Making your service sight loss friendly
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Mark Freeman's (Libraries and Heritage Services Manager, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council) presentation to the CILIP 2017 Conference in Manchester #CILIPConf17 There are 2 million people in the UK who experience sight loss and this is set to increase as our population ages. With some thought, libraries can be one of the most supportive of services in terms of keeping people mentally active and in touch with the wider world. This session will examine some of the ways in which we can make our buildings and our resources more sight loss friendly.
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Making your service sight loss friendly
- 1. #CILIPConf17 Sponsored by Media partners Organised by Service Design Seminar
- 2. #CILIPConf17 Sponsored by Media partners Organised by Making your service sight loss friendly Mark Freeeman, Libraries and Heritage Services Manager, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
- 3. Making your Service Sight Loss Friendly Mark Freeman Libraries and Heritage Manager Stockton-On-Tees & Chair, Share the Vision CILIP Conference, Manchester 2017 : Service Design Seminar
- 4. Six Steps Making your service sight loss friendly Share the Vision • National Charity • Over 25 years of engagement • Represents all home countries • Activities and responses • Organisation
- 5. Six Steps Why is this important? “ Without reading for pleasure, I am and my life is incomplete” • Two million blind or partially sighted people • Reading is an essential skill • Health benefits/combats loneliness • Our duty Making your service sight loss friendly
- 6. Six Steps Know about the needs • Giants, Daisies and Downloads! • Where do I get it from? • Who is it for? • How much does it cost • Know who to turn to
- 7. Six Steps Looking after your customers • Just people! • Design your space • Talk to local groups • Organising Reading Groups
- 8. Six Steps Technical stuff! • Expensive equipment? • Digital formats • Keeping up to date • Helping people online • Use your contacts
- 9. Six Steps What is “Six Steps”? • A nationally agreed simple “promise” • Achievable actions • Low cost • Consistency • Updated in 2016
- 10. Six Steps 1. Ensure that all blind and partially sighted customers are connected to the most appropriate service for their reading needs using the Six Steps, and that they are able to make full use of an accessible public library service 2. Use Reading Sight (www.readingsight.org.uk), the free website supporting blind and partially sighted people to access reading and reading services 3. Provide local collections of accessible reading materials and information in physical or digital formats, and be able to signpost customers to wider range of resources 4. Plan your digital and physical access strategies in consultation with blind and partially sighted people 5. Designate a champion for the reading needs of blind and partially sighted people, who has familiarised themselves with the specialist resources and services available 6. Support and promote Make a Noise in Libraries Fortnight (www.rnib.org.uk/manil) run annually by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB)
- 11. Six Steps The Six Steps Module • SCL Learning Pool • Five short sections • Accessible by all home nations • Free
- 12. Six Steps to better library services for blind and partially sighted people Library on a shelf • Demonstration collections • 16 pilots • Free
- 13. Six Steps www.readingsight.org.uk Where to find out more
- 14. Six Steps What can you do? • Sign up to the Promise • Spread the word • Take the course • Find out more • Use your knowledge • Keep staff aware
- 15. Six Steps Resources www.readingsight.org.uk www.calibre.org.uk www.rnib.org.uk www.clearvisionproject.org Contacts Mark Freeman (Stockton-On-Tees/Share the Vision) mark.freeman@stockton.gov.uk Mark McCree (RNIB) mark.mccree@rnib.org.uk Emma Scott(Calibre) emma.scott@calibre.org.uk Alex Britton (Clearvision) info@clearvision.org.uk
Editor's Notes
- Share the Vision is a national charity and company limited by guarantee set up in 1989 and incorporated in 1996. It’s common goal is the improvement of library services of all kinds for people with sight loss and other visual disabilities. The Board comprises representation from a number of different sectors both public and third sector – there are reps from the BL, SCL, ASCEL, Calibre, RNIB, Clearvision, SCONUL , SLIC and observers from NI and Wales. We operate a variety of different activities including training events such as this one, we maintain the Reading Sight, work in partnership with our charity partners to offer smoother customer journeys between our respective organisations. We make responses to consultations both here and in Europe, we contribute to professional conferences and events. More recently we have worked to implement the Six Steps Promise and we recently released the Online Training Module which provides an introduction the Promise on the SCL’s Learning Pool.
- Why is reading so important to people who have experienced sight loss or other visual disabilities? To anyone who hasn’t directly experienced it, it’s difficult to imagine what happens when you are suddenly unable to function in the world This is a real quote from a participant in a survey undertaken by the Reading Agency on behalf of RNIB four years ago and it really serves to show why we need to keep in mind those people who rely on different ways of accessing our library services. There around 2 million blind and partially sighted people in the UK and this figure increases as our age profile extends. Sight loss is often age related, although a smaller number are born blind or partially sighted or experience this earlier in life We all know that reading is an essential skill for everyone – it’s our bread and butter in terms of our business but it also, as we know, helps to support people’s health and well being and it combats loneliness, especially where it forms part of a wider social experience. Our statutory duty is to provide the best most comprehensive service we can for all of our community and Six Steps is intended to be the very basic framework from which to work
- It is a very basic framework and it does not imply that most services are probably working at a much greater level than this, but it does provide us with a clear message we can promote to our customers. The six achievable actions were agreed by the SCL Executive in 2011 after project in the North East of England examined the needs of people with sight loss to try to determine where we might look to extend our support. The actions are achievable and low cost which is a real factor in these days of rapidly decreasing resources. They offer us a consistent message that we can pass on to our staff , stakeholders and customers. Of course, the world does not stand still and there have been rapid changes over the past five years. We do not have a state funded National Library Service for blind and partially sighted people as the do in many countries of the world and so we rely on charities, external organisations and a sharing of our collective resources and expertise. To reflect major technological changes, different organisational structures and the capacity of our partnership, Six Steps has now been updated and simplified.
- We re-launched the Six Steps last year with new publicity and posters, and a simple leaflet which can be given out to customers. Rather than a complete re-working of the Promise, it was updated and widened out in some sections and included a slightly more detailed wording for other steps. What is important though, is that this is not a great deal of work and really is what we all do every day. Most library services have signed up to this and are taking advantage of the tools that we produce to help people to help their customers. Talk to your neighbouring library services and if they aren’t signed up, encourage them to do so. And please share those that you develop yourselves with us to through the Six Steps JISC mail list and by designating a Champion in your authority to act as a point of contact. We know that there are some fantastic, in some cases, award winning projects out there and everyone can benefit from these experiences.
- These our combined contact details – the Six Steps Promise is backed up by the expertise of Share the Vision’s members – we rely on your support to keep going and although I know it’s difficult to find even small amounts of money, please contribute if you can. All of our partners are happy to help in any way they can and between us we will do our best to support you all. Thank you!