Focusing on the Effective Forms and Methods of Lending Literature in Braille and on Sound Carriers.
There are, in essence, three types of libraries:
1. The library united with the printing
house for the blind on the same premises.
2. The library as an isolated unit, indepen
dent in its organisation and financial
matters.
3. The library included in the system of
public libraries.
The most frequent of these three types is the first:
the functioning of the library is directly linked with that
of the printing house for the blind. This system has its
advantages and its disadvantages. The advantages have to
do with the common objectives of the two services, the
m possibility of immediate collaboration between the two
and the close contact which is established with the production system. The disadvantages arise from the insuf-
[ ficiency of available space, which offers few possibilities
for expansion of the services, and from the dependence of
the libraryfs administration, whose development is
subordinate to that of the production techniques of the
r printing house.
m The independent library, in this sense, is in a much
I more advantageous situation. It is free from the problems
of the production of literature for the blind and from
| the worries arising from them. It has its own financial
base and must take care of only its own development goals.
It is a system which is in accordance with the modern con
ception and which is likely to become in the near future
the most common system.
The lending libraries integrated within the system
of normal public libraries should be considered only as
a complement to the above-mentioned systems, and will need
to be converted preferably into branches of the libraries
in regional capitals. These branches are more easily accessible to readers and relieve the postal services of
an enormous burden as regards the sending of braille books
and talking books. This type of library constitutes as
well a new form of development which sooner or later
will become a supplement to the services of a central
library. It is also to be expected that these branches
plant the seeds for future social centres for the visually
impaired. These centres will be able to establish small
recording studios, communication and technical assistance
services, services for aid to students from all kinds of
education centres, and when the time comes they will be
converted into centres for the use of computers in the
system of data processing.
The equipment of the libraries is, save for a few
exceptions, out-dated. In them we find various types of
simple shelves in total or almost complete absence of
mechanisation. The reference system of the braille and
talking books is carried out in the majority of cases by
way of a simple system of cataloguing, inasmuch as the
number is not too large and its ordering is rather simple.
This is another aspect towards which we should direct our
efforts in order to obtain total technification. The
type of materials available for lending is well known.
These materials are books and magazines in braille, records,
books and magazines on tape, radio plays, large print
books and magazines for the partially sighted, informative
materials of all types, including translations of sister
magazines from all over the world, brief reports on re
search, musical scores in ink print and braille, text books
on tape for secondary schools and universities, and a
small collection of ink print books.
The volume of production increases continually.
Printing houses for the blind will be supplied with modern
systems of computerised transcription, rotary presses,
automatic presses and sophisticated techniques of book
binding. At the present time the recording studios
increase the production of books on tape, the number of copies on open reel tape and cassettes is multitplied,
and the number of blind and visually impaired students in
upper level education centres increases. The growth of
activity in a specific area, in production for example,
implies the appearance of a greater need for improvement
in the reference and cataloguing systems and in the lending
systems. One of the aspects in which it is possible to
imagine modernisation is in the possibilities of mobility
of the book shelves. It is necessary to eliminate the
complicated search for desired books and materials as well
as the useless movement from one shelf to another. The
equipment in braille libraries differs undoubtedly from
that of talking book libraries. Braille books take up
considerably more space and are rather heavy, which causes
the lending process to be much slower. How can we resolve
these problems? The shelves will be placed one after
another in modular form without intermediate passageways.
Each one will have its own transportation system and will
be electrically movable, controlled from a central control
board. This control board will be located as close as
possible to where direct contact with the readers takes
place. The numbers on the control board for the shelves
will correspond to the catalogue reference numbers.
In the case of the talking book library, including
records and radio plays, the problem will be resolved in
a different way. In the majority of cases there will be
an area exclusively set aside for this purpose. Here
also there will be a control board, but the shelves will
adopt the form of a continuous ellipsoidal moving band.
In the first place the desired title will be sought, and
then by way of a button the movement of the band will be
ordered to carry the shelves until the corresponding
point is found, in which position the movable wall will
stop. At this point it will be extremely simple to find
the book. It is possible also to incorporate the
reference system of the books in a computer, which will
also be used for the automatic printing of braille and
ink print.
The storing of information of all kinds, the trans
lations made from specialised journals for the blind in
braille or in ink print, as well as other translations
that the research service may have been able to obtain,
are carried out much better with the help of the computer
and its very extensive memory. Musical scores in braille
should also be supplemented by the corresponding version
in ink print and on tape and the three variants will be
filed in one single container.
The existing systems strongly depend on the develop
ment which has taken place up to now in the lending
services for visually impaired readers and their range of
application is of a limited scope. Most of their activity
takes place in the central library and consists of two
fundamental procedures. First, the readers who live in the
town where the library is located go to the library
personally or send some family member to pick up the
material for them. Those who live in different cities use
the postal service and order by mail the literature that
they wish to receive. The library makes sure that they
receive the requested volumes. This system, which is the
one most frequently used, is advantageous for both parties
and will continue in effect for many years to come, al
though in some of the very advanced countries new alterna
tives have begun to appear. These alternatives are, in
the case of large cities, the transportation in vehicles
belonging to the institution, of the books to the home of
the reader and especially to elderly blind people.
For this purpose in large cities district branches
of the libraries are opened. They are very adequate for
this type of collaboration with the readers, inasmuch as
in addition to developing other activities and practical
services, they create the possibility of more efficiently
meeting the needs of the readers, because of a better
understanding of their desires. The moving of these
branches to industrial centres where a great number of
blind and visually impaired people are employed is pos
sible only if the workers reside in the surrounding area
of the production site. In this case, the corresponding library actually becomes a branch of the central library
while the central library becomes the consultant and
provides its branch with the books and materials..
All libraries have, in addition to their primary task
of supplying literature in braille and on tape to the
inhabitants of the area who are not able to go to the
general information centres, another even more appealing
mission. They must educate their readers, advise them,
widen their horizons through the spoken word, which is as
weil we know the most effective contact possible. We have
in mind conversations which could take place in clubs,
lectures, concerts, short plays, literary gatherings and
other similar activities, in short, educational and
cultural activities. Visually impaired readers show a
special interest in this type of social life which also
provides them with the possibility of getting to know
each other better and of making new friends.
In this way, the meeting hall, club, gymnasium or
sports field is not only a place for social life but can
also be a place for informal gatherings. In this way the
library workers would be able to see the results of their
work in a more efficient manner than that which is provided by analyses carried out by way of questionnaires, no mat
ter how detailed they may be. The services which are propi vided for the reader in the library itself should be supplemented by reading and study rooms, recording studios
p and listening booths. The available tables in the rooms
t should be equipped with modern technical devices in order
to facilitate maximum concentration for the student. In
these rooms there will be tape players with earphones,
optacons, digicassettes, reading aids for the partially
sighted and other similar equipment.
In our work with the readers, we should not forget
the need to provide information and reporting in an
efficient and regular manner. The most adequate informa
tive medium is the publication of regular supplements to
the catalogue, in which the publication of new works
should be announced. In reporting it will be most important to make known the situation of the blind welfare movement
on an international level, as well as information about
new work methods, aids, new machines, devices, etc. And
we should not overlook the efforts which are carried out
in order to find creative solutions to our internal
problems and difficulties. Computer technology and its integration in the library
system represents a new and very specific field in the '" coping with our problems. The minicomputer is already
opening the way towards the utilisation of automatic pro
duction of materials in braille and on tape and can claim
to have produced some very positive and economic results.
Taking into account that the computer has a very extensive
memory it is also possible to use it in the activity of
the circulation of books. Computerised files for books
and readers do not constitute the only possibility of
application. Computers must also take the responsibility
for a much more important task in the creation of an
"information memory" and it will be possible to make use
of that system, after work hours, by way of a direct tele
phone or a radio network. Once the corresponding number
is dialed the equipment will switch on and will fulfill,
according to the order which has been transmitted to it, (aw
the required services, for example, a mathematical calculation, or the search for specific data in its memory.
Automatic computer printing is already operational, and the use of computer services without the necessity of
directly handling them is at this time in a stage of m
development and will not be long in becoming a reality. A new service, which is acquiring increasing success
among the other aids for the visually impaired, is radio
broadcasting.
Although it may seem that telephonic connection with
the users of this service through a central installation
is a matter which corresponds to the telecommunication
authorities, we think that a separate organisation for
this activity would be more efficient and practical.
I recommend that libraries have available their own system
for control of the central installation, which could
in addition activate a device with a telephone connection
in order to rapidly transmit information concerning new
additions to library stock as well as the progress of the
blind welfare movement.
Dear friends, these brief thoughts which I have
dedicated to the ways and methods of the functioning of
libraries for the blind are by no means an attempt to
give a Complete view of our problems. My intention has
been to give a short look at the present situation and at
the new possibilities which are arising, and to provide
some suggestions concerning new work methods with and for
the readers. We should take advantage of this conference
to express in the forthcoming discussion our opinions
concerning these matters. If, from this conference, con
crete results must be produced, it would be appropriate
to examine the following suggestions:
1. That the European Regional Committee examine the
possibility of creating the necessary conditions
for the establishment of a centre in charge of
the systematic reading of all of the journals
for the blind, as well as specialised literature
from all over the world for the purpose of
sending the most important articles and news
items to all countries.
2. That a specialised international journal be
published concerning the production of written
material for the blind, book binding, computer
technology, library sciences, etc.
3. That regular meetings be organised for the
directors of libraries and printing houses.
Finally, I would like to express my desire that we
dedicate all of our energy to the strengthening and
improvement of our humanitarian mission for the welfare
of the blind and visually impaired throughout the world.
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