Simon's comments reminded me of some (possibly not fully accurate) notes
I made from a presentation in Innsbruck last year:

"The Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC) is a publicly funded
service for all 109 community colleges in California. It was created
after a lawsuit which led to Assembly Bill 422, which says all book
publishers must make available an accessible (electronic or Braille)
copy of their materials in California at no extra cost to the
student/reader.

They had $1m of state funds to set up the centre. When community
colleges need a book in an alt format, they all contact ATPC first, and
ATPC then liaises with the publishers. This has advantages because it
means one team can form a good relationship with the publisher rather
than 109 teams trying to make things happen.

ATPC deals with 1100 requests for materials per month. They've got an
archive of electronic files from publishers so increasingly they can
just turn around the file straight to the college without going to the
publisher. If they don't have the file, the turnaround is about 2 weeks
to get it from the publisher. If they do have the file, turnaround is
often 15 minutes. They've got over 21,000 electronic documents and over
500 Braille/tactile documents.

They use a central lookup service to find out about the publisher -
http://www.publisherlookup.org/ . A condition of the ATPC service is
that the student has to buy the textbook.

If the student needs Braille rather than electronic and they don't have
it in Braille, they arrange for it to be transcribed. They use the local
state prison, Avenal, where inmates are trained up to become e-text
formatters, Braille transcribers, or tactile graphic artists. They have
a lot of competition among inmates and an intensive testing program
before they're accepted into the training since it obviously develops a
well paid vocation and helps with parole.

For Braille materials ATPC now also offer a fee for service program so
that any institution in the world can pay them to transcribe materials
to Braille. The other services are for the colleges only."

http://www.atpc.net

This seemed a satisfactory solution for institutions, student and
publisher alike since there are clear lines of responsibility and trust.

Alistair Knock . Assistant Director
Disability Office . http://www.disability-office.ed.ac.uk
[log in to unmask] . Tel: 0131 6506828 . Fax: 0131 6506677  


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support 
> staff. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ian Litterick
> Sent: 25 March 2008 20:03
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Brailling books/publishers/copyright and 
> transcripts/audio descriptions of videos
> 
> Hi Sheila
> 
> If you did your copying under the CLA's VIP licence (which I 
> can't find today on the CLA site . . .) instead of under the 
> HE one, you could keep copies and make them available to and 
> through other non-commercial organisations such as RNIB. You 
> would also have an obligation to notify the Revealweb 
> database (now http://librarycatalogue.rnib.org.uk/) so that 
> others looking for the work would know where to find it 
> without having to do the work again.
> 
> It doesn't cost anything. It may have disappeared from the 
> CLA site because it is being updated. I'd argue that all HE 
> Support Service people shifting format for disabled students 
> should be using this licence.
> 
> Regards
> Ian Litterick
> Associate Member of Right to Read steering group.
> 
> Executive Chairman
> www.iansyst.co.uk
> www.dyslexic.com
> www.re-adjust.co.uk
> 07860 926159
> direct 01223 436680
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support 
> staff. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Simon Ball
> Sent: 25 March 2008 08:51
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [DIS-FORUM] Brailling books/publishers/copyright 
> and transcripts/audio descriptions of videos
> 
>  Hi Sheila
> 
> You may be interested in some guidance we have developed in 
> conjunction with the Publishers Association for people in 
> universities seeking alternative formats - the final glossy 
> is just about to go to print but the draft guidance can be found at
> http://www.techdis.ac.uk/index.php?p=9_12_2
> 
> We also want to do something to save the duplication of 
> effort that currently exists in obtaining alternative 
> formats. Often someone from University A makes a request from 
> a Publisher, and a few months later somebody from University 
> B makes the same request, but they speak to someone different 
> at the Publisher who doesn't know about the request from 
> University A and the whole process is duplicated. We have 
> worked with the Publishers to create 
> www.publisherlookup.org.uk which is due to go live within the 
> next couple of weeks, which will be a database of all 
> alternative versions already created. This will enable people 
> seeking alternative versions to see what is already in 
> existence and can therefore be obtained very quickly and what 
> may not have been done already and may therefore take longer.
> 
> The idea behind both of these ideas is not to 'let Publishers 
> off the hook' in terms of producing accessible versions of 
> texts, but to enable both the Publisher and the people in 
> universities seeking alternative versions to benefit from a 
> more transparent process - and to stop the awful situation 
> you report of not getting any response at all. If you want 
> any further details of either work area please get back to me 
> - in fact if anyone else on Dis-Forum wants a copy of the 
> Guide to Obtaining Publications in Alternative Formats when 
> it is published next month please email 
> [log in to unmask] to request being put onto the 
> dissemination list.
> 
> Best wishes
> 
> Dr Simon Ball
> Senior Advisor
> JISC TechDis Service
> Supporting the education sector in achieving greater 
> accessibility and inclusion by stimulating innovation and 
> providing expert advice and guidance on disability and technology.
> [log in to unmask]
> www.techdis.ac.uk
> Skype: simontechdis
> 01904717580 / 07813917888
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sheila Watts [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> 
> Sent: 24 March 2008 23:50
> Subject: Brailling books/publishers/copyright and 
> transcripts/audio descriptions of videos
> 
> Two questions please
> 
> 1) We are re-looking at the way we obtain accessible books 
> and at the moment we contact publishers to see if they have 
> the electronic files of books to save time and money if we 
> need them brailled and/or if the student only wants the 
> electronic format.  We do not ask them for permission 
> although some do want a permision form signed.  Some 
> publishers are very helpful, others just ignore our requests. 
>  Do other institutions also contact publishers or do you 
> start scanning the minute a student wants the book? ( as long 
> as they are in posession of the book either their own copy or 
> from the  library).
> 
> If we scan a book to make an electronic format for a blind 
> student with copyright we should  not keep the electronic 
> files and if a student on the same course 6 months later 
> needs the same book it should then be scanned and made 
> accessible again for the second student with DSA paying out 
> again for the time spent scanning the book.  Would anyone 
> like to discus this off or on list regarding how they do this 
> and copyright guidelines.
> 
> 
> 
> 2)  Do you all keep a central store of video 
> transcripts/audio descriptions of videos that are used within 
> your institution?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Sheila Watts
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sheila Watts
> Head of Support Service for Students with Disabilities 
> Liverpool Hope University Hope Park Liverpool
> L16 9JD
> Tel/Minicom  0151-291-3064
> e-mail [log in to unmask]
> 
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