Diversions

Blind Students Get Free Access to Cambridge U. Press Books

Interesting follow on to the lawsuits by the National Federation of Blind students regarding Kindle adoption (see earlier post here) — the Chronicle has a brief story about Blind Students Get[ting] Free Access to Cambridge U. Press books.  A perfect example of how technology and innovation can promote inclusion rather than restrict it — how the mandate for inclusion can drive innovation rather than stifle it.  IMNSHO, this just proves how badly Amazon handled the disability/accessibility  issue in the first place.

Global Connections

Are you interested in learning about other cultures, practicing a foreign language, or sharing your own cultural heritage with a local international resident? Would you like to find out more about how the Libraries can work with our local international community?

Then plan to attend a presentation by Merrill David, executive director of Global Connections, on March 24 at 10:00 a.m. in the Mann Assembly Room, sponsored by the University Libraries’ Diversity Committee.

Global Connections is a community non-profit organization, affiliated with Penn State and the Centre County United Way, with a tradition of promoting international cultural exchange in Centre County. Global Connections works with international students and scholars and their families, the employees of international companies in Centre County, and recent immigrants.

Through Global Connections, volunteers are matched with internationals who want to improve their English and learn more about our local community and culture. Volunteer opportunities include a conversation partners program, the Women’s Intercultural Book Group, and the International Friendship Program. Global Connections also hosts a world poetry reading, a children’s festival, and an international music series. More information about their programs is available on their website at http://www.global.psu.edu/gc/

At the University Libraries, we see many international students, faculty and scholars. We also provide our services to the wider international community, including families of international Penn Staters, as well as local international residents. At the Diversity Committee program with Global Connections, you’ll have a chance to share your ideas about how the Libraries can support and reach out to our international community.

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. For more information about the program please contact Dawn Amsberry at dua4@psu.edu or 865-5093.

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year, the celebration of the new lunar year and the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays, begins February 14 and continues for 15 days.

Celebrate Chinese New Year by reading “Ten Things Related to Chinese Literature” on the University Libraries Leisure Reading blog, posted by Yancy Poon, the Bednar intern in Library Learning Services.

Coming soon to the Leisure Reading collection: popular titles in Chinese! Stay tuned for more information.

Technology, Innovation, and Accessibility

Back in July one of the law-tech listservs I read had a flurry of posts about a discrimination lawsuit being brought by students and the National Federation of the Blind against Arizona State University. (Teknoids) The lawsuit alleged that the pilot program to distribute textbooks via the Kindle DX violated the Americans with Disability Act, section 504.  The ASU University Technology Officer posted a press release about the pilot program on May 6, 2009.  The comments from students there debated many of the pros and cons of the program, including the issue of accessibility for blind students.  While the KindleDX does offer text to speech capability, and allows users to zoom the print size, choose high contrast fonts and colors, none of its operational menus or navigation mechanisms are included in the text to speech function.  So the Kindle offers great advantages to the sighted and to those with low vision, not to mention those who might have disability issues that prevent them holding heavy textbooks; however, users who are blind are completely unable to make use of the reader.  The discrimination suit was filed on June 25, 2009.  (The full text of the filing is available at http://www.shandrow.com/kindle/complaint.txt)

Watching the blogosphere about this one has been interesting.  Many first reactions are ‘well, books aren’t accessible to the blind either’, followed by ‘Amazon has no obligation to make its hardware totally accessible to every kind of possible disability out there’, to dire prognostications about the chilling effect this will have on technological innovation.  Many complain about the extra cost for everybody to subsidize a very small set of users.  Others do comment that while Amazon may not be obligated, Universities are obligated by the ADA to make sure that technology adopted does not disadvantage those with disabilities.  Some with detailed knowledge of the underlying technology are dumbfounded as to why the accessibility wasn’t built-in in the first place.

Just last week three schools announced that they will not deploy the Kindle specifically because of the disability issue. (NFB news page) An opinion piece by a student at the University of Wisconsin sparked many comments where all these issues are raised again, especially the argument that to avoid disadvantaging the few, we are disadvantaging the many.  (Badger Herald)  As we at Penn State University Libraries consider offering materials in e-book format, and adopting potential readers these same issues are definitely being considered.  (PSUL White Paper)  Is the Sony Reader any more accessible?  If not, should we avoid any reader until there is at least one that is accessible?

As part of the part of the dialogue, where would you draw the line?