I hope all braille users will be anxious to write letters in support of the grant being requested in the following information. Although I believe this letter was sent to librarians and interested user groups, I am sure that all personal letters will be gratefully received. > > Hi. > > I am the director of the Iowa Library for the Blind. We have an extensive > hand-transcribed Braille collection which we have recently opened up to > interlibrary loan through the NLS system. This is an exciting change, > making everything we have available to anyone who wants to read it. You > can browse our collection at will at www.blind.state.ia.us/opac, and then > contact your regional library to request an interlibrary loan if you see > something you want to read. Although we are working on it, we do not have > everything listed in NLS's union catalog yet. > > Meanwhile, I am working on a grant through the Institute of Museums and > Library Services to begin the process of scanning the books we have which > are unique and converting them to electronic Braille files which can be > posted with WebBraille for quick easy access by all who use > WebBraille. Below is a prospectus summarizing the project. If you believe > this project would be beneficial to your members, I would truly appreciate > a letter of support for the grant. If you have any questions, please > contact me at 800-362-2587, extension 11367, or e-mail me by replying to > this e-mail. > > Letters of support can be faxed to: 515-281-1378, or mailed to: > > Karen Keninger, Director > Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped > 524 Fourth Street > Des Moines, Iowa 50309 > > To be included in the grant package, I need all letters of support no later > than Monday, January 19. > > Project summary: > > Braille is unquestionably the medium for true literacy for all who cannot > read print. Historically, Braille has been expensive to produce, bulky to > house, and severely limited in supply to Braille readers. These factors > have limited Braille reading and Braille literacy nationally. > The Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped houses the > largest Braille collection in the United States. Comprising over 114,000 > volumes of Braille fully 60 percent of these books are not part of the > National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) > collection. This unique collection contains thousands of titles which > exist nowhere else in the world, having been hand transcribed for the > Library by a dedicated and prolific cadre of volunteer Braillists over the > past 45 years. Comprising among other things, biographies, literary > classics, an extensive collection of science fiction, regional works, and > children's classics, This unique treasure has been a rich source of Braille > books for Iowans over the life of the Library, and has recently become > available through interlibrary loan to the NLS network. > In order to preserve this wealth of materials and make it more readily > available to Braille readers throughout the nation, the collection must be > digitized. This will entail scanning each page using sophisticated Optical > Braille Recognition software, proofing the scans, and formatting resulting > files for inclusion in the NLS WebBraille program. Through the NLS > WebBraille program, files will be available to all eligible borrowers > throughout the nation and copyright will be protected in accordance with > current copyright law. > We propose a three-year project to begin digitizing this unique and > priceless collection. The project will be housed within the Library and > managed by Library staff. The Personnel filling three full time equivalent > positions will carry out day to day activities of the project, including > scanning, making initial corrections, proofreading, formatting electronic > files, building the digital library, and providing cataloging and > electronic files to NLS for inclusion in their union catalog and WebBraille. > The budget for this project for the first three years will be $375,000. > Skilled library staff will select initial titles to be digitized based on > the following criteria: Unavailability elsewhere; lasting literary or > historical value; condition of the materials. Because this will be the > first large-scale digitization project for a Braille collection, the > initial work will pilot-test processes to determine the most efficient and > accurate methods for scanning. The second phase of the project will > include assembly-line processes > The results of this project will include a blueprint for digitizing other > Braille collections, up to 3,000 new titles available to all Braille > readers throughout the nation, and the preservation and distribution of > heretofore sequestered resources for national use. >
