[Missouri-l] [leadership] FW: [lua-board] American Library Association and Others File Comments with U. S. Copyright Office

[peter altschul]

-----Original Message-----
From: Penny Reeder [mailto:penny.reeder at gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 12:51 PM
To: lua-board at acb.org
Subject: [lua-board] American Library Association and Others File
Comments with U.  S.  Copyright Office

ALA, ACRL, ARL File Comments to Copyright Office in Support of 
Access
for Visually Impaired Readers
April 28th, 2009
The American Library Association (ALA), the Association for 
College
and Research
Libraries (ACRL) and the Association for Research Libraries (ARL)
jointly
submitted comments
  to the U.S.  Copyright Office today on the topic of 
facilitating
access to copyrighted
works for the blind or persons with other disabilities.  The 
library
associations
believe that the blind or persons with other disabilities should 
be
afforded the
same access to materials as sighted persons.  Presently, only 
about 5
percent of published
books are available in accessible formats for the visually 
impaired.
Some materials
are not available at all, particularly scholarly journals, 
research
materials, and
other professional resources and local history materials.
Librarians utilize copyright exceptions afforded by federal
legislation in order
to serve the visually impaired in spite of the complex process 
that
may be necessary
to deliver a specific work in an accessible format.  Librarians
frequently scan and
transform materials into accessible formats using a variety of
software, coordinate
volunteers to make audio recordings of books or other materials, 
hire
Braille translators,
and work with school teachers to create accessible supplemental
materials for educational
purposes.  However, this process is cumbersome, and disabled 
users
usually must wait
for an accessible copy to be made available.  And, while there is 
a
range of technological
tools available to libraries to provide access to works in 
accessible
formats, most
libraries cannot support such resources due to cost or burdensome
coordination efforts.
Some libraries opt to work with established adaptive service 
centers
who provide
access services to materials.
Librarians are grateful that they can turn to the Chaffee 
Amendment,
the IDEA Act
and fair use when meeting the needs of the visually impaired.  
The
library associations
recognize that the United States clearly stands apart from other
nations in this
regard.  While current copyright law goes a long way in meeting 
the
information needs
of the visually impaired, the library associations also believe 
that
more can be
done to improve and expand access.  For a  summary of 
recommendations
and primary findings, READ MORE
HERE:
<http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=2637>http://www.wo.ala
org/di
strictdispatch/?p=2637

Key Words:  Access for visually impaired readers, American 
Library
Association, ALA, Association for College and Research
Libraries, ACRL, Association for Research Libraries, ARL, 
comments,
U.S.  Copyright Office, facilitating access to copyrighted
Works, blind, print disabilities, same access as people who can 
see,
accessible formats, scholarly journals, research materials,
professional resources, local history materials, copyright
exceptions, complex process, Chaffee Amendment, IDEA, fair use,
harmonize eligibility requirements, limit confusion between laws,
growing demographic of people losing sight in later years, 
contract
law, needs of visually impaired in foreign countries, encourage
technologic innovations, misinterpretation about user rights in
connection with text-to-speech, National Library Service for the
Blind and Physically Handicapped, NLS,




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