Beyond the Page: How an Inclusive Library Model Is Redefining Accessible Literacy

Hi, everybody. Welcome. I'm gonna sit. So, ... Basically we're just here to talk -- my colleague Chancey and I -- we're just hear to talk about kind of what the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library is.

And what we can potentially offer to all of you, as tech professionals, and to folks in your life. We have a slide up here with some quotes about what patrons are saying about the Andrew Heiskell Library. And I'll share with you that Chancey, when we were kind of going through these slides, implored that I find some quotes that were -- that made it seem less like we were trying to get you all to love us.

Trying a little bit less hard. And I promise I tried to find such quotes, but they do not exist. So, I'll read this quickly. One is from Paul.

I lost my eyesight in June, and you make up for it not just in books, but in kindness. You really care. I know you do. From Sara.

The first four years after my car accident I pretty much lived in bed. Reading is my pleasure and not being able to hold a book, I was like... Oh, no. Not that too.

And from a patron -- I'm so grateful for your books. They keep me in contact with other people. I can go to book groups. It really means a lot to me.

From Frank, you make life bearable. I can't get out. Can't see very well. And TV is really bad.

It's like Christmas every time I receive these books. And another patron -- this is my favorite of all of them -- this is the best tax dollar I ever spent. I couldn't agree more. So, I think we're sharing those, just to kind of give you all a sense of what the impact is of what we do.

I've worked in public libraries for quite a while. This is my first time working in a library where we're specifically focused on making sure that everyone can access materials for literacy. And I can see the impact every day. It really makes a big difference in people's quality of life.

But you know... Every library does offer that in some way. And so... What we do that's similar to other libraries is that we provide free accessible reading material.

What we do that's a little bit different is that we do this specifically and primarily for patrons who are blind or visually impaired or otherwise physically unable to read or process standard print. The materials we offer are in a wide range of formats. We offer Braille, we offer talking books, we offer materials for users of all ages. As well as the players and digital apps and so on, so people can access digital materials, and all of this is at no cost for our patrons.

We offer accessible programming and events. Individual coaching and assistive technology, group workshops, Braille study groups. We have the Dimensions lab, which is a lab for tactile creation of all kinds. And much, much more.

On our second slide here, we just have an image of the exterior of our branch. Which is on 20th Street. Right up the way here. And it says: Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library=New York Public Library+Library of Congress.

So, that means basically... That we're two different kinds of libraries at the same time. We're a branch of the New York Public Library. So, therefore we provide everything that you would expect from an NYPL branch.

Many of our patrons are folks who are just in the neighborhood, looking for a book to borrow, looking for a quiet place to work or study. They're looking for access to a computer, and so on. We are also, in addition to being an NYPL branch, we're a designated regional library of the national library service for the blind and print disabled. That's a program of the Library of Congress.

And we're one of about 60 or 70 of these regional libraries, nationwide. So, our library... As part of NYPL, we provide service to folks in Manhattan, Bronx, and Staten Island. As part of NLS, as a regional library, we serve as the regional library for all five Boroughs plus Nassau and Suffolk.

Plus Long Island. So, we have two unique functions at the same time and two service areas. The rest of New York is served by the regional Library in Albany, there's one in Trenton, one in Hartford, so every state has at least one regional NLS library. Third slide -- it says imagine if, and there's an image of a book fanned open.

So, just take a moment, if you will, just imagine holding a printed book. And so in order to get to have a reading experience with this book, you need to be able to hold the book. You need to be able to turn the pages. See the text.

And visually process or decode the text. Right? So, on our fourth slide here, we talk about what's called the four categories of print disability. And essentially this just means: If you have a barrier in any of those areas, whether it's seeing the text, holding the book and turning the pages, or decoding or processing the print that you see on the page or on the screen, then you qualify as someone who has a print disability, and therefore you qualify for the services that we offer at Andrew Heiskell.

So, the four categories that we're talking about are: Blindness or legal blindness, visual impairment, physical disability, or reading disability. So, if you or someone you know is interested in the service, you can apply. There's a link here up on the screen. NYPL.org/talkingbooks.

Also left some brochures over there on the table. You can feel free to pick one up on your way out. We can also get you... There are some in multiple languages.

So, if you are interested in a language, getting a bunch of copies of one of the languages that we have, let me know. I will get them to you. Who can apply? Basically anyone who has a qualifying print disability.

As well as institutions. So, that means anyone who serves folks who might be able to use the service. Right? So, that could be a school.

Could be a nursing home. A Senior Center. Assisted living. Could be a library.

It could be pretty much anything you could imagine. Any sort of social services agency. An eye doctor. Anyone you could imagine that would serve folks who could potentially need the service.

And on our next slide here, we're asking about: Who can certify applications? So, basically once you apply for the service, somebody has to approve it. And we try our very, very best to make this as seamless as possible. We work with institutions all over our service area and make sure that they know about the service and make sure they know about how the process works.

So, it can be seen. But according to NLS, the Library of Congress, anyone who is, quote, "a competent authority" can certify an application. So, we tend to interpret that just as broadly as we possibly can. Basically that means... Anyone who knows the patron and knows that they have a need for the service.

Right? That can be a doctor. And that's any kind of medical provider. Such as an MD or an RN.

It can be an ophthalmologist or an optometrist. It can be a social worker. It can be someone who works at a service agency as a case worker. It can be a therapist or a counselor in a school.

It can be a rehab specialist, teacher, principal, superintendent, any sort of educator. Tutor. Anyone. Reading specialist or librarian.

So, ... And if you think you might be able to certify applications, you are probably right. If you think you can't certify applications, I would love to talk to you and convince you that you can. We basically want to make sure that as many people as possible can access this service.

So, this is one of the reasons that we encourage institutions to sign up as institutional providers. So, that they basically can get... Like... Demo examples of the machines that we provide and so on, and show them to their clients, and let them know about the service and really just connect them directly.

We have sort of a direct line with a whole bunch of different service providers who send us applications every single day, from folks who are getting connected to the service.

On our next slide, we're asking... Who can get a library card? You can. Short answer, pretty much anyone in this room can get a library card.

If you live, work, or go to school in New York, you can get an NYPL library card. And if you don't live, work, or go to school in New York, you can get a visitor card. And that's valid for three months at a time. So, ... There is a link up here on the screen.

NYPL.org/library-card/new. I wish it was a nicer one. We'll probably have to make a short URL for that. But basically if you just Google NYPL library card, you can find one.

Yes? Do you have a question? Do you have to be a New York City resident? Or can you be a New York State resident?

You can be a New York State resident. Thank you for that question.

And so also on the slide here are some of the things you can access with your NYPL library card. You can access obviously all of the resources and collections of the library, which are both physical and digital and very, very expensive. I believe that if I'm not wrong, I think we are the largest public research library in the world. And one of... Either the first or second largest public libraries in the country, in terms of collections.

So, you can also... Even if you don't live close to... If you live close to here, if you live close to where we are, on 20th Street, you can access those collections anywhere. Just get them... And you can pick them up at the branch of your choice.

Which might be Andrew Heiskell Library. I mentioned that we have a very large number of research databases. Those could be very interesting to folks who work in tech, I think. Some folks here might be very interested in knowing about what research databases we have access to.

Many, many, many thousands of journals. There's also CulturePass, which is a nice program that is provided by the city, which you get free access to, with your library card. Basically you get free access to a bunch of museums across the city. It's a pretty seamless process to sign up for that.

It's really great if you have visitors in town and you want to give them something to do and give yourself a break. That's a really nice thing to be able to do. And of course, there's programs and classes happening just... I mean...

Every single day, all day long. There's programs and classes happening across the city. So, I would definitely encourage you to get your NYPL card. And select Andrew Heiskell as your home branch, if you are close by and in the neighborhood.

The other thing is: When you do select your home branch, you get -- in the email newsletter that you get from NYPL, it'll sort of target those events and things that are happening at your home branch. So, that's something else you can get. Our next slide here is just a little bit about our stats. Some of the activity that we do.

Every year... We see about 80,000. A little North of 80,000 visitors in our branch. We get 30,000 phone calls.

I think that number has probably gone up in the past year or so. We are circulating well over 677,000 items per year. That is by far -- we are the highest circulating branch of the entire New York Public Library, and the reason for that is because we serve the NLS population as well, throughout the metro area. And they are very, very, very, very avid readers.

Voracious readers. So, we're circulating a lot of material. Mostly digital, but also some physical materials. We're doing 1800 hours per year of one on one tech coaching.

Which Chancey is gonna talk a little bit more about in a bit. We produce audiobooks in our studio, in our building. We produce, like, 30 to 50, I think, per year. And those are books that maybe don't have a commercial audiobook available.

But they might be of local interest. Or something that isn't just... Folks are telling us that they would really like to be able to listen to. And we have almost entirely volunteer staff.

I mean, they're not staff. They're volunteers. But they're reliable as staff. And they come in and record the books.

And most of them are professional actors. So, you're getting a real actual audiobook experience. And as I mentioned, we serve patrons across the five Boroughs, plus Long Island. We have about 16,000 active patrons in our NLS service area.

So, what is it exactly that we send to people? Or share with people? So, ... For one thing, we have what's on the slide here, physical materials.

There's an image there of one of our talking book players. That is actually an older model. We have new ones that are coming out. I brought one with me, just to kind of show off.

They might look very similar. Both of them are kind of like... Square-ish, rectangular plastic... Like, heavy plastic player machines.

With lots of big buttons on them. The one on the screen has fewer buttons than the one I'm holding. This is the newer one, which has a lot more features. In addition to being able to insert a cartridge into the player and listen to it, you can also connect to Wi-Fi with this device and directly access all of our digital collection and just download it directly to this device.

Which means you wouldn't need a physical cartridge. You can also borrow a cartridge from us and then just copy it to this player and hang on to it forever. We have folks who like to have reference material, and they just like to hang on to the cartridge, so they can hang on to the file without having to keep the cartridge in their house. So, this is one of our most sort of actively used physical items.

This is the talking book -- what's known as a talking book player. We also have the cartridges, which I brought -- just one or two to show off. They come in this very distinctive blue plastic case. Which is very easy to handle and open.

And the cartridges themselves are basically functionally... They're basically like a big flash drive. But they are sort of designed so that you can't just plug them into any old computer and download the files. Right?

And the cartridge is also designed to be easy to handle for folks who might have some difficulty in handling a book, for example. This should be easier to handle. And the cartridge inserts into the player. And then you can use the controls to play the book.

These cartridges are basically... Have digital -- as I mentioned -- they're basically like flash drives. So, every day in our library we get an order for however many hundreds of talking books people have ordered. We download up to 12 or 15 of those titles on each one of these cartridges.

Depending on how many people have ordered. Send them off in the mail. People receive them. Listen to them.

Send them back. The cartridge is wiped and we can use it again.

We also have, in terms of physical materials, about 13,000 volumes of printed Braille. And that's pretty unique. I haven't been able to absolutely fact check this, but I'm pretty confident that we are the largest browsable print Braille collection in the country. This is what I keep hearing, and I definitely believe it.

So, you can come to our library and you can browse many, many volumes of printed Braille material. And just like with these cartridges, if you put in a request for some printed Braille, we will mail it to you free of charge. And then you can mail it back when you're done reading. Okay.

So, we're on to the next slide. And I got a little ahead of myself. How does it work? Materials are mailed free of charge both ways.

Patrons can request specific books. They can get books -- the other nice thing is you can sign up and say: Hey, I really like Jodi Picoult, and I want to read everything that Jodi Picoult has ever written. Send it to me. Every time Jodi Picoult comes out with a new book, we will automatically mail you a cartridge.

You don't have to call and say that. You can also say... Hey, I really like vampire romance, but I don't like vampire romance that has a lot of sex in it. And we can put that in your profile and you can receive it based on those kinds of preferences.

So, it is really like... In the library world, we call that readers' advisory. And what we're doing is like a much more sort of personalized and sort of intensive version of readers' advisory than a lot of public libraries are doing. Patrons can receive basically an unlimited amount of books.

There's really very little limit to what people can get. Really just about the number of sort of cartridges you want to have in your house. And we do ask people to send them back. But... You know, we suggest that people return it in about six weeks.

But as I mentioned, some people like to have a cartridge forever, because it's a reference for something. Yes?

Do all the NLS libraries use the same cartridge? Because I have some from a student. I have to look. I mean... She left it behind.

Can we just... Are they the same? Yeah, they're pretty much the same. Some of them are different, depending on whether it's digital Braille or magazines or something like that.

But basically... Functionally, they're all the same. If you're asking because you want to know if you should just send them to... Just to check.

I'm sure they're labeled. But they're not from your library. But maybe... I guess they're all labeled.

I have to look. Then you can just throw it in the mail and it will go to the right place. But if not, you can give them to us and we'll get them back to the right place.

Outside of physical materials, we also offer a lot of digital -- a very, very large digital collection. And this is by far what people are most interested in. What our patrons utilize the most. As I mentioned, you can use this new machine.

You can download digital materials directly to the machine. But you can also download them to whatever mobile device you have that you can use an app on. Because we have an app called BARD. It also has a webapp.

So, basically you could access the digital collection and listen to the talking books on the device of your choosing. Same goes for digital Braille. You can access that via the digital collection, and you can read it on a Braille ereader, which -- Chancey is gonna talk a little bit more about. There's an image on this slide of one of our Braille ereaders, which is the Humanware.

There's also a service called NFB Newsline, that's basically audio newspapers, magazines, TV schedules. Sort of like a reference... Like a current events and reference service. And you also, as part of our service, we also provide membership to Bookshare, which is a million machine-readable texts.

So, ... Whereas the talking books are read by human narrators, the Bookshare is machine readable.

And I'll hand it over to Chancey. We've got a slide up about the BARD mobile app.

Hey, folks. I'm Chancey. I'm the assistive technology coordinator at the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library. It's great to be back.

. So, ... Just a couple things about our digital collections, before I go on to the slide that's up now. I want to give you a heads up of sort of the order of operations.

If you are supporting someone who is blind or low vision or has a print disability, and you would like to sign them up for things, the easiest way to do it is to sign up with us first. So, you'll go to talkingbooks.nypl.org, and grab that individual application, and fill it out. And check the box that says: You want BARD. You want Braille and audio reading download.

Let that cook for about a week. Let that application go through. And then we can verify for these other folks. So, we can verify Bookshare.

We'll send over a promo code that makes the Bookshare membership free. Typically it's like $75 a year. And we can verify for NFB Newsline. Meaning the Bookshare and Newsline will contact us.

Say: Hey, is this person a library member in good standing with a print disability, we'll say yes, and that's how you can avoid a lot of extra paperwork if you're supporting someone and helping them onboard to all these things. One other just brief note -- I want to talk a little bit more about the ereaders before I go on to the next slide. So, these ereaders are pretty special. These digital Braille ereaders were first made available a couple years ago by an Act of Congress.

For most of the time that the NLS has been in existence, we've only been able to loan out talking book machines. Because talking book duplication was what was in the Act of Congress. And the revision was made to allow Braille ereaders to be loaned out on long-term loan. I have a Humanware ereader in my hands.

Some of you may have seen a similar product that's got the same body, that's called a Humanware Chameleon. And if this were sold on the open market, it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,500. So, I have a friend who teaches kindergarten in the South Bronx. And I was giving her a hard time one day about not reading enough Braille.

And she was like... Well, Chancey, I could get a Braille display, or I could save for a mortgage. And that was fair. So, ... One action item for y'all -- if you know anyone who is blind or low vision, whether or not they're currently an active Braille reader now, a lot of people have shied away from learning Braille, because hard copy is more unwieldy than digital.

Because maybe they didn't get the education. But also because they knew they couldn't afford to have a digital device like this. Any library patron who is eligible with us can get one of these on long-term loan, and guess what? They can read books and magazines, but they can also use it as a terminal for their phone, laptop computer... So, it really is literacy.

And I just want to take a moment. Most of you, because you work in accessibility, you're probably very well aware of why we still need Braille. Yes, we have computers that can talk to us now. Yes, we have text-to-speech.

But sighted people have those things too, and I do not see y'all giving up your print just yet. Braille gives us precision. It gives us the ability to read our notes. Like I'm doing right now.

Or to read to our children. Or to read and write in our own voices. And it's especially helpful for things like math, code, language learning, vocabulary study, and it correlates pretty highly with employment. So, Braille is beautiful.

It's really affordable now. Because the library has opened that door. So, I'm really excited that we might have more New Yorkers giving Braille a second chance, if maybe they've drifted away from that as a goal. So, we can go to the next slide?

You can advance? Perfect. So, this is the BARD mobile app. This is our core collection.

So, BARD mobile is our Braille and audio reading and download collection. It's gonna mirror the collection you would find in a typical Public Library. So, not really your textbooks, not really your books about the next great programming language. Those are gonna be on Bookshare.

But best sellers, history, mysteries, popular magazines, things like that. And the app is designed to be simple to use and high contrast, and it's available on iPhone, iOS, Android, and on the Kindle Fire tablets. And we have some conversational assistance in beta that is coming hopefully some time soon. So, this will appeal to folks who don't want to wait for books in the mail and who either are able to or would like to learn how to use an app to read books, and folks of course can download books and keep them as long as they want.

Because we have a copyright exemption. So, we don't have due dates. And this screen just shows a paused book. And one can see the sleep icon.

The sleep timer. And the different controls that would let you navigate with the app.

BARD web and BARD... Got it, got it. So, ... A couple more things on BARD Web and BARD Mobile.

As I mentioned, there's no limit on how long someone can keep a book. So, there are some books that are very meaningful to people. Might be religious, might be poetry or recipes -- they can just hold on to that digital download as long as they like and listen as long as they like, and we can have as many simultaneous checkouts as we want, because of that copyright exemption that we operate under.

So, with all of this happening, we have 160,000 audio titles available for all ages. And they're available in lots of different languages. And they are completely accessible through this interface. And we have the ability to jump around to different chapters, and also to adjust speed.

Many of you may already be aware that a lot of blind and low vision and print disabled folks read audio very fast. So, we can go up to, I think, 3x speed. We can introduce digital bookmarks, and that sleep timer that I mentioned. So, this is just our website.

It's easy to remember. Talkingbooks.nypl.org. You can also do a quick search for BARD Mobile. On YouTube.

And get lots of helpful tutorials when it comes time to learn how to use it. Although our team is happy to help. This is an example of someone using Bookshare. Again, you can access it -- there's an app, you can use a tablet, you can use just a web browser and there's a self-voicing component within the web browser.

You can change the font to whatever is easiest to read, you can put spacing between every line, you can change the background color. So, they're not just for people who are blind and low vision, but anyone who might have a learning or processing disability where it might help to have things read out loud and see them on the screen at the same time.

So, I would like to tell you a little bit about the in-person and virtual accessible programs that we have at our branch. Just a sampling of what's coming up -- we have an accessible technology conference coming right up, as well as a fall accessible community culture and technology fair. The technology fair brings together 40+ exhibitors from disability sports and recreation, museums, government agencies, civil rights organizations, makers, and more. There's no registration required.

The details are on our website. But I'll tell you right now, it's on October 17th, and it's just so much fun. Hundreds of people turn out for it, and you can meet a lot of other people that are working in the world of accessibility, as well as the people that we're trying to serve. And then on October 18th and 19th, we have our second biennial accessible technology conference NYC, AT NYC.

They are both at our flagship Stavros Niarchos branch in Midtown. The conference is free. It's virtual and in person. It does require registration.

If you want to register in person, do that right away, right away. Because we're about to close registration. We're almost full. And we really focus on sales-free, affordable, and disability-centering technologies with this conference.

And it's just a great opportunity to meet and be in community with folks that are doing the work. So, I encourage you to check it out. Some of our other programs -- we have a dial-up verbal crossword club, which is really popular with some of our patrons that might not want to play crossword games with the apps. We have a fabulous audio described film program.

Our senior librarian, John, picks films that haven't already gotten audio description and live describes them very adeptly. And that's very popular. We have lots of accessible tactile crafting happening. Everything from clay to hand weaving to beadmaking.

Depends on the quarter. We run an annual tactile arts teach-in. Teaching blind people and low vision people the fundamentals of tactile drawing. And I think that's it for that slide.

So, ... Since 2010, when I joined the library as a volunteer, we have had a tech coaching service. We started just doing three hours a week on Saturdays. And the gap we're trying to fill here is that the agencies in the city that are doing fabulous tech training -- A, sometimes have wait lists, but B, they are using vocational rehabilitation funding.

Which means they're really focused on job-related goals. So, that leaves some gaps. People that are undocumented. Or people who are homemakers, or who are retired, or family members that want to learn along with someone.

Or people that have a question about something that has nothing to do with their job. Like online dating or online gaming. We are there to fill in the gaps for those people, as well as for people who are receiving training, formal training, through the agencies, and we refer to the agencies and the agencies refer to us. People can absolutely do both.

We are more informal. People can come in and say: I have this goal. I would like to spend some time working on it. Everything from the simplest things like using Siri or typing, to someone saying: Hey, I want to learn to build my own website.

Or... You know... Hey, I need to learn Zoom, but from the perspective of a moderator, because I'm a teacher and a professor. So, we are there to provide that one on one support.

We do about 150 to 180 hours per month of that.

This is a picture of our volunteer, Nihal, who is showing someone how to use voiceover on their iPad. Our tech coaching is going strong. I mentioned we do virtual and in-person appointments. We encourage the absolute beginners that might be learning hand gestures on a touch screen to come in person if they can.

But since 2020, we serve people regardless of their ability to come in person, so it's possible to work in person or by Zoom or even in some cases by phone. You just give us a call. Let us know what you or the person you're working with wants to work on, and we'll assign you to a staff member or volunteer. And it's very rare that you would ever have to wait more than two weeks to have your first appointment.

And there's no limit on the number of appointments you can make. And there's no limit on the type of goals that you can have.

In addition to our one on one appointments, we have group workshops on a variety of topics. This fall we're teaching a 12 week immersion into using Windows with a screen reader. What screen reader? All of them.

We're teaching a course that allows people to learn JAWS, NVDA, and Windows. Because our wonderful colleague, Mr. Kingsbury published an ebook that teaches all of them at once. So, we're experimenting with that approach, specifically with people that might need to be able to switch from one screen reader to another, because they're in a work or school environment, where realistically, you have to be nimble and use whatever works for each app.

You can definitely sign up for our newsletter, and you'll never miss out on a tech session. And I think by now this goes without saying, because the New York Public Library is for everyone, but you don't actually have to have a disability to come to our virtual tech workshops. If you need to learn about a screen reader because you need to do it for accessibility testing, or because you care about someone and you're supporting them in learning their screen reader, or for whatever reason, you're more than welcome to join.

We often have teachers and practitioners and family members that are part of our cohorts, and we love that.

All right. A little bit about the Dimensions Lab. So, ... Back in 2017, we received an internal staff innovation grant to start a lab where blind and low vision people and our allies can work together to make tactile graphics, raised line drawings, and 3D prints for accessibility.

This all started because someone very well connected in the blind community, a CEO with a corner office, reached out to me, to say he could not find a five Borough map in tactile format and he just wanted to know how the Boroughs were laid out. And I didn't know either. And it struck me in that moment that... We have so little access to graphics as a population.

That even working in tech, doing tech coaching, as my job, I was so cut off from the world of maps and graphics and non-visual communication. I'm sorry. And spatial communication. That... I didn't know how to answer this question.

And I started thinking about why. And we've had ways to make tactile graphics through things like graphics embossing and swell form, and thermoform, for 50 years. And more. But usually those tools are on the wrong side of an institutional locked door.

And frankly, blind and low vision people and our allies are often locked out. Not intentionally. But if all the embossers and thermoform machines belong to publishers or belong to disability services offices, that makes it really hard for people to follow their own curiosity, learn how the technology works, and make their own graphics. So, our proposition is: Anyone can come in.

We will teach you how to make a map, a diagram, a 3D model. We don't require prior experience. I had to eat a little bit of humble pie early on. I got very excited and started telling my blind patrons: Hey, you can come in.

And print out anything you want. Any map! Any image! When would you like to come in?

And a lot of them were like... Well, Chancey, what would I want to do that for? I can't think of anything.

So, the thing is... If you've lived in image poverty all your life, and you haven't had pictures ever solve a problem that you had, why would you? So, I had to kind of adjust my pitch. And start focusing on things that might be relevant to people who might not think that they care yet.

So, we started with street maps of people's individual neighborhoods. We started with very simple things like holiday cards with hearts. Very simple things. And a cursive alphabet.

To help people understand how cursive works. A lot of people in the blind community, including me, really wanted to study at first the cursive alphabet, and then understand other fonts, to understand how print works, and also to improve our handwriting. Since that sort of realization, we've started doing some low-tech things, along with the high-tech Dimensions stuff. So, we do a monthly tactile drawing workshop, where we use a really affordable tool called a Sensational Black Board, and when you draw with a ballpoint pen, it raises a tactile line.

You can check those out with your library card now. We started doing some other low-tech things, like an origami workshop that works through verbal description. And the reason for these low-tech things is that we have to kind of nurture the spatial thinking and curiosity that blind and low vision and print disabled people are capable of. So, that they can decide whether they want to do more advanced things like maps or diagrams.

We don't live in a text-only world. And I think that this work is really important. I also think we might be the only free and open lab that's out there. We only ever charge for paper and filament.

So, ... Just get in touch with us if you have an idea for something you would like to create. Person at a table, reading Braille. Because Braille is beautiful.

It's here because Braille is great. That's one of my favorite... When he took that -- when he took that picture, I think he was in middle school. And now he's succeeding in college.

And using all the Braille resources. All right. So, ... Some action items, before we get to our Q and A. Here are some things that you can do to help us out and help out the people you support, and conceivably yourselves.

Please talk to any reader you meet who does or who might want to use audiobooks or large print or Braille, because of a print reading disability. We would love to get them hooked up with library services. And if they're not sure how to use the equipment, that's fine. We're here to help.

When you encounter teachers or parent groups or anybody who is sort of in the universe of print disability, please mention the library services that are available to people with print disabilities. If it's in New York, in the five Boroughs and Long Island, it's us. Talkingbooks.nypl.org. But there's a cooperating NLS library everywhere in the United States.

And also please let people know that our virtual programs are open to anybody who is coming from anywhere virtually. We don't require library membership for people to attend any program. And for that matter, our in-person programs, for our tactile graphics programs, we've had some people travel up from Baltimore and things like that, to spend the day. And we love to work with people wherever they're coming from.

So, ... Send them our way. If you wouldn't mind, you can show our brochures to folks. And if you would like some brochures and posters, we would be more than happy to send them to you.

We also have brochures in Braille and lots of different languages. If you wouldn't mind knowing that talkingbooks.nypl.org has the current application that you can download, either for individuals or for an institution, to have a membership to demo to people. That's a quick and easy way to get somebody on a road to accessible literacy. Yep.

Consider having a talking book player at your institution. If you would like to. Or be able to demo BARD on a tablet or a phone. We're happy for folks to be referred to our assistive technology coaching.

And we're also always looking for volunteers. If folks -- particularly folks working in tech -- think it might be fun to help someone for a few hours a week get to know their iPhone or their Android or their computer with accessibility in mind, it can be a really great experience, seeing what things are really like for users. And of course, it helps our users get on the road to independent digital literacy.

Be free to come and make an appointment and get whatever Braille and graphics you may need for your events. For yourself. One thing that we offer is: You can bring Avery labels, and we can make Braille business cards, and then you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on Braille business cards. And lastly: Please, please, please get your library card.

Consider making us your home branch, if you work or live in this area. And you can take advantage of all of the services that an NYPL library card provides. And I think that's it. For slides.

Our last slide here is just our contact information. If you want to give out sort of a generic email address to someone who is interested in what we're doing, although... I'm sure Chancey and I can say for myself... I do not mind hearing from just about anyone.

But [email protected] is our most generic email address. We also have a phone number. That phone is staffed every single day. Monday to Saturday.

10:00 am to 5:00 or 7:00 pm, depending on the day. For assistive tech questions specifically, Chancey is the right person. [email protected]. And I want to emphasize that that is available to anyone, including service providers, including folks who are supporting people in their lives who are looking for assistive technology and just anyone who's curious.

And for anything related to partnerships, or any other general questions about what we do, please contact me. I'm [email protected]. We have about five minutes for questions. If you wouldn't mind shouting out your first name, or if it's a question coming from online, Thomas will mediate for us.

Thank you so much, Chancey and Shane. I'm gonna... We're gonna do... Questions one by one.

One from the audience and then one from online. And so on. Yes. Okay.

I'm gonna bring the question to you. Okay.

Hello. My name is Chuck. I'm just wondering... Why are we still using physical cartridges and not doing digital downloads instead?

Great question. The digital downloads are available to anybody that wants them. The reality is that there are a lot of folks who... For whatever reason... Maybe a disability reason... Might not have the sequencing skills or the desire to spend a lot of time cultivating those skills.

And they might not really be ready for all of the steps involved in digital download. We are working towards having conversational assistance as an option to bring people closer to being able to do that, if they don't have the complex sequencing skills. So, ... The physical cartridges are there to bring the easiest possible experience to people who just want to be able to call, talk to a human, order their books, pop the book in, and hit play.

But we also of course have the digital downloads through BARD. Thank you. Perfect. Thank you.

One question we have from online is: So, as a software engineering student interested in accessibility, do you have any suggestions for resources for me to learn more? And then... Also: Is there a possibility for tech volunteer opportunities with NYPL? Which you kind of...

Yes. Please get in touch with us. That seems like... A potentially broad question.

I'm gonna construe it as meaning like... Maybe learn more about digital accessibility. If that is what you meant, one resource that I really love to go to first for digital accessibility is WebAIM.org. Web Accessibility In Mind.

They have lots of articles on different hot topics in digital accessibility. Another really cool resource is Deque, and I'll spell that: D-E-Q-U-E University. Which is an online platform that has module by module courses on accessibility. But if you've made it to this gathering or any of the a11ynycs, a community like this is awesome also.

There's a free conference coming up. There's ours. And then in the spring, Deque has a free conference called axe-con. And that's a free all virtual conference with lots and lots of digital accessibility talks for all levels of expertise.

Okay! And I think we have time for one question, maybe.

Hi. My name is Sharon. Thank you so much for this talk. It was really fascinating.

I hope I'm understanding the eBraille device correctly. But... So, ... It seems like it reads digitally from the web?

And then it translates it to Braille? Are there best practices or something special you have to do, to get it to do that? Or does it just automatically read the website by itself? So, there are gonna be exceptions to what I'm saying, but... If you follow WCAG, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and you're working with a screen reader, most of the time screen readers are gonna output to Braille just fine.

You don't have to worry too much more about it. The Braille display and the screen reader work together to translate from text to Braille, and that's not something that you have to necessarily overengineer on your end. If that makes sense. Thank you.

Hi. Rebecca Oling, Purchase College, State University of New York. One comment, one question. It can be very expensive.

State University of New York makes it accessible to all faculty and students. And your organization also does that. If you have a qualifying disability, you can get free access to the Deque modules so you can hone your skills. The other thing is: I wanted to ask you, Chancey, how do you deal with music?

Sheet music? Oh, sheet music. I wish my colleague Simon were here. Thank you.

We have a digital music section at NLS and have free downloadable music scores. We also have a physical Braille music collection that anyone can browse right in the branch. And we have resources for learning Braille music. And if you want to do a deep dive on Braille music, call us, and we'll get you in touch with my fabulous colleague, Simon, who is fluent in Braille music and can totally help you out.

Hello, everybody. First of all, I want to say thank you for your presentation. For me, it's very, very inspiring. I want to also thank the community of Accessibility New York, which made it possible.

I'm gonna present myself a little bit, and you'll know why.

That will follow. I'm Amoud Amangai, a digital accessibility specialist. I have worked on this topic 8 years in France, where I have a company supporting specialists on this topic. But I'm also pioneering digital accessibility in Senegal, where I was born, where I grew up, before I left to France.

And in Senegal, we are directly working with the school of disabled people. Especially the school of low vision and blind people. And one first thing I want to share is that this school just can accept less than 5% of people who... Of applications.

I mean, in Senegal, blind people don't have options to go to school. And I'm sure that digital can help us, you know. To fulfill this gap. So, when I find this kind of solution, this kind of... That's why it's inspired me a lot, and I have a question.

The first one is: Do you have any projects... Or do you already share with all the countries about what you did at New York, at your library? Because I think this is very important for New York people. But around the world, this can be really impactful.

I mean, in Senegal, in other countries, where they don't have this kind of opportunities. So, this is my first question. The other one is that I want to visit the lab, but we can talk about it later. And the last question... I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. So, the last question is about the choice. Because you showed a lot of devices.

A lot of hardware. And I thinks is important to develop specific hardware for disabled people's needs. But what I used to say is that: If you want to have more impact, touch wider people, because these materials are a little bit expensive... These... All your resources are already accessible to people who don't have these materials?

I mean, who just have a laptop or a smartphone? Thank you. Sorry for... I'll just start with the first question.

And Chancey can correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think we have any formal partnerships currently with any international groups, but we do have, I can tell you, on a pretty regular basis, we have folks who just happen to be in New York, who are working in libraries wherever they live, and they want to stop by and know about what we do. Right now -- just today, Chancey was emailing with somebody I believe from Japan who wants to know more about our early literacy kits for folks who are wanting to learn Braille.

So, this is something that's ongoing. My suggestion to you would be... Depending on what the situation is -- depending on what the funding situation is, maybe you would start with your national library, or if there's another library that has some resources in Senegal, that might be able to get a program like this off the ground, we would be more than happy to talk about how we do what we do. Funding is obviously always gonna be a big question mark in any country.

Right? Including the United States. On your third question... Which was about whether things... Whether our collections are accessible to anyone, regardless of whether they have one of our devices... The answer is yes.

They just would need... We would just need to kind of approve an application for them or find the right library that could approve an application for them. And then they could access all of our digital materials from any internet-enabled device. Right?

Anything to add to that, Chancey? The only thing I'll add is just an extra lead for you, in case it's helpful. The World Blind Union is the international organization that's composed of all the organizations around the world, and if I wanted to find out what was going on in Senegal already and who else might be in the region and get some grounding on that, that might be where I might start.

Thank you so much for the opportunity, y'all! Yeah, thank you. It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much.