LIBRARY COMPUTER ACCESS FOR THE BLIND AND LOW VISION USER

The first step in making a technology decision is to communicate with your potential users. You will find it much easier if you purchase equipment that your patrons are used to using. If you have one or two patrons who can help train others it will add to the success of your program.

The equipment that I am going to discuss is the equipment that I feel is the most commonly used in New England. There are always other choices. Adaptive Technology Consulting can help you put together the workstation that best suits your needs.

RECOMMENDED COMPUTER SPECIFICATIONS

• Pentium 3 or above Processor
• 17 or 19 inch monitor
• Sound card with speakers
• Modem and/or NIC card
• CD ROM drive
• Floppy disk drive
• 128 MB RAM
• 20 GB hard drive or larger
• Keyboard and Mouse
• Any windows operating system
• Back up system

BASIC ADAPTATION

It is helpful to many people to have a large print keyboard. This can be done in two ways. You can purchase peel and stick key labels for about $22.00 that can be placed on the keys. This is a good solution although they may have to be re-applied periodically. There is also a large print keyboard that costs about $135.00. Peel and stick, raised dots should be placed on important keys like the "alt" and "control key". These dots can be purchased for about $5.00 for a package of six.

Speech technology is an access type that works for everyone, low vision as well as blind users. It is a good choice for a basic system. A person with low vision would prefer to have screen enlargement but if money is an issue, speech access is a good place to start. There are actually some features built into MS Windows that can help a low vision user. The speech package that is most widely used in New England is JAWS for Windows. The cost of this product is $895 with an extra $120 for a software maintenance agreement, giving you the next two upgrades. This is a good idea because the upgrades arrive without you having to think about it. JFW will give your visually impaired user access to the Windows Operating system, Word Processing, the Internet and Email.

The next step in creating an accessible workstation is a scanning package. This will allow your users to read printed material and if they wish, they can make copies on disk and bring them out of the library to use on their own system. The printed text will also be displayed on the screen in large print and can be edited if scanning errors are made.

A very basic Braille translator is included that can be used to produce grade 2 Braille. There are two widely used software packages that provide these functions. OpenBook and Kurzweil 1000 are the most commonly used scanning packages for the visually impaired. Both of these packages cost $995 and can be used only with selected scanners. You should check with your vendor or the manufacturer before purchasing a scanner since scanners change faster than the weather. You should be able to purchase a scanner for well under $300.

Now you have put together a workstation that can meet the needs of a wide range of visually impaired users. People can scan printed documents, access the internet, make copies to take home, create basic Braille text files, send and read Email, and create print documents.

The next step would be to add large print access to this computer or you may prefer to use a different computer for large print access. There are a few different large print access programs. They range in price from $100 to $600. The most expensive product includes some speech as well as large print. This is not enough speech for a blind user. If you choose to put the large print software on a separate computer, you may want to use ZoomText. If you are going to put the large print software on the same computer as the speech access you will want to use MAGic. If you are using an NT/2000 or XP Professional system, you will have to purchase the more expensive JFW Professional for $1,195 and you will only be able to use MAGic Professional at $395. In some cases if more than one copy of an access software package is purchased for one library or more than one library in a district, special license pricing is available. Contact your dealer for this information.

I also think it is important for a library to have a CCTV. These range in price from $1,800 to $3,500 and many libraries already have this technology.

If you still have money and you want to expand your services, you may want to consider a stand-alone reading machine. These devices scan text and read it aloud. The most common product in this part of the country is the VERA, however other such products exist. These devices allow a user to read printed text aloud and the VERA displays the text on a monitor in large print. These products only read and don't allow you to do much with the text. Their big advantage is that they are very easy to use and even though they are based on the Windows operating system, the user never knows this and computer fear is eliminated.

Braille Production

I think that it is very important for some libraries to provide the ability to produce hard copy Braille. This does not need to take place in every library. The ideal situation would be if libraries were networked and one library in a region could provide the hard copy Braille for several libraries. If you want to do Braille production you need Braille translation software called Duxbury. This software costs $595. You will also need a Braille embosser which range in price from $1,900 to $4,000. Speak to your dealer; they will help you determine which embosser you need.

Installation

There are three ways to handle installation. The first is to install the software yourself. Many libraries have someone available who takes care of the other computers in the library. This person may be able to install this software. If they run into trouble they can call the manufacturer or their dealer. None of these products will be more expensive if you purchase them from a dealer rather than the manufacturer. If you use an authorized dealer, that dealer will be another source for technical support. The second solution is to have your dealer provide installation. Adaptive Technology Consulting charges $85 per hour for this service plus one-way travel time. The third installation solution is to ship your computers to Adaptive Technology Consulting. We will not charge for installation for products we sold when the installation is done in our office.

Adaptive Technology is not authorized to sell all of the products we carry out of the New England area, so you will have to check with your local dealer for their installation policy.

Training! Training! Training!

This is the most important part of your system. If your staff is not comfortable with this equipment, no one else will be comfortable with the technology. Your staff should be thoroughly trained. We can provide training on site or in our office for $85 per hour. You may be able to use other sources for this training. The most important thing is that you get all the training you can get and make sure any replacement staff is trained. If you have users in your area that know the equipment, you may be able to use them to train other users.

I have worked with adaptive technology in library settings for more than twenty years and I have seen many changes. The first reading machine purchased by a library cost about $30,000 and everyone was scared of them. Most often they were placed with audio-visual equipment. The cost of service was so expensive that a lot of these machines ended up in the closet. Blind people never used libraries and the machines were not often used even when they were working. Today the technology used by the blind is the same as that used by everyone else. The only difference is that the access mode is speech or large print and that keyboard commands must be used instead of clicking with a mouse. Many blind people are using this technology on the job as well as at home.

Now blind people are ready to use public libraries and take advantage of all they have to offer. When someone who is visually impaired comes into your library to use this technology, make sure they feel comfortable and don't forget to explain all the other wonderful things your library has to offer like books on tape and videos with audio-description.

Good luck with your new venture,

Gayle Yarnall