It's Academic

Imagine not having access to printed works due to blindness, a visual impairment, or a perceptual or reading disability, such as dyslexia. Imagine not having the ability to focus your eyes on printed material or not being able to handle or manipulate a book in your hands due to autism or Parkinson’s disease. The miracle of picking up a book, reading it, comprehending the material on the page, and filing it away for future access and dissemination is something which the majority of us simply take for granted. A trip to your local public library might reveal a selection of audiobooks and large print titles, which certainly are accessible alternatives to the standard print format. Be that as it may, astonishingly less than 7% of published books are made available globally in these alternative formats, which in addition to audio and large print, also includes Braille and Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) formats.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, declares that this lack of equal accessibility has been a key factor of the book famine which plagues our world. The Marrakesh Treaty, which states that “without books, journals, and magazines, people are cut off from life,” was developed by the WIPO in 2013 and later entered into force in September of 2016. It created obligatory changes which, by becoming national law, would grant equal access to printed materials. Since then, many countries have been bringing their copyright laws into accordance with the Marrakesh Treaty on the grounds that they are either party to the Treaty or because they intend to join the Treaty in the near future. Obstacles due to copyright law are a partial reason behind the limited access to alternative formats of printed materials, and the Marrakesh Treaty seeks to address these obstacles.

We believe that the Marrakesh Treaty is the most significant development in the lives of blind and visually impaired people since the invention of Braille, nearly 200 years ago.”

Penny Hartin, Chief Executive Officer 

World Blind Union

The World Blind Union (WBU) first proposed a draft of the treaty to the WIPO members. The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), along with other library partners, strongly supported negotiations which lasted over five years at the WIPO, and participated in the Diplomatic Conference in Marrakesh, Morroco, which saw the Treaty’s implementation. Hence, libraries are really at the forefront of this necessary accommodation.

The Marrakesh treaty may be accessed here.

Information has been retrieved from the document Getting Started: Implementing the Marrakesh Treaty for persons with print disabilities: A practical guide for librarians.

Hi all, just an update from the Connect and Communicate Team!
We are working hard to coordinate our spring programming, but do have a session scheduled on Nov 16! More details about that will be coming soon.

In the meantime, our page contains some of the past sessions from this group, and since it’s the season, I’m just going to leave the link for Mark’s “Haunted Libraries” (2017) talk here:

Enjoy your Halloween candies and parties!
~Erin

Although most people have heard of Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia, Lewy Body Dementia is a type of dementia that few people have heard of, yet 1.4 million people have been diagnosed in the United States.   As academic librarians, we can help to make more people aware of this disorder, so that more people with LBD can be accurately diagnosed.   Even within the medical profession, many people have little knowledge of this disease so educating our students enrolled in the health sciences is  extremely important.

A correct diagnosis is required so that proper treatment can begin.   Many medications, which improve other forms of dementia, can make Lewy Body Dementia worse.  Sadly, many people can see multiple doctors over several years before they are correctly diagnosed with LBD.  In addition, there are physical symptoms not present in other types of dementia and so physical, occupational, and speech therapy may be necessary.  There is no cure, but proper treatment can significantly improve the quality of a patient’s life.

October is Lewy Body Dementia Awareness month.  For more information, contact the Lewy Body Dementia Association.

Earlier this year SPARC®, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, announced its theme for International Open Access Week: “designing equitable foundations for open knowledge.” The Advisory Committee also fixed the dates as October 22-28.

Image courtesy of SPARC® Website.

Falvey, the library for Villanova University, has for many years held events highlighting Open Access, but we’re frequently a bit freer about it. So, it’s more like Open Access month.

However during the official week this year Falvey will have an Open Access Week information table in a public space in the library for sharing information about getting full text fast via unpaywall.com and openaccessbutton.org. We will be screening “Paywall: The Business of Scholarship,” and co-sponsoring with Villanova University’s Lepage Center for History in the Public Interest a discussion of the documentary elsewhere on campus the next day.

Another event for Open Access Week this year is a Brown Bag for faculty led by librarians on Open Access scholarship and publishing where a major topic will be SOAR, Falvey’s Scholarship Open Access Reserve fund initiative.

Whether event’s are during the official week or not, it is helpful to remember SPARC’s “official hashtag of Open Access Week is #OAweek.” For more information go to: www.openaccessweek.org.