Highlight on the National Library Print Disabilities Service

What’s a print disability?

World Sight Day was celebrated this month. It is a day which aims to draw attention to a range of issues surrounding blindness and visual impairment. Almost everyone on the planet will experience an eye health issue in their lifetime. Here we highlight some of the great work National Library is doing to support New Zealanders with visual impairment and other print disabilities.

Approximately 168,000 New Zealanders have what is termed a ‘print disability’. That is, they are unable to use traditional print resources due to blindness or visual impairment, certain physical disabilities which limit their ability to hold a book or turn pages (such as arthritis), or perceptual disabilities which limit their ability to follow a line of print (such as dyslexia).

A service is born

In 1980, the National Library of New Zealand established a central repository of audio books for the exclusive use of the print disabled. Named the Print Disabilities Service it was originally set up to supplement the collections of small and medium size public libraries which often struggle to keep up with the reading demands of their print disabled borrowers. Over the years, as the Collection has grown, interest in the resources has increased and our support has expanded to include the print disabled in rest homes, schools and prisons.

The Print Disabilities Collection currently holds around 20,000 physical items and is one of the most highly used Collections at the National Library. The focus of the Collection is popular literature and includes both fiction and non-fiction across a variety of genres. Our borrowers are particularly keen on travel, westerns, ‘nice murders’ and books set in New Zealand. We are often asked for ‘farming stories’ and it is not uncommon for audio books to be returned to us with errant pet fur, grass clippings and clods of dirt stuck to the plastic cases!

More about the Print Disabilities Service

Supporting schools

While the Collection is intended for recreational reading, we do hold many texts which are suitable for school students studying towards national qualifications. Listening to the audio while following the text can support dyslexic students to keep up with the quantity of reading required, enabling them to take part in discussions about the books. One school librarian recently described the Print Disabilities Service as a ‘lifeline for some of the boys who struggle to read’ at the school. She said the audio books have ‘opened up the book for them and allowed them to access the novel in a way that works for them.’

Another school librarian described the delight on her student’s face each time she receives a new box of audio books. ‘Being able to listen to the same books her friends are reading, allows her to actively contribute to conversations about the books, in class and socially’.

Find out more about how the Print Disability Service supports schools.

Audio books in prisons

It is not only school students who benefit from the resources in this special Collection. We have recently been working with some prisons around the country to promote audio books to inmates. Dyslexia and other print disabilities are more common in a prison population, so we offer audio books to elderly inmates, members of the prison book clubs, and to those who are studying towards national school qualifications. With New Zealand prisons making rehabilitation a priority, education will play a key role – one we will continue to support.

Formats

One of the biggest changes we have seen over time is in format types. One format certainly doesn’t suit all, and the National Library of New Zealand is committed to offering a range of options to accommodate the many and varied requirements of its print disabled end users. 10 years ago, tape cassettes made up the largest part of the Print Disabilities Collection, but these have been replaced by compact discs and MP3CDs. We also hold a range of kits (CD plus book) and VOX books (picture books with built-in audio). In 2020, we launched our Print Disabilities Service ePlatform which provides access to Wheelers eBooks and eAudiobooks for print disabled children and young adults from schools across New Zealand.

Making two audio books

Over the years, the Print Disabilities Service has had a positive impact on many lives, and this was demonstrated recently when we were bequeathed a sum of money by a past borrower. We decided to use some of the money to convert two New Zealand award winning young adult books into audio format.

Very little New Zealand literature is available in accessible formats, so this project allowed us to draw attention to this issue while showing our support for New Zealand authors. In a joint project between the Print Disabilities Service, Te Puna Foundation and Audiobooks NZ, the two books, Dawn Raid by Pauline (Vaeluaga) Smith and How to Bee by Bren MacDibble were made into professionally narrated audio books. They are now available in CD, eBook and eAudiobook formats, as well as traditional print.

Looking to the future

As we look to the future, the National Library will continue to seek ways to support the print disabled community. The Marrakesh Treaty came into force in New Zealand in January 2020 and with it a myriad of questions from public libraries about the opportunities it affords for supporting their print disabled borrowers. The National Library of New Zealand is contributing copyright expertise to discussions and will continue to work with other entities, such as Blind Low Vision New Zealand, as we strive for equal access to information for the print disabled.

Read more about the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled

We’d love to hear from you

Get in touch if you have any questions about the Print Disabilities Service. We're always happy to hear from you.

Phone — 04 474 3001
Freephone — 0800 474 300, extension 3001