[nabs-l] academic library access

Wed Jan 13 03:43:59 UTC 2016

Evening, Katee,

true enough. It goes back to a truth that no one 
strategy works all the time, for every instance. 
We ought, then, to keep this in mind and remain open, and unbiased.
Car
>Hi, Carly and all, Of course the choice to use 
>technology or work with another person is a 
>personal choice, but in my experience technology 
>works a good 80% of the time at least (in that 
>20% I'm counting when PDF files from the library 
>are not innately accessible).  IN that case, 
>what I do as stated before is get human 
>intervention in the form of my disability 
>services converting the files to a readable 
>format for my computer/notetaker.  That's what 
>they're there for, after all. I have used 
>readers before, but I think I'd dread using them 
>on something as extensive as a research project 
>where multiple, long articles or books need to 
>be read.  It is essential, I think, to have a 
>copy of the printed material at your disposal so 
>you can see how statements are punctuated and 
>how exactly the author worded them when citing 
>in your paper.  It also allows for you to draw 
>your own conclusions without some other person 
>unintentionally adding their interpretation into 
>their reading or screwing up the reading because 
>they're not familiar with the subject you are 
>studying. Lastly, I usually avoid readers 
>because I hate the idea of being beholden to 
>someone else's schedule to get my work 
>done.  I'm not above asking for help and have 
>used readers in the past for short projects, but 
>to do something like extensive research reading 
>like a thesis or senior capstone project like I 
>did last semester would be crazy.  I worked on 
>it whenever I had free time because the project 
>was so large, including late at night and over 
>the weekends when a human reader probably 
>wouldn't have been available because of their 
>own life commitments. Also, even in cases when 
>personal technology goes down, there should be a 
>few different places one could go to have 
>computer access. Colleges are supposed to be 
>required by ADA law to have an accessible 
>computer in a library for public accommodation, 
>and if not I've used a computer in the testing 
>center before when nothing else was working. 
>Think about it; if a sighted student's laptop 
>went down they'd have plenty of other computers 
>to use to get their work done, so as blind 
>students if our work goes down having access to 
>a computer at least somewhere on campus is a 
>reasonable accommodation. On 1/11/16, Carly 
>Mihalakis via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> 
>wrote: > Good morning, everyone, > > What about 
>when tech doesn't work? At least when > a reader 
>is humanoid, you are likely to get work done. > 
>CarAt 03:46 PM 1/9/2016, Ashley Bramlett via 
>nabs-l wrote: >>Hello Kennedy, Glad you shared 
>your thoughts. I >>guess we just have to do what 
>we can do and get >>help with human readers. 
>Readers are great when >>they work well and are 
>dependable, but I've had >>many unreliable 
>readers. I am glad someone gets >>the 
>frustration with ebsco databases. They 
>are >>terrible. What I learned from a good 
>librarian >>though Ii s something that saves me 
>so much >>time. Before, I did the same search in 
>several >>ebsco databases. This librarian showed 
>me how to >>search all ebsco databases at once, 
>or you can >>pick which databases you desire to 
>search by >>checking the boxes. So, once you 
>pick the >>databases you want, you press a 
>button and it >>sets it to that search. Then I 
>limit it to >>certain types of articles so I do 
>not get >>hundreds of book reviews. It works 
>great, and I >>wish I had known that before. I 
>suggest that if >>you need many ebsco databases 
>that you have a >>librarian show you this trick. 
>Press B to get to >>the buttons. My experience 
>is also that some >>librarians are great, and 
>some are not. Yeah, a >>mixed bag of good and 
>bvad ones. It takes more >>skills and patience 
>to describe what they are >>doing, and some do 
>not have it. They typically >>show students what 
>they are doing on the screen, >>and since I 
>cannot see the screen, they have to >>verbalize 
>it. I was researching Queen victoria, >>and 
>needed biographical info not online 
>through >>databases. So, I used readers. I got 
>an >>extension on the project as I needed more 
>time >>as my readers took longer to find the 
>info and >>they cancelled sometimes on me. Well, 
>we pretty >>have much the same experiences. Man, 
>if I ever >>have free time and find an ebsco 
>contact for >>accessibility, I'll write to them. 
>Ashley >>-----Original Message----- From: 
>STOMBERG, >>KENNEDY via nabs-l Sent: Saturday, 
>January 09, >>2016 5:28 PM To: National 
>Association of Blind >>Students mailing list Cc: 
>STOMBERG, KENNEDY >>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] 
>academic library access >>Ashley, It honestly 
>depends on the type of >>research you are doing. 
>You are so right about >>the Ebsco databases, 
>though. They are a >>nightmare! If you're 
>looking for scinitific >>journal articles, I 
>find that Google Scholar is >>very accessable. 
>Bookshare or Learning Allz >>might also be an 
>option, if they have the books >>you need. I 
>have had both good and bad >>experiences with 
>librarians. And I deffinitely >>agree that it's 
>frustrating to still need >>readers in this day 
>and age! It's kind of >>redicubous! Good luck 
>with your classes this >>semester! Kennedy 
>Stomberg On Sat, Jan 9, 2016 >>at 3:47 PM, Vejas 
>Vasiliauskas via nabs-l < >>nabs-l at nfbnet.org> 
>wrote: > Hi, > If you have a >>Bookshare 
>account, you could try looking for the >>book > 
>there.  If you're working on a research >>paper 
>of some kind, Bookshare > usually has 
>some >>good books on the topic you're 
>researching. > I >>never used the databases in 
>high school; do you >>find using them helpful? > 
>Vejas > > > > ----- >>Original Message ----- > 
>From: Ashley Bramlett >>via nabs-l 
><nabs-l at nfbnet.org > To: "National >>Association 
>of Blind Students mailing list" 
>< > >>nabs-l at nfbnet.org > Date sent: Sat, 9 Jan 
>2016 >>16:22:05 -0500 > Subject: [nabs-l] 
>academic >>library access > > Hi all, > > IÃ¢€™d 
>like to >>hear about the level of support and 
>nd >>accessibility of your > library and 
>the >>resources it has. > IÃ¢€™ve written about 
>my >>struggles before.  .  The gist is that 
>many >>library > databases have access 
>issues.  The >>ebsco ones are the worst.  Its 
>hard to > open >>the pull down list of options, 
>but I think I >>finally did open them > with 
>spacebar.  I find >>that databases run through 
>Oxford and proquest >>are > generally user 
>friendly and >>accessible.  Jstor is fairly 
>decent, but seems > >>like most articles are 
>image pdfs or display on >>the screen as 
>images.  I > kept wondering why >>jaws was 
>saying graphic and the next line said >>page 1 > 
>of > 5 or however many pages it was; >>then it 
>occurred to me that the text must > be >>an 
>image; so I found the pdf link to 
>download >>it. > The pdf was an image too, so I 
>had to >>convert it. > > Generally, when I was 
>in the >>university setting, I got support from 
>the > >>reference desk.  They retrieved books 
>for me and >>other students had to > find > them 
>by call >>number.  I got pretty much the same 
>support as >>other > students.  I was on my own 
>with access >>barriers.  Sometimes, I was able 
>to > get a >>library assistant to sit down with 
>me and look >>at the database and > then email 
>me relevant >>articles.  This worked much faster 
>than >>jaws. > > Now, to learn more, IÃ¢â‚¬™m 
>taking >>classes at Northern virginia 
>community > >>>college, nova, while looking for 
>work. > > Many >>Nova reference staff are great 
>and in fact go >>the extra mile.  They > explain 
>well how to >>search databases.  Others seem to 
>struggle how >>to > verbalize things.  Normally, 
>they demo the >>task and have the information > 
>seeker watch >>what they are 
>doing > > >>_____________________________________ 
>__________ > >>  nabs-l mailing list > 
>nabs-l at nfbnet.org > >>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/l 
>istinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org >> > To unsubscribe, 
>change your list options or >>get your account 
>info for > 
>nabs-l: > >>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nab 
>s-l_nfbnet.org/kestomberg%40coe.edu >> > > >>____ 
>___________________________________________ >>nab 
>s-l mailing list 
>nabs-l at nfbnet.org >>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/lis 
>tinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org >>To unsubscribe, change 
>your list options or get >>your account info for 
>nabs-l: >>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs- 
>l_nfbnet.org/bookwormahb%40earthlink.net >> >>___ 
>____________________________________________ >>na 
>bs-l mailing list 
>nabs-l at nfbnet.org >>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/lis 
>tinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org >>To unsubscribe, change 
>your list options or get >>your account info for 
>nabs-l: >>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs- 
>l_nfbnet.org/carlymih%40comcast.net >> >></x-flow 
>ed> > > > > 
>_______________________________________________ > 
>  nabs-l mailing list > nabs-l at nfbnet.org > 
>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org  
> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or 
>get your account info for > nabs-l: > 
>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/crazy4clarinet104%40gmail.com  
> > -- Kaiti Shelton University of Dayton-Music 
>Therapy President, Ohio Association of Blind 
>Students 2013-Present Secretary, The National 
>Federation of the Blind Performing Arts Division 
>2015-2016 "You can live the life you want; 
>blindness is not what holds you back!" 
>_______________________________________________ 
>nabs-l mailing list nabs-l at nfbnet.org 
>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org 
>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get 
>your account info for nabs-l: 
>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/carlymih%40comcast.net