Making a Tactile Book

Intended readers

Are you aiming to broaden access for visually impaired and blind people to your museum, gallery or archive? Are you looking for a tool to make education sessions more inclusive, particularly for the visually impaired? A tactile book could help to broaden access to collections and make museum visits more valuable and inclusive for people with a visual impairment.

Background

The Their Past Your Future Tactile and Large Print Book was created as part of an educational Outreach Kit developed to support a Touring and Online Exhibition. The exhibition, and subsequent book, focused on the impact of the Second World War on the people and places of the UK. 90 books were created in total and its content was a sample of the core content of the exhibition.

The book was developed to provide greater access and inclusion to facilitated learning sessions where the Their Past Your Future Outreach Kit (see Outreach Kit Case Study) was being used, primarily for visually impaired and blind people of all ages. However, the book could also be used in museum education sessions related to the Second World War more broadly, or simply made available for independent learning.

The tactile book had four main themes: the impact of war on individuals and their families, its impact on the places and landscape of the UK, its long term impact on UK society and how and why we continue to remember the Second World War. The tactile and large print books were presented in a bespoke B4 size ring binder.  This allowed greater flexibility of use: not only could the different sections be used with different groups simultaneously, the contents could also be added to as venues developed their own resources. 90 books were designed and produced with 10 of these in Welsh; the Welsh venues received both an English and a Welsh copy.

The Their Past Your Future Tactile and Large Print Books were distributed at the beginning of December 2005 to all Touring Exhibition venues around the UK.

_{The Their Past Your Future Tactile Book binder cover design. The design was wrapped around the binder, with the Their Past Your Future logo on the spine of the binder.}

_{The Their Past Your Future tactile book with a braille title label affixed above the image.}

For the readers our main intended learning outcomes were:

Why is this important?

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) aims for museums and galleries to  ‘broaden access for all to all museums and galleries’ and to ‘develop and promote the educational potential of museums and galleries…’.   These incorporate some of the core aims of all Government departments, which are to promote education, social inclusion, regeneration and community cohesion.  In addition to this, the Disability and Discrimination Act of 1995 (DDA) requires that all organisations providing public services must make them accessible to disabled people, who are, according to the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, ‘among the most excluded in society’.   The contents of both the tactile and large print book were also made available in Welsh in compliance with the Welsh Languages Act 1993.

The RNIB estimates that there are approximately 20,000 Braille readers, and approaching 2 million visually impaired people in total, in the UK . Information and books provided in tactile and large print form are examples of auxiliary aids that contribute to institutions meeting the standards set out by the DDA, providing an alternative means of accessing a service. They can also help museums broaden their access to visually impaired and blind people to their collections, exhibitions and learning activities. Improving provision by providing for broader and independent access to graphic, pictorial and textual information for visually impaired and blind people is a step towards promoting equality of opportunity and social justice, as well as developing new audiences for museums.

Nuts & Bolts

Expenditure:

What we did

• Allocated £15,000 to design, production and distribution of 90 tactile books (80 English, 10 Welsh) around the UK.
• Chose images and materials (swell, or microcapsule, paper) for production of tactile contents of book in consultation with RNIB. 12 images chosen with related stories and information from Imperial War Museum (IWM).
• Descriptions of original as well as tactile images written by RNIB, verified by IWM and added to content. Images labelled. English version transcribed into braille. All content translated into Welsh and transcribed into braille.
• B4 size bespoke binders designed and produced to hold the tactile pages.
• Large print book with the same content as tactile book produced and held inside front cover of binder. Helvetica in 16-point typeface used for the book, a sans serif font in the recommended minimum size for large print text.
• Each recipient contacted prior to distribution with information about the contents, tactile images and their uses, and how to locate local organisations for blind and visually impaired people for partnerships.
• Distributed to all education contacts from Their Past Your Future Touring Exhibition venues. Welsh partners received both an English and a Welsh unit.
• Marketing undertaken by creating tactile Christmas cards, sent to UK organisations for visually impaired and blind people. Included letter about the tactile book and contact details for more information.  

_{Together poster (IWM PST 3158) with its representation in tactile diagram to the right}

The hats and faces of the servicemen were chosen as the most effective way of demonstrating the content and meaning of the original poster. Each hat is distinct and by them each of the countries represented is identifiable. The accompanying description described the poster on the left as well which parts were represented in the tactile diagram.

What worked?

• Working in consultation with RNIB
   - Choice of suitable images was guided by the RNIB as not all can be effectively portrayed in tactile form, such as images with deep perspective or lots of detail.
   - Guidance from experts on Best Practice for producing good large print information.
   - Use of swell (or microcapsule) paper produced very clear images and can be used for braille and images. Images can be easily reproduced if damaged, as kept in electronic format.
   - Contextual descriptions produced to accompany tactile images – of the original image or object and what the tactile image represents – are also essential. Tactile images are often inaccessible without them. 
   - Extensive experience and expertise in working with museum and galleries
• Producing final product in a ring binder in a bespoke binder allowed each page to be removed and making it more adaptable for use in education sessions and allowing for recipients to add own items.
• Free resource provided for Touring Exhibition host venues to help improve accessibility.
• Consulted with visually impaired museum accessibility officer outside the Museum highlighted issues such as need for information to be provided in a book that opened flat, not tightly bound.
• Production of 10 copies in Welsh, which is different from English braille.
• Presentation in binder also allows for the contents to be read flat, rather than tightly bound, which makes reading braille and tactile images difficult
• Providing tactile book recipients with information about tactile images, their uses and links to create partnerships with local organisations for blind and visually impaired people
• CPD opportunity for other museum professionals to help improve accessibility which they might not otherwise have had
• Innovative marketing by designing, producing and distributing tactile Christmas cards
   - Tactile Christmas cards designed, produced and distributed to organisations for blind and visually impaired people.  Letter included with information about the book. See Download section below.

What didn’t?

• Time constraint which did not allow for consultation with visually impaired and blind end-users as fully as would ideal throughout whole process
• Braille of swell paper was flattened slightly by the large print book inside the cover if it came out of the pocket. Over time would damage pages to point of illegibility.
• Would have been good for it to be produced at same time as the outreach kit so that it all went as a piece but time constraints did not allow

What would we do differently next time?

• Consult more widely with end users about their needs from conception to production, including piloting, to determine if content is accessible and effective.
• Visual and tactile perception are different. To discover if something works well in tactile form rather than visual requires proofreading by touch.
• Chose a method to protect the swell paper pages, such as a sturdier pocket to hold large print book.
• Produce audio version of text with descriptions of images to further increase accessibility. Not all visually impaired people read braille or tactile images, so information provided in audio form invaluable for allowing them enjoyable and beneficial access to museum collections.

Feedback quotes

“Many thanks for the copy of the tactile book - a really useful example of something we want to do with our forthcoming museum guidebook”, (Access Officer, Exeter City Museums Service)

“Many thanks for the Tactile Book, it is fantastic”, (Head of Education and Learning, IWMN)

Downloads

• Contents of the English large print book
• Happy Holidays from Their Past Your Future 22 Feb 06

Useful links

www.rnib.org.uk - the Royal National Institute for the Blind

www.rncb.org.uk - the Royal National College for the Blind

www.dogrose-trust.org.uk - charity working to make all environments accessible to people with visual and other sensory impairments

http://www.mla.gov.uk - The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council has produced a Disability Portfolio. This is a collection of 12 guides about how best to meet the needs of disabled people within the museums, archives and galleries sector.