Introducing the Internet to Disability Professionals
and Their Clients in a Public Library Setting

In 1995 the Alliance Library System received an LSCA grant for a project that would provide large print and screen reading hardware/software to libraries to allow visually impaired individuals access to the Internet. The project's goals and objectives included the following: 1) To create a comprehensive disability information gopher on the Internet with an emphasis on Illinois resources and information; 2) To train outreach librarians and disability professionals on the use of the Internet and educate them on the disability resources available; 3) To offer programs to groups of individuals with disabilities in the public library setting in 10 communities; 4) To purchase adaptive equipment for 10 public libraries to make information accessible to the visually impaired; 5) To create a brief guide to disability resources on the Internet and make the guide available in various accessible formats, including print, Braille and audio-cassette.

The grant was written and developed by Lori Bell, then the consultant for the Heart of Illinois Talking Book Center. This was to be a joint project of the Heart of Illinois Talking Book Center and the River Road Talking Book Service. When Lori Bell left that position, LaRae Muselman took over as project director. Frances Roehm, then a reference librarian from the Bloomington Public Library who had Internet expertise, was hired as project coordinator. Glen Brown and Associates from Bloomington, a vendor of adaptive equipment for the visually impaired, provided the hardware/software. Jim Fay provided hardware/software technical assistance. Others who provided assistance included: Eileen Sheppard, consultant for the River Road Talking Book Service; Valeric Brandon, outreach specialist at the Heart of Illinois Talking Book Center; William Beckner of the Resource Sharing Alliance (the local LLSAP); Cindy Abel, graphic artist; and the staff at the Alliance Library System. Participating libraries were: Ashland, Bloomington, Champaign, Danville, Decatur, Edwardsville, Galesburg, Jacksonville, Macomb and Pekin public libraries. When the Edwardsville Public Library withdrew from the project the equipment was moved to the Illinois State Library.

When the grant was written, Gopher was a primary means of accessing information on the Internet. By the time the grant was received, the World Wide Web had superseded Gopher. Therefore, the decision was made to change plans and go with the Web. The URL for the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center site was http://www.rsa.lib.il.us/~hitbc/heart.htm. (Note: the Heart of Illinois Talking Book Center and the River Road Talking Book Service became the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center on July 1,1996 and the URL was changed to http://www.rsa.lib.il.us/~mitbc/heart.htm.) Although the Web is a graphical means of accessing the Internet and graphics are not accessed easily by visually-impaired users, they assured the project director and the project coordinator to go with the Web and provide a lynx (non-graphic) browser. It was assumed that a state-of-the-art graphics browser for visually-impaired individuals would be available in the near future and the site would then be accessible in a more undated fashion. By developing the Web site, information could also be more easily updated in the future.

At a meeting to which all the grant participants were invited the hardware/software possibilities were discussed as well as the responsibilities of the grant participants. Although several libraries did not allow public access to the Internet, all agreed to allow visually-impaired individuals and disability professionals access during the grant period.

As a result of that meeting, it was decided to use an Arctic voice synthesizer board, Arctic Technologies Business Vision software, LP-DOS software (large print), and Commo communications software. In addition, the vendor developed a program called AlterNet to integrate these technologies. A macro was written for the communications software to automatically load the Internet. The goal was to provide a system that made it easy for the novice to access the Internet.

*Eileen Sheppard, Consultant, Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center, Pekin.

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The software required a text-based, non-graphic interface with the Internet, so the search began for local Internet providers to eliminate toll charges for the libraries — especially after the grant was ended — to encourage continued service. This proved to be a very time consuming and frustrating task.

Although there were no inherent weaknesses in the proposal itself, each library presented its own challenge to get connected. There were a variety of problems. Most of which were caused by the ever-changing technical advances and the wide variety of computer equipment in each of the libraries. In spite of a variety of problems involved in installation, equipment was provided to 10 libraries, training materials were developed in various formats (audio, large print and Braille) and distributed, librarians were trained on the use of the software, and disabled individuals or professionals dealing with the disabled were trained on its use.

Many problems occurred in setting up accounts with local Internet providers. It was soon clear that most of the providers did not know or understand the need for nongraphic access and were providing graphic access that did not work with the software. There are two kinds of Internet accounts. "Unix shell" accounts lend themselves to DOS based, command line oriented browsers such as lynx. SLIP/PPP accounts are the kind most widely used. They lend themselves to MS/Windows-based software, such as Mosaic and Netscape, and interact with the Internet more intricately than shell accounts, which rely to a greater extent on the Internet provider to take care of the Internet "business." Visually-impaired individuals overwhelmingly prefer DOS-base, command line operations. Graphic user interfaces based on using a mouse to point to a picture or icon are a disaster for the visually-impaired. Software is available that allows visually-impaired users to access Windows, but this software requires an extremely large investment in time and patience to learn. It is not reasonable to expect librarians to get involved in this task.

For these reasons, the project used "Unix shell" accounts exclusively and in the process learned one incontrovertible lesson: shell accounts are going the way of the buggy whip. Getting a shell account set up and having it maintained in a remotely acceptable fashion is closely akin to protracted warfare. However, other software products available were unavailable due to time constraints and necessary resources needed for development.

A variety of search tools on the Internet were used to locate disability information and determine the format of the home page and links. An effort was made to keep the site as graphics free as possible to aid visually-impaired users. Illinois disability information was acquired and permission was gained from the Office of the Secretary of State to add some publications. These were scanned into the computer and the project coordinator added the html codes. There were graphics in some of these publications that were not included. The amount of disability information on the Internet was greater than imagined. The decision was made to concentrate on general disability information, ADA information and information on visual disabilities. Links for other disabilities were added with less detail. Development of the home page and addition of the links was and is an ongoing project. A note on the home page and publicity releases asked individuals to submit their suggestions for sites to be added. Large print (laminated for durability), Braille and audio copies of the links on general disability information, ADA information and visual disability information were provided to the participating libraries and are available to others on request.

A one-page poster/brochure was professionally designed and 5,000 copies were printed. It was distributed to all Illinois public libraries as well as to disability professionals, social service agencies, etc. A sample press release was provided to each library. Several social service agencies included information on the Web site for their clients. Programs were also presented to the Library Administrators Conference of Northern Illinois meeting at Bensonville and to the Illinois Alliance of Information and Referral systems, Inc. meeting in Peoria.

The addition of technology to 10 libraries allows individuals with a visual disability to access not only the Internet, but also to use large print or the voice synthesizer to access any information on the computer. This makes the local library more accessible to them. As evidence by the phone calls asking for information, there is an interest in this technology.

The development of the home page for the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center provides a presence on the Web and allows the talking book center to showcase its services.

The links to disability information are of assistance to anyone searching for disability-related information, Disability information specific to Illinois will be of great assistance to Illinois residents. Much of this information was reprinted from publications of the Office of the Illinois Secretary of State. Information from other organizations can be added as it is identified and permission to use it is granted.

This project was an excellent means of introducing the library to individuals with visual disabilities who are not traditional library patrons. It was also a means of reaching out to other community groups that work with clients with various disabilities.

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Some libraries did not allow public access to the Internet. This was a change to "test the waters" for public access. Some libraries were uncomfortable about allowing Internet access to a selected population when it was not available to all. All the participants agreed to allow access to the population covered by this grant. No library indicated any problems associated with providing public access. Through this grant the libraries were provided with four to six months unlimited access to the Internet. This allowed the staff to become more acquainted with the Internet, the adaptive equipment and the Web site.

The project accomplished its goals and objectives, although installation and training took place much later in the time frame than planned. Therefore, there was less time to gain much feedback from patrons.

As a result of this project it is apparent that libraries can provide Internet access to their visually-impaired patrons. As is usually the case with addressing adaptive needs, it is not simple, quick or easy. The successes come one individual at a time, but to the blind individual who is doing something he or she has never been able to do before, something everybody else takes for granted, that individual success is sweet indeed.

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