In my last year at uni, just when the DDA kicked in, the library allocated
a
disabilities officer who would scan any chapters of books or journal
articles. They had Kerzweil, so they could make the text accessible. It
wasn't ideal, but it was much better than the earlier method whereby I
scanned the books and articles, almost doubling my work-load.
Perhaps the university library that your friend is going to use would have
a
similar service. Also, I used to ask for book-lists well in advance of
the
coming term and, in most occasions, the lecturers were happy to provide
it.
Barry
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Taylor" <groups.dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 12:13 PM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: RNIB Student Library Booklist on Counselling
Hi,
OK. let me give some context here. I declare an interest in that I used to
work in a similar area of RNIB though I didn't have control of library
services.
RNIB has a certain amount of money it can spend on subsidising services.
In
recent years, they have been trying to use that to the best effect.
Therefore, if the service could, or should, be provided by somebody else,
they don't recreate it. Universities are responsible for ensuring courses
are accessible now by law, so they should be the people that use the
library. After all, they provide all their other students with a library,
so
why not us too? Why would we not be able to go to our uni library and sort
things out there and then, rather than having to chase round? Now I know
it
doesn't actually work like that, but that is where we should really be,
and
unis would pay, just like they would pay for regular library stock etc.
That
means, in theory, we still get our books and RNIB can subsidise something
else.
In reality, such arrangements will not cover everybody in the foreseeable
future though, so they can't just withdraw library services from us.
I do agree that they don't make it easy to find out about publications
though and that working age people get the worst deal from RNIB. I do know
a
visually impaired person who does a lot of their employment work now, and
he
does talk to lots of employers and try to raise awareness as well as
running
various new services. You might like to look for their "work matters"
strategy to see what they've done, or not done! Nobody can do everything
though!
Cheers
Dave
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