Closing the 95 Percent Gap: Library Resource Sharing for People with Print Disabilities

Epp, Mary Anne

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/3618 Copy

Description

Title

Closing the 95 Percent Gap: Library Resource Sharing for People with Print Disabilities

Author(s)

Epp, Mary Anne

Issue Date

2006

Keyword(s)

• Library cooperation
• Library information networks
• Disabilities
• Library services

Abstract

Experts estimate that only 5 percent of the world’s publishing output is made accessible in alternate formats for people who cannot use print. While some popular commercial digital audio and textual products are available to people with print disabilities, many people do not have equal access to reading materials and other resources. People who cannot use print due to a visual, physical, neurological, or perceptual disability need libraries to provide the equitable access. Libraries need strategic partnerships, improved public policy, and international agreements to fulfill the promise. Equity laws, union catalogs, new technology, standards for production and resource sharing, postal subsidies, and commercial production of alternate formats have all helped. This article focuses on key elements that affect library resource sharing for people with disabilities in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Challenges include attitudes, organizational isolation, diversity of alternate formats, nonadherence to standards, inaccessible online services, an uncooperative publishing industry, inconsistent access to equipment, and inadequate training. Recommendations are made to improve the legal framework, develop sharing library communities, and apply universal design principles.

Publisher

Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

ISSN

0024-2594

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/3618

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2006 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Owning Collections