DAISY
standard in Australia, the Books in the Sky initiative in South Australia,
and the work of the National Information and Library Service (NILS). Participants
in the Forum commented that the Forum provides an excellent opportunity
for disability-related groups to exchange information and views on library
issues, and encouraged groups to work together to achieve improvements
at the national level.
A number of recommendations came out of the meeting:
- that the Roundtable on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities
Inc. take responsibility for the preparation of a list of disability
awareness training providers
- that the National Library write to HREOC to support CAUL’s recommendation
that a library sector representative be added to the HREOC/AVCC Steering
Committee on Accessible Curricular Materials
- that Kinetica liaise with HREOC to ensure that organisations which
previously contributed to National Union Catalogue for People with Disabilities
(NUC:D) but are not Kinetica members are aware of current arrangements
for the addition of their records to the National Bibliographic Database
- that ALIA be asked to consider placing the issue of library services
for people with disabilities on the agenda for the 2004 ALIA conference
- that NILS prepare an article about DAISY which can be submitted to
a variety of publications in the government, disability and other sectors
- that NILS provide information to the National Library about the coming
NILS Open Day, for distribution to the Forum members
- that the National Library convene a group to discuss standards and
technology issues relating to library services for people with disabilities
- that ALIA work with appropriate bodies to develop a Code of Practice
for library services for people with disabilities
- that the National Library ensure that the Australian Federation of
Disability Organisations is added to the information distribution list
for the Forum on Library Services for People with Disabilities and be
invited to participate in the next Forum
- that the Copyright and Publishing Working Group of the HREOC/AVCC
Steering Committee be asked to examine the issues involved in extending
access to materials converted to an accessible format by an educational
institution for use in the wider community
- that NILS be asked to consider adding copies of accessible format
award-winning Australian children’s books to the Lu Rees Archive
- that State and Territory Libraries and the National Library report
to members of the Forum on steps that have been taken to ensure that
digital versions of print documents (such as historic maps, letters
and other documents) are produced such that they are accessible to people
who are blind, vision impaired or print disabled, and
- that the National Library convene another Forum in 18 months time
Reports on progress on these recommendations will be provided in future
issues of Gateways.
—Sandra Henderson, Manager, Research, Coordination Support Branch,
shenders@nla.gov.au
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