Library Cience

1 Preface
1.1 Introduction
Libraries have always been a community’s ‘portal’ to information, knowledge and leisure. Beyond their shelves, libraries are a community’s gateway to information from many sources nationally and internationally. Libraries provide professionals trained to distinguish and verify content, build collections and provide a reference and information service. Today morelibraries rely on electronic sources for collecting, organizing and distributing information.
The information age has created unprecedented opportunities to acquire electronic content from many sources including existing digital content in many different types of libraries. The concept of a “world library for the blind” rests on the ability of digital libraries to share and coordinatecollection-building resources and to use digital technology to share content. It requires designing these systems and services with interoperability in mind and using common standards. It begins with a shared understanding that technology does not fundamentally change library service, but rather the way in which it is organized and delivered. Therefore, guidelines for the development of the digital library mustbegin with the assumption that the library remains a collection of organized content reflecting works of imagination and information necessary to facilitate life long learning, career development and an informed citizenry. Its digitization is a means of ensuring that its collections are preserved and accessible to all regardless of disability.
Major work has been done through the DigitalAccessible Information System (DAISY) Consortium and with NISO to establish standards for the recording of navigable digital audio books. For many libraries for the blind, the focus of the past five years has been on the implementation of these standards and the conversion of their analogue collections to digital audio. Others are building collection resources through the Internet and accessing remotesources for the content they distribute to their users. The Internet is both a source of content and a means for distribution. It has profoundly changed information services for users and libraries. Publishers of content, trade books and magazines, electronic journals and electronic databases offer new opportunities for acquiring, managing and distributing content that is accessible.
The increasingcomplexity of the environment, the many sources of information, the variety of electronic and other formats such as digital audio books and materials, braille and large print, which must be managed and integrated into a seamless service have forced libraries for the blind to seek more sophisticated technological solutions designedfor their community of users. Consequently, in designing and buildingof integrated digital library systems, the ”front-end,” or user-facing services, must be considered along with the ”back-end” supporting technologies, systems, and underlying architecture.
1.2 The Purpose of these Guidelines
The purpose is to provide libraries for the blind and those who work in them with a broad overview of matters to be considered in planning and implementing an integrateddigital library system.
The guidelines are not intended to provide technical solutions. Given the pace of technological change, solutions can only be developed with intensive review of marketplace developments specific to each situation.
1.3 Who Would Benefit from these Guidelines
Libraries and other organizations providing a service to populations experiencing vision loss, those who because of adisability cannot read conventional print or experience a perceptual difficulty in comprehending print. These libraries may include public libraries, national libraries or other libraries serving those who are print disabled. However, it is worth noting that apart from content dealing with “accessibility” and “copyright and related legal matters” which are particularly relevant to libraries...