National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1443-0568 | no. 67 | February 2004


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. 

Bruce Maguire, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Melissa Willan, Copyright Agency Limited Collette O'Neill, Blind Citizens Australia

Bruce Maguire, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission

Melissa Willan, Copyright Agency Limited

Collette O'Neill, Blind Citizens Australia

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.

 

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

| Contents list for this issue of Gateways |