The Creation of an RNIB Centre for the Migration, Origination, Archiving and Production of Alternative Format Files
Processes - The Librarian
The responsibility of the librarian is to:
- Work with the customer to define individual need
- Determine how this should best be met
- Identify source of payment (e.g., individual and/or employer, public sector, RNIB resources)
- Take into account of near equivalent resources and
- Agree The turnaround requirement.
2.1 In a librarian discussion with a customer:
- The first task is to check the database of alternative format material to see whether the user's exact, stated requirement can be met. If it cannot,
- the next step is to check RNIB's equivalence and Classics schedules and those of other agencies and then determine whether the request might be included in either.
- If the production of the requirement is scheduled there still might be a case for a near equivalent product.
- If the public sector requests a product which is contained in the RNIB's equivalent or classic publishing schedule it should charge the full price to the commissioner and transfer the allocated budget to another product.
2.2 The next question, then, in defining a user requirement for information is how precisely this information must correspond to a known title. The nearness of equivalence to an initial request is critical in the context of resources. Whereas the public sector may insist on a specific title when it is meeting the full cost of National Curriculum delivery, an individual seeking information on a broad subject may be satisfied with a collection of web URLs.
2.3 Having determined the user content requirement the next step is to assess the user's own technical resources if the requirement is to be met by a digitally generated product, as opposed to an analogue product (a braille book or analogue tape) from stock.
With a transparent costing and pricing system for each process, the user can weigh his/her own resources against the price. A user may have a computer with an access device, a volunteer reader or the assistance of a local society. The user's resources will determine such elements as the digital output, taking into account operating system, applications etc.
2.4 In the analogue world origination was so costly that outputs were relatively distinctive because of the high cost both for new products and radically revised editions of typesetting. In the digital world the absoluteness of title has declined and there are more 'near equivalent' products or hybrids that can fulfil information requirements.
2.5 In the production of factual material in audio format the default should be artificial speech generated from a text file. This might also apply to fiction material where it is urgently required for study, as opposed to the requirement for aesthetic enjoyment.
2.6 The final element in the discussion between the Librarian and the customer is to balance the quality of the output versus the required delivery date.
2.7 In summary, the librarian should make an agreement with the user which contains the following precisely defined elements:
- The precise information to be required data or, in the case of references to other sources, metadata)
- The form and format in which it is to be delivered
- The cost to the user and/or the sources of funding, including RNIB subsidy
- A delivery date
- The name of the nominated producer.
2.8 Next, the Librarian should handle any copyright implications.
2.9 Finally the Librarian should create records for all the products agreed; this should be in the form of a standard agreed with the British Library, including additional variants for alternative formats. RNIB should institute a procedure for making all its new records properly complaint with a British standard.
2.10 A note on Costs. Any rational, public and transparent relationship with customers requires a clear schedule of costs matched to processes. RNIB may wish to pursue differential charging between, for example, individuals (who may be financed by RNIB subsidy), local societies for the blind, the public sector and multi national corporations but none of this is possible without a clear costing schedule. Historically RNIB has responded to poor costing data by seeking an impossibly precise schedule. There must surely be a reasonable basis for quasi commercial activity which can be refined while in use rather than in advance of use.