Beyond Books, Beyond Barriers

Braille Assoc for the Blind

When visiting the Association for the Blind for the first time, David’s confidence soared. Clutching a bleak prognosis by a specialist he was ushered into a stylish, spacious and seemingly well resourced building for his low vision assessment consultation. Assoc of the Blind David story

Although the vision test confirmed the specialist’s report, the consultant provided a practical session on the resources available to help overcome any challenges David might be facing. As a tech savvy young man accustomed to having information at his fingertips, he was concerned that loss of vision would alienate him from the world of ideas and communication. He was pleased to discover that the Association offers one of the largest ‘talking book’ libraries in the Southern Hemisphere, with books available in digital format as Digital Accessible Information SYstem (DAISY) files.

The digital library allows David and borrowers all over the world to search and download from an online catalogue of more than 60,000 titles or to request digital production of a book they want. Rather than having to learn Braille or choose from a small selection of books or audio tapes to take home for a limited period, David can download a book onto any digital playback device, including his iPod, iPad, phone, computer and MP3 player. Assoc for the blind father and son

The digital library was developed through a two year program, “Beyond Books, Beyond Barriers”, managed by Director of Information Services, Chris Whitelock. Chris realised the potential that digitisation had to shape accessible information production and dramatically expand the Association’s talking book delivery services well into the future. As Chris explains “By offering more flexibility and choice for readers the new system caters not only for people who are blind or vision impaired, but also those who have a print disability, such as dyslexia. For people without access to the internet or knowledge of computers, we transfer digital books onto a special re-usable USB cartridge that’s played on a dedicated digital talking book player which is simple, robust and easy to use.”

While young people like David are early adopters of new technology, the transition to a new library system represents a significant change for clients of the Association, many of whom are elderly. With a Lotterywest grant of just under half a million dollars the Association has been able to purchase talking book players for their existing library borrowers. Now everyone can enjoy the benefits of having a vast digital library, and Chris welcomes the fact that the Association for the Blind of WA has a growing number of library borrowers all over the world.