CNIB Library Letter Writing Campaign

Thank you for taking the time to write to the Government of Canada in support of the CNIB Library and to support those that are blind, partially sighted and print disabled. Included in this document is information on the CNIB Library, and addresses of letter recipients. A sample letter is also attached to this email.

Who to send the letter to

Please send the letters to the following people:

1. Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Mailing Address:

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa Ontario
K1A OA6

E-mail:

2. Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Diane Finley

Mailing Address:

The Honourable Diane Finley

Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development

House of Commons

Ottawa, Ontario

K1A 0A6

E-mail:

3. Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages James Moore

Mailing Address:

The Honourable James Moore

Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages

House of Commons

Ottawa, Ontario

K1A 0A6

E-mail:

4. Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty

Mailing Address:

The Honourable Jim Flaherty

Minister of Finance

House of Commons

Ottawa, Ontario

K1A 0A6

E-mail:

Please copy your local MP

What is CNIB Asking the Federal Government For?

Equal access to library books in braille and audio for Canadians who are blind, partially sighted, deaf blind or print disabled. Right now millions of books are available in print or commercial audio formats for the print reading public. Blind people have access to less than 10% of what is available to the print reading public. It could be compared to having access to a small portion of the telephone book; there are many numbers listed under A-C, but part of the phone book doesn’t help much and neither does CNIB’s current library collection of 80,000 titles.

Who are the partners and what would they bring to the table?

  • CNIB:$33 million of infrastructure supporting the largest digital library for persons with print disabilities in Canada, plus $2.7 million from donations in fiscal 2010.
  • Government of Canada: cover the cost of infrastructure and production of books in audio and braille formats, similar to federal government support in the United States and Sweden.

What will it cost?

Government of Canada$8 million over two years

CNIB’s commitment$4 million over two years

Facts About the CNIB Library

  • Canada’s largest producer of alternate format materials
  • Provides more than 50 English and French newspapers, magazines, thousands of titles in braille, talking books and children’s printbraille books
  • In the last two years, the number of people using CNIB’s online library service has increased by 42% (2008-09)
  • CNIB Library clients received more than 840,000 single use DAISY books and magazines by mail (2008-09)
  • More than 13,000 magazine bundle CDs were sent by mail each month (2008-09)
  • The top 10 English titles were circulated more than 900 times each and the top 10 French titles more than 280 times
  • In 2008-09 a total of 9,800 new titles were added to the CNIB Library catalogue
  • CNIB circulates 1.8 million items in accessible format to Canadians annually at no cost to the user
  • Helps meet the daily information and reading needs of persons with print disabilities
  • Has been providing services for Canadians that are blind or partially sighted since 1918
  • There are over 80,000 titles in the library collection, with more than 350,000 individual talking book copies
  • Audio books are provided on demand
  • Unlike public libraries which develop collections by purchasing material (books, magazines, etc.) that is made available to their patrons, (the print reading public), the CNIB Library must manipulate commercially available material in order to make it accessible for blind and partially sighted persons
  • This process is required for print books and electronic material. CNIB produces this material at The CNIB Library Recording Studio. Accessibility features such as audio navigation and accessible searchable catalogs are two examples of how CNIB makes books accessible to those that are blind and partially sighted.
  • For the year 2010,it cost CNIB $6.8 million to provide library services to those that are blind and partially sighted

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