SuperNova Access Suite Case Study: Supernova in Northern Ireland Libraries.

VIPs go surfing with Dolphin.

People with disabilities will benefit from a £300,000 project to install special internet access equipment in 124 public libraries in Northern Ireland. It is part of a full programme to ensure that organisations dealing with the public comply with the Disability Discrimination Act, Part 3. The Electronic Libraries Project was developed by Public Libraries of N. Ireland (PLNI) and the RNIB to help people with visual, physical or learning impairments to use - and enjoy - computers and the net.

Northern Ireland's detailed equality legislation is much stricter than mainland UK's. The £300,000 grant for one of the largest UK projects of its kind came from the N. Ireland Department of Culture, Arts & Leisure. The project specification required that equipment should help several groups with disabilities, including N. Ireland's 28,500 visually-impaired adults. There are some seven million people with some level of disability in the UK, including 1.2m with visual impairment (VIPs). Access to standard computers is available to VIPs through specialist software which magnifies screen information, reads it aloud using synthetic speech or produces it in refreshable Braille. One piece of software can do all three: Supernova Reader Magnifier, developed by Dolphin Computer Access, based in Worcester. This can add magnification speech and Braille support to all kinds of applications including email and the internet. The Northern Ireland tender document was unusual in specifying the software to be used. "We insisted on Dolphin,” says Hilary Glenn, a trainer in the Supernova software for the South Eastern Education & Library Board, “because VIPs can use any computer in the main library and its branches, and do not need special equipment.” "We're very encouraged by the response of the Northern Ireland libraries,” said Steve Bennett, Director of UK Sales at Dolphin.They are showing a real awareness of access issues and making the most of available technology. Each branch library will have the Supernova software meaning that whether you have low vision or are completely blind, your level of sight is no barrier to using the library computers.” Commitment In England and Wales the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) has encouraged libraries to consider access issues for their information technology. However, each library makes its arrangements independently.

The scale of the Northern Ireland project highlights the commitment to equality of access in all areas. More than simply complying with the new legislation, it aims to draw into libraries a group of people who couldn't, for example, hold or read a book. The scheme could act as a blueprint for others in the net work of 4,300 public libraries across the UK. Some, such as Wirral library service, with grants from the European Regional Development Fund, have already gone down this route. Wirral's three central libraries and 21 branches provide a network of 300 public computers. Every library has at least one public computer, some have as many as 20 and there are nine special ICT suites.

VIPs can access Supernova from any of the Wirral library service’s public computers. "When making a bid for NOF funding libraries need to show provision for disabled access, but many simply don't know what’s available,” says Dolphin's Hazel Shaw. She spends a lot of time talking to library ICT managers about their social inclusion projects. “What the Northern Ireland project and others have shown is that you can adapt new and existing computer equipment for both blind and partially-sighted people without having to make additional provision for a specialised workstation.”

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