I just got this email, subject line: DOJ Goes After Public Library for Lending E-Books That Are 'Inaccessible' to the Blind
The U.S. Justice Department says it has reached a settlement with the Sacramento Public Library over a trial program that lets patrons borrow Barnes and Noble NOOK e-book readers.
DOJ and the National Federation of the Blind objected to the program on grounds that blind people could not use the NOOK e-readers for technological reasons.
The Justice Department said the settlement is aimed at stopping discrimination: “Emerging technologies like e-readers are changing the way we interact with the world around us and we need to ensure that people with disabilities are not excluded from the programs where these devices are used,” said Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez in a news release....
.... As part of the settlement agreement, the Justice Department directed the library system to purchase at least 18 e-readers that are accessible to the blind, something that comes in the midst of budget cuts that have forced Sacramento libraries to implement one employee furlough day each month for two years.
The library says it will add iPod touch and iPad devices, which read e-books aloud with a computerized voice.
Adding the Apple devices could cost the library anywhere from $3,582 ... to $14,922.
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