Project implementation period
30 November 2018 – 31 May 2023
Project funding source and value
The project was funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the State Budget of the Republic of Lithuania. The total project value was EUR 1,419,160.79.
Project partners
Lithuanian Library for the Blind (LAB), Kaunas County Public Library, Mykolas Romeris University Library, Vytautas Magnus University Library, Vilnius University Library and Vilnius University Kaunas Faculty.
Project objective
To improve access to services for people who are unable to read standard print by organising information services and providing access, through Lithuania’s library network, to publications needed for self-education and study.
Why is this important?
According to statistical data, more than 245,000 people in Lithuania have various visual impairments, including around 160,000 people with serious eye conditions. In addition, many conditions that make it difficult or impossible to read standard print remain undiagnosed.
Today, a large proportion of information is communicated visually, meaning that around 10% of society faces barriers to accessing information. People who are unable to read standard print require information in accessible and adapted formats.
LAB produces and distributes books, periodicals and other information in adapted formats. These resources are available through LAB and other libraries, as well as through the ELVIS virtual library, the Electronic Publication Management Information System.
ELVIS is open to everyone, but books and other publications in adapted formats may only be listened to or downloaded by people who are unable to read standard print. At the time of the project, ELVIS contained more than 12,600 information resources, including audiobooks and audio magazines, DAISY publications, audio descriptions for films adapted for people with visual impairments, audio plays and other information.
As many as 95% of the adapted books and other publications produced by LAB each year were intended for leisure, including fiction, magazines, newspapers and films. Publications intended for self-education and study require considerably more effort to prepare. This project was therefore launched to make their production more efficient and improve their accessibility.
Main activities
The MoBiLait project brought together the capacities of LAB and other libraries to produce publications in adapted formats for self-education and study.
Libraries were equipped with the hardware and software required to produce accessible publications, while staff received the knowledge and skills needed to prepare such materials.
The project also aimed to modernise ELVIS and introduce contemporary search and access solutions so that ELVIS could become the main virtual platform for finding and accessing information in adapted formats for people who read differently.
Main targets
Together with its partners, the project planned to produce 700 publications in adapted formats:
- 100 publications in DAISY format (Digital Accessible Information System). DAISY offers two major advantages: highly flexible navigation and real-time synchronisation of printed and spoken text. Users can move easily between different parts of a publication, navigate through headings and pages, place bookmarks and return to them later. The format also allows users to adjust text contrast and font size. One of its most valuable features is synchronised text and audio, where the visible text is highlighted while the same content is read aloud. This is particularly useful for people with visual impairments and people with dyslexia.
- 400 digital publications adapted for use with text-to-speech software. These PDF publications are prepared so that they can be read using speech synthesis software, including the Lithuanian Liepa speech synthesiser. Users can navigate through the document, copy quotations and identify page numbers corresponding to those in the original printed publication. This format is widely used by school pupils, university students, journalists, researchers, lawyers and others with visual impairments.
- 200 audiobooks, professionally recorded by narrators. Users can download these books to their devices or listen to them online like any other audio recording and control playback according to their needs. For people who are unable to read standard print, audiobooks provide an important means of accessing literature, information and learning.
The project also aimed to modernise ELVIS, improve the search and accessibility of adapted publications, and develop mobile applications to make ELVIS easier to use on mobile devices.
ELVIS was also intended to be linked with other national and international electronic publication information systems, such as LIBIS and ABC, so that information about adapted publications could be made available as widely as possible.
Who can use publications in adapted formats?
Resources in adapted formats are intended for people who are unable to read standard printed text, including:
- people with visual disabilities or visual impairments, including blind and partially sighted people, older people whose eyesight has deteriorated, and people affected by conditions such as cataracts, diabetes, stroke, eye diseases or injuries;
- people with reading and learning difficulties, including dyslexia;
- people with physical disabilities that prevent them from holding a book or turning pages, for example due to cerebral palsy, finger or hand amputation, Parkinson’s disease or other conditions;
- people with neurological conditions, such as autism, or intellectual disabilities;
- people with temporary conditions that prevent them from reading standard print, for example following eye disease, eye injuries or other serious injuries that temporarily prevent them from using their hands, sitting or holding and reading a book in the usual way.