Recording for the blind and dyslexic: The development of an internet accessible online catalog
| Date | 01 January 1996 |
| Published date | 01 January 1996 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb047984 |
| Pages | 69-73 |
| Author | Steve Noble |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
RECORDING FOR THE BLIND AND DYSLEXIC:
THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTERNET
ACCESSIBLE ONLINE CATALOG
Steve Noble
PROJECT BACKGROUND SUMMARY
Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (formerly
Recording for the Blind) has been providing audio
recordings of educational texts since its founding in
1948.
RFB&D's master tape library currently contains
over 80,000 volumes, making it the largest resource
of its kind in the world. Beginning in 1992, RFB&D
initiated a project to develop an online public access
catalog that would allow both institutional providers
and individual borrowers to search its holdings and
order recorded texts via the Internet. Also in 1993, a
coordinated pilot project was begun to allow a limited
test group of institutional sites and individuals the
ability to use the catalog-ordering mechanism in an
effort to gather structured feedback on the usefulness
of the system and suggestions for improvements.
Although the project cannot be considered an over-
whelming success, much insight has been gained as a
result of our efforts and will be of considerable value
in the development of a future improved version of
RFB&D's online public access catalog.
RFB&D Services
Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic is a
not-for-profit service organization that provides educa-
tional and professional books in accessible media for-
mats to people with print disabilities including blind-
ness,
low
vision,
mobility impairments, and perceptual
learning disabilities such as dyslexia. RFB&D primarily
provides texts in four-track audio-cassette format, but
also has an ever-growing electronic text (e-text)
program, which can supply a limited number of texts
on computer diskettes. Works available
in
e-text format
are usually books that have little value in audio form,
such as dictionaries, reference works, and computer
software manuals. All audio recordings are loaned to
borrowers free of charge, while e-text books are sold
to users for a nominal charge.
Most of the work needed to produce RFB&D's
texts is supplied by trained volunteers who record
books or do e-text editing at 30 different studios
scattered across the United
States.
In 1994, over 4,400
volunteers contributed some 324,000 hours worth of
volunteer services. The combination of a largely
volunteer work force and generous corporate and
individual contributors explains how RFB&D was able
to provide most of its services to 36,000 active bor-
rowers free of charge.
Bibliographic Information
Prior to 1991, the only publicly available reference
tool for finding recorded books in RFB&D's master
tape library that
was
available to the general public was
a printed catalog. These printed catalogs could be pur-
chased by schools, outside agencies, and private
individuals, but naturally were of little help to most
of our borrowers. Beginning in 1991, RFB&D began
Noble is technical consultant, Recording for the
Blind and
Dyslexic,
as well as
media services coordinator,
University of Louisville Libraries, Louisville, Kentucky.
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RECORDING FOR THE BLIND AND DYSLEXIC
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ISSUE 53
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14:1 (1996) 69
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