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Disability - The National Benefit Authority

Newsletter 58

Ontario Audio Library Service: Providing Alternate Format Material for Students with Print Disabilities

The Ontario Audio Library Service (OALS) is a registered charitable organization based in Peterborough, Ontario. For over thirty years we have been providing recorded materials for students with print disabilities at colleges and universities throughout the province.

As a major producer of alternate format academic materials for post-secondary students, OALS is committed to helping realize the right of all students to obtain the materials they require in the format that is most useful to them. We continue to seek improved ways to serve the needs of our student clients, both in terms of current technologies and those that will be available in the future.

OALS offers material in the DAISY audio format, which provides superior sound quality and book navigation capabilities. Students receive their materials on CDs. DAISY books on CD provide links between text and narration, and allow the reader to move to specific pages, place bookmarks, and use an index. This navigation is not available with books on tape or commercial CDs. Material is sent out in installments in order that the student has his or her required readings as quickly as possible.

At OALS, we know that “one size” does not “fit all”. Every effort is made to accommodate the specific needs of each student. When course outlines are available, OALS is able to provide material from whichever parts of the text are needed soonest; we provide full diagram description when requested; we transcribe everything from introductory textbooks to post-graduate materials; we are able to offer transcription of specialized materials, including mathematics, medicine, computer studies and more. Our large corps of volunteers offer us the ability to record whatever our student clients require. Most importantly, our audio materials provide the student with human voice recordings.

Recorded materials are provided to students free of charge. We are funded through a purchase of service agreement with the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Students work with their education contact person (generally someone in their college or university’s special needs department or library) to arrange for the transcription of their materials into an alternate format. If their materials have been previously recorded, a copy will be obtained from the W. Ross MacDonald School’s Resource Services Library in Brantford, Ontario. When the material has not already been recorded, WRMS will arrange to have a producer record the text. OALS is Ontario’s primary producer of post-secondary textbooks in the audio format.

If you would like more information about our service, we invite you to contact us by telephone at 705-740-8018 (toll-free 1-877-440-8018), by mail at Ontario Audio Library Service, 150 O’Carroll Avenue, Peterborough, Ontario K9H 5X9, or by email at info@oals.ca.

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