InfoEyes: A Virtual Reference Service for the Visually Impaired
| Published date | 01 July 2004 |
| Pages | 5-11 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07419050410554834 |
| Date | 01 July 2004 |
| Author | Tom Peters,Lori Bell,Sharon Ruda,Diana Brawley Sussman |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
InfoEyes: A Virtual Reference Service for the
Visually Impaired
Tom Peters, Lori Bell, Sharon Ruda and Diana Brawley Sussman
LIBRARY HITECH NEWS Number 6 2004, pp. 5-11, #Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/07419050410554834 5
The idea and the need
Earlier this year a new service
dubbed InfoEyes was launched to
provide online reference services and
related information training specifically
for print-impaired individuals. InfoEyes
is a multi-state project involving
libraries for the blind and print impaired
in 11 states and the District of
Columbia. The pilot test phase is
running from March-August 2004. This
fall the program will enter a new phase.
This article briefly reports on the
genesis, planning, and first few months
of the pilot test phase.
Print-impaired library users include
individuals who are blind, visually
impaired, physically challenged, or
learning disabled. It is estimated that
the number of print-impaired
individuals ranges from 5-10 percent of
the US population. Unfortunately, age
related eye diseases and physical
impairments ensure that this percentage
will almost certainly rise as the
population ages. Just like everyone else,
these library users are turning more to
the Web to satisfy their information
needs. They have questions about
history, cooking, and the weather. They
also ask unique questions about the
medical and social service aspects of
print-impairments.
For print-impaired library users the
advent in the last 20 years of digital,
networked information has been a
tremendous boon. Thanks to adaptive
software and devices such as screen
readers, screen magnifiers, and various
Braille devices, much of the material on
the Web or in electronic format is
accessible to print-impaired readers. As
more information and recreational
reading becomes available in digital
format, visually impaired users will
relish the same choices for reading and
entertainment sighted users have
always enjoyed.
The goals of InfoEyes
.Develop and test a national colla-
borative model for providing vir-
tual reference services, e-resources,
and online community support ser-
vices for print-impaired indivi-
duals.
.Evaluate the features of the various
software components. Determine
which features and software op-
tions are most effective when
serving print-impaired individuals.
.In particular, test the audio Voice-
over-IP (VoIP) features and func-
tionality of a virtual reference
service. For example, test how well
VoIP and text chat interface with
screen reader software programs
commonly used by print-impaired
users, such as JAWS and Window-
Eyes.
.Coordinate libraries for the print
impaired in multiple states and
time zones to provide a consis-
tently high quality virtual reference
service to a large pool of library
patrons.
.Collaborate with other types of
libraries and service agencies to
increase and improve mainstream
online reference services to ensure
accessibility to print-impaired in-
dividuals from any service point.
.Work with OCLC to make Ques-
tionPoint software and services
accessible to print-impaired librar-
ians and library users.
.Offer access and training to
e-resources (e.g. selected First-
Search databases, free Web-based
resources) to determine which are
most useful to print-impaired end-
users and the organizations that
provide online library services to
them.
.Investigate how online commu-
nities utilizing virtual meeting soft-
ware can be formed to improve the
information literacy and in-depth
research skills of print-impaired
individuals.
What we hope to learn
.Does audio delivered in an inte-
grated fashion over the Internet
improve the reference transaction
for both the print-impaired popula-
tion and, by extension, the general
population?
.Is VoIP compatible with screen
reader software, and is the result-
ing experience acceptable to most
print-impaired users?
.How do differences in bandwidth
affect the quality of this type of
advanced virtual reference service?
.Do software plug-ins create logis-
tical and technological problems?
.What are the advantages and dis-
advantages of pursuing a colla-
borative, multi-state effort?
.How does the service work when
linked to from other non-partner
libraries? Can we successfully
provide online reference services
to visually impaired patrons from
outside our own library network?
.Does InfoEyes work well along-
side existing virtual reference ser-
vices designed for the general
population?
.How much troubleshooting is re-
quired by the virtual reference
librarians?
.What features of the software are
most helpful to the population
served?
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