[Athen] Good news for Bookshare Braille users

[Deborah Armstrong]

This morning, I updated my NLS E-reader (the Braille display NLS provides to patrons) and it now supports bookshare. I can download and navigate books just fine from the device in Braille.
It is a good idea for users to have daisy as their download preference because it includes more navigation than Braille BRF files. The NLS E-Reader can cope with both.  And with Daisy you can navigate by page or any other level marked up in the book.
Previously users could copy bookshare books to these devices, but now the NLS E-Reader has an app similar to the Victor Stream that lets users search the collection and download directly from the device. These E-readers are being rolled out to any patron of the National Library service for the blind and physically handicapped. Not all state libraries have them, but many do.

Most Braille displays and note-takers from only a year or so ago could not support Daisy. Now all the Humanware offerings, the Mantis and Chameleon from APH plus the Brailliant BI series direct from Humanware can.

What this means for a DSPS professional is that there's no longer a need to tediously translate things in to Braille if the markup in the book is already good and your student has such a display. Though I don't have one, I believe the Hims newer displays also support Daisy.

All modern displays will automatically translate Braille, so you can also give a Braille reader a word document, if they want to read electronically.

Unless it's specialized STEM material, you should rarely need to produce actual Braille for someone who has a modern display. They often work stand-alone as well as being able to act as a display for a screen reader.

They also connect to smartphones and tablets so the user can read a book in the Kindle or Nook app, or even on a platform like RedShelf or VitalSource using their app or the browser. I've tested my Braille display with all these combinations both on my PC and iPHONE and with some practice, and occasionally loosing my place, can read most textbooks that are not image-based just fine.
--Debee

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