Alessandra Bezzi - Bocconi University
Our experience at Bocconi University Library
Our Library is developing a project to provide appropriate facilities and assistance to users with permanent or temporary disabilities.
We offer:
- detailed information about available services (The accessibility of your library will not be judged by the sophistication of the technologies you have, but the comprehensiveness of the services you offer. - The A-D-A-P-T-A-B-L-E Approach: Planning Accessible Libraries". Information Technology and Disabilities. 2(4). Available through EASI, - Copyright by Alan Cantor 1995).
- a collection of books and course reading materials on tape produced through the Associazione Libro Parlato (Italian branch of Talking Book Association);
- loan of items on tape or on other sound media;
- production of large-print documents (through enlarging photocopier and laser printer);
- training and assistance in the use of Computers, Adaptive Equipment and electronic resources;
We started to investigate how to carry it out at the beginning of March 1999. This speech would be the short tale of this investigation.
The preliminary phase of the project was of course seeking and getting reliable reference and information, looking for other experiences, analyzing the state of the art about this topic, and after that drawing our main goals.
The DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking & Technology) Program documentation by University of Washington has been an excellent starting point :
As more information is delivered using computer and network technologies, libraries play an increasingly important role in ensuring access for all people to Internet and electronic information resources. In making libraries and electronic resources accessible, principles of universal design should be employed.
.....
To plan an accessible library, it is helpful to think in terms of the following access issues: facility, staff, services, adaptive technology and electronic resources.
... Using computing resources can increase the independence, capabilities and productivity of people with disabilities.
Access to computing resources for people with disabilities in your library involves two issues: access to the computers
themselves and access to the electronic resources. Electronic resources include operational programs such as word
processors and spreadsheets and information resources such as encyclopedias and databases available through local
and networked computer systems. ( Universal Access: Electronic Resources in Libraries)
In the last few years the remarkable improvement of Information Technology (IT), the wider diffusion of WEB, the development of Multimedia Applications and the evolution of Assistive Technology (AT) have offered greater chances on projecting and fitting in suitable services that allow Library to serve all patrons, particularly those with disabilities. So all of us could provide services to everyone with a reasonable balance between costs and benefits even if we are not a specialized library.
Making this project, by myself, I've discovered one different approach to technology and I've had the opportunity to meet a rapidly growing new professional profile that is the
Assistive Technology Specialist.
The
projecting phase has taken some time for better focusing these topics carefully:
- identify users needs and assign them priorities;
- coordinate efforts of different people with different skills to integrate Library standard services, tailored services and adaptive technology;
- analyzing adaptive hardware and software equipments available on the market;
- identify basic knowledge, specific training contents and time for the staff we decided to involve;
We have involved in this phase some of ours students with various visual disabilities, from low vision to blindness and dyslexia in order to identify better priorities and urgent needs to satisfy.
At the end of this period the first goals to reach were identified with the availability of:
- textbooks on tape;
- enlarged course materials;
- accessible electronic resources;
- screen reading software and speech synthesizer;
- OCR software for scanning and reading out loud;
- Braille display;
- training course to allow people to use autonomously adaptive computer resources and tools;
Some of these issues have a low-tech impact factor and a higher organizational and management impac such as coordination of activityies, interaction of different services and staff members involved. Others have high-technology contents and could be the milestone of a small Adaptive Technology Lab in the Library. In this report I would stress the accent more on this aspect related to the adaptive computer technology field than on the one related to organizational behavior. To manage computer hardware and software, and to plan training to convert potential to performance for people with disabilities has been the aim of the Automation Department.
Screen readers, speech synthesizers, screen enlargers, and Braille-translation programs allow the blind or visually impaired to operate computers on a par with sighted individuals. We requested to the students with the disabilities to test the process of learning computer software applications and time and commitment has been the students contribution.
The
experimental phase has been managed with the close collaboration of two students who have low vision disability and one student who is blind. These were the basic steps :
- choose of adequate software and hardware equipment;
- implementation and configuration of two dedicated workstation with alternative input and output devices;
- systems integration and interaction;
- training on computer assisted devices;
- test and functionality checks;
Two "enhanced workstations" were installed in the Library Automation Department, and in the future they will be placed in a selected small study room in the library. They include various programs that can be used to magnify text; to hear text spoken aloud from a screen; scan in materials that are then spoken aloud, printed out, or copied to disk; and write documents and control the computer by dictating into a microphone.
The first workstation is a desktop computer, the second one is a Notepad usable also outside the Library in the University Campus buildings and at user's home.
PC hardware configuration
- IBM 300 PL Multimedia
- Pentium III 450 MHz
- 128 Mb RAM
- 6 Gb HD
- Token Ring adapter
- CD-ROM drive
- Monitor 21"
- Scanner HP 6250C with 25-page Automatic Document Feeder.
- Microphone
Notepad hardware configuration
- IBM ThinkPad 600E
- Pentium II 366 MHz
- 128 Mb RAM
- 6 Gb HD
- CD-ROM DVD drive
- external drive diskette 3,5"
- ethernet adapter
- Microphone
Software configuration for both workstations
- O.S. Windows 98
- Henter-Joyce, Inc. - JAWS for Windows Screen Reader (in Italian). This software allows you to access a wide variety of information, education and job-related applications. Through this adaptive interface you can browse the web, read or write e-mail messages, re-calculate spread sheets or access information in a data base.
- OCR softwares Textbridge Pro98 and
Omnipage v. 10 Pro
- Dragon Naturally Speaking Pro is a software program which converts speech into text with a large vocabulary, continuous speech, general purpose speech recognition system. When using NatSpeak, you can talk into a microphone attached to your computer and NatSpeak will type whatever you say into a word processor or other application. It allows you to create documents, e-mail, and other text documents by voice
instead of typing. NatSpeak also allows you to format text by voice and even control certain aspects of
your computer by speaking commands instead of using the keyboard or mouse.
- Pure Voice Advanced Technology to Voice-Enable Software Applications
- ReadMePlease screen reader software (in English)
- pwWebSpeak -It's an Auditory browser (in English) which provides both a non-visual, auditory presentation of the World Wide Web as well as a simplified visual presentation including large character display. The user may navigate through the structure of document based on its contents, paragraphs and sentences, rather than having to deal with scrolling interpreting a structured screen display.
- Microsoft Explorer 5 and Netscape Communicator 4.7
- Eudora Pro 4.3 and Microsoft Outlook
- Adobe accessible tool It is a Web-based forms submission tool. lt converts Adobe PDF documents into HTML or ASCII text which can then be read by a number of common screen reading programs that synthesize text as audible speech. The document will be converted on the fly to HTML and will be returned immediately to the Web browser.
Additional statistical, econometric and mathematical software installed on notepad only
The selection of the "correct" combination of hardware and software was not simple. There are predefined sequences to respect when installing different software in order to avoid incompatibility conflicts.
The selection doesn't depend only on the standard university platform and the local popularity of specific packages but also from the specific disability and user needs. You have to take care of different requirements and to pay attention to forecast different configurations and an easy way to manage their switching in order to guarantee a wide usability of specific equipments. For example different arrangement of desktop layouts, color combinations, font size definitions, etc.
Now our students can autonomously:
- consult the Library Opac;
- surf Internet;
- hear text spoken aloud from a screen (in Italian and English);
- scan in materials that are then spoken aloud;
- write documents and control the computer by dictating into a microphone;
- send and receiving e-mail both in text or aural format;
Useful links
some general references
some references about visual disabilities
some references about Assistive Technology
some references focused to the Library
