RNIB members benefit from NLA media access partnership

We spoke on this blog recently about how NLA media access are able to provide other services on the back of the significant investment that national newspaper publishers have made in our eClips database. Most of these services are aimed directly at publishers in line with our “supporting journalism” tag line, however there is one free service we help provide which benefits thousands of other people every day.

This service has been created through our strong relationship with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). Publishers who have titles on the eClips database have the choice to ‘opt in’ to an XML feed delivery service that the NLA manage daily to the RNIB. The NLA make over 100 newspaper titles available to RNIB as early as 01:00 on the morning of publication, allowing adequate time for RNIB to turn NLA-generated text files into several formats:

-       ‘Daily online service’

Unabridged versions of a particular title chosen by an RNIB member is made available for viewing or download from a dedicated RNIB website. Each issue is available online for 7 days. Depending upon the specific visual impairment of the RNIB member and the equipment they use, these online titles can also be converted into other formats such as electronic braille and synthetic text-to-speech.

-       ‘Weekly Audio CDs’

Selected weekly highlights from any one title, read and recorded onto Audio CD by volunteers for RNIB members who prefer to listen to human audio.

-       ‘Weekly Digest Daisy’ (Digitally Accessible Information System) CDs 

Topic-specific compilations of articles of interest chosen by an RNIB member (e.g. Women, Current Affairs, Arts and Entertainment) read and recorded onto Daisy CDs, which offer advanced navigation features for blind and visually impaired people.

2014/15 will see vast improvements in the service that RNIB are able to provide to blind and partially sighted people. Through significant investment in their service offerings and technology platforms, RNIB will soon be able to provide three further services:

-       ‘Daily Email Service’
Unabridged single titles chosen by an RNIB member and sent by email to their inbox as early as 07:00 each morning, making this content available to those who cannot easily navigate through the website service described above. The email text, automatically created from eClips content in the NLA database, can be further converted into electronic braille or text-to-speech using an intelligent voice synthesiser according the needs and desires of the RNIB member.

-       ‘Daily Braille Service’
Unabridged single titles chosen by an RNIB Member can be requested on paper Braille formats, normally arriving 2 days after publication date

-       ‘Smartphone App’
Unabridged single titles chosen by an RNIB Member which on RNIB's smartphone app will categorise according to the unique sectioning that the NLA apply to every article that is loaded into the eClips database - eg Sport, Features, Letters.

"We are delighted with the proactive partnership between NLA and RNIB and the tangible positive benefits it brings to our diverse community of blind and visually impaired users. Offering different formats according to individual needs means RNIB can ensure that the exceptional content created every day by NLA members can be shared with and enjoyed by our RNIB members at the same time as everyone else", says Clive Gardiner, Head of Reading Services at RNIB. 

As magazine publishers continue to see the benefits of switching to NLA licensing and key titles join the eClips database, we will be able to provide more content to RNIB who in turn will be able to expand the portfolio they can make available to their members.

If you are a publisher and want to find out more about how NLA media access can supply your news content to the RNIB (free of charge) to help those who are blind or partially sighted, you can enquire through publisherservices@nla.co.uk

Matt Aspinall

Production Services Manager, NLA media access