For the National Year of Reading, we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we’re giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how people can get involved.
In this episode we talk to Lara Marshall, Libraries and Engagement Manager and Tom Norton, Information and Resources Officer at the RNIB.
RNIB, the Royal National Institute of Blind People, is the UK’s leading sight loss charity. They offer practical and emotional support to blind and partially sighted people, their families and carers. They raise awareness of the experiences of blind and partially sighted people and campaign for change to make our society more accessible for all.
They offer a wider range of services to support children and young people’s reading. Mentioned in the discussion are the following resources (click through for links).
Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (CFVI)
Volunteering for The Big Help Out and Hi Vis Fortnight
In addition you can contact their helpline on 0303 123 9999
open Monday to Friday, 9am – 6pm. Email the helpline at helpline@rnib.org.uk or say: “Alexa, call RNIB Helpline”.
Katy
0:11
Hi, I'm Katie
Ali
0:13
and I'm Ali and welcome to Mostly Book Talk.
Katy
0:16
This episode is one of a series we are doing about book-related charities and what they're doing in the national year of reading.
Ali
0:23
In this episode, we're talking to the RNIB about their support for blind and partially sighted learners and learners with print-related disabilities. We talked to Lara Marshall, who's their libraries and engagements manager, and Tom Norton, who's their information and resources officer.
Katy
0:42
We're very pleased to have with us today from the RNIB Lara Marshall, who is the Libraries and Engagement Manager there, and Tom Norton, who is the information and resource officer. Welcome both. Tell us a bit about what the RNIB does and particularly how you support reading. Who wants to go first? I'm happy to go first.
Lara
1:03
Thanks for having us. Yeah, really excited to be here. The RNIB is the Royal National Institute of Blind People. It was set up over 150 years ago. We're talking like 1868. And it was originally set up. Its actual name was, and I have looked this up before I've come on here, the British and Foreign Society for Improving the Embossed Literature of the Blind, right? So the whole reason RNIB was founded was for literacy, right? Literacy and reading and access to information. So, you know, that those are the foundations that we're still building on today. And obviously, it has evolved into lots of different forms, lots of different services. You've got to keep up with the times. It's now taking the form of not just braille and tactile literacy, but audio and large print and services to access technology. And then if you look in the area that I'm in reading services, so it's all about specialist library full of audiobooks, full of braille. Make sure people can access newspapers, they can access educational texts, all those kinds of things. From over 150 years ago, even to now, literacy is still a huge priority.
Katy
2:22
And how has technology changed that? Because it feels like the way in which you provide those services must have changed significantly. And the availability of audio in particular, but also being able to have screen readers and things like that. Has that impacted on your work a lot? Hugely.
Lara
2:38
Yeah, absolutely. And still now, you go through these periods where technology just speeds along so quickly and you're just desperately trying to keep up. In terms of accessible technology, I think there probably is another factor, isn't there, involved is just making sure that number one, the organization that producing for the books and the information is up to date with the technology, but that also our users are up to date with that and they know how to use it and they're getting the right access and the right support. So, yeah, myself and Tom really keep that in mind and try and make sure that number one, the technology is out there and that people know that it's out there. They are getting that information as well.
Tom
3:18
Yeah, and I think that's really important in terms of what's available, but also what someone wants to use. There might be several different roads to Rome there. There might be several different ways of achieving the same thing. And so one person might prefer like a hard copy text and a magnifier and a light. Another person might prefer, and that'd be going the low-tech route. Another person might just prefer an audiobook on any kind of a mobile phone or on a laptop or something like that. Others might prefer something else as well. So it's about the individual's preference as well as what technology and what is accessible, what's available.
Katy
3:57
And you have a specific service for children and young people, or do they access your general service? How do you work with children, young people, families, and with schools?
Tom
4:08
So, in terms of the education and children's service, which is my service at RNIB, we have a few different types of provision. We look at two different offers. So children and families, which is everything outside of education, and there's a helpline that gives advice, for example. There's lots of information and resources on the website. We've got a parent pathways course that helps parents at the point of diagnosis. There's lots there. And then within education, we've got the education and children offer, which is specifically for education. And these are this is courses, resources, and activities that support education professionals, any professionals supporting with learning, and parents and the children themselves with developing their understanding of their vision impairment and the skills needed to learn both in school and at home. The main ones that I look at are the curriculum framework for children and young people with vision impairment. So the CFVI is a huge resource. It looks at 11 different areas of support that a child with vision impairment needs in order to be able to access education. And it looks at it in terms of the issues that commonly arise and the targeted support interventions that a child might need in order to be able to access that their education in an equitable way. So area four, for example, is literacy, targeting directly at reading. It gives some great interventions there, great suggestions. But then also area one is facilitating an inclusive world, which looks at the environment that the child is studying in and how that can be inclusive. And so, for example, setting up libraries, setting up classrooms so that they can be inclusive places to read. On top of that, there's a resource base on RNIB Bookshare. Yeah. And the resource base gives lots of different resources for teachers looking for ways to adapt their lesson plans and their environments for a child with vision impairment and encouraging QTVI support there as well, support from a qualified teacher for vision impairment. RNIB Bookshare?
Katy
6:18
Yeah. Yeah.
Tom
6:19
There's so much. There's so much.
Katy
6:20
There's so much. I know from a sort of recent contact with Lara on a project that you've got a massive stock of books and access to just loads of up-to-date children's books.
Tom
6:32
Exactly. So RNIB Bookshare is that platform of 1.3 million education resources. They're all freely accessible if you're within the UK. If you're a mainstream education setting, supporting someone with learning, you can sign up, you can manage the reading list for a child so that year on year in school or in their education, they have access to the titles they need in an accessible format. And it's R N IB Bookshare that's got the books, but it's also got those resources linked to the curriculum framework for vision impairment. So it's all linked together. And I'd recommend if you are interested in that, a great place to start is rnib.org.uk forward slash CFVI. Curriculum framework for children, young people, vision impairment is very long. So CFVI for short.
Katy
7:18
Fair enough. Okay. So in terms of the reading for pleasure and access to those books that children might want to read for pleasure, thinking in the context of the National Year of Reading, how do things get included? Can they request things? How does that work? How do you get something on your book list?
Tom
7:36
That's a very Lara question, I think.
Lara
7:38
I'll take that one, that's fine. So I think the reading for pleasure platform is really the library. So the RNIB Braille Library or our talking book, audiobook library. And what's wonderful is that from when it started in 1935, I'm all full of historical facts today, right? I'm on it, on it. RNIB created the very first audiobook. Do you want to have a guess at what it was in 1935? Oh, it's a crime. It's a crime.
Katy
8:10
Is it an Agatha Christie.
Lara
8:12
It is. Well done. It is. It's an Agatha Christie.
Katy
8:17
It's a very appropriate because this year it's a big, I think it's the is it the 50th anniversary of her death, I think. Yeah.
Lara
8:24
British Library doing a big exhibition. Yeah, yeah. So we've been on to them. And we said the first audiobook ever made in the world was The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie by the RNIB. And of course, they were set up initially for those first World War soldiers that were coming back and had lost their eyesight. So we started creating talking books. Of course, audiobooks are huge now and commercially popular for everyone, not just those with a print impairment or a site impairment. So I think that is a really interesting way of seeing how when you design something to be inclusive for people, it benefits everybody. Everyone gets those benefits. But in terms of how we get those books into the library now, so for example, if you had a print disability and you were thinking about joining the RNIB library, we have some amazing relationships with publishers. So publishers, especially the Sig Five publishers, are incredibly generous, donate us a lot of their backlist and a lot of the new books that they're bringing out that they have professionally produced in audio. So they donate those to us. And then unfortunately, there still is the disparity, right? There are more printed books being published than audio books being made, right? So there still is a disparity there.
Katy
9:44
Not every published book gets an audio. We know that. Of course. Yes. It's they have to work out what the demand will be. And yeah, it's much better when there is an audio of each book, but it doesn't always happen.
Lara
9:58
I mean, that is the ideal, but we have to be realistic. So there are those books that say some someone might come and might request and be like, oh, one of my friends read this, or this has been recommended, or this won this prize, but I can't find an audio. I'm not a braille reader, I can't read large print. And so there are a few that we do select each month that R and IB do produce in the house. So we have our own talking book studios, and we still produce and make audiobooks ourselves. So for those ones, we have the rights and they're just for our customers. But we have almost 60,000 titles. So we're very proud. The only audio library bigger than ours is Audible, just because we can't compete with Amazon.
Katy
10:37
No, nobody can be with Amazon.
Lara
10:39
Nobody can be Amazon. Yeah. Unless you want to be very generous, Jeff, if you're listening. Yeah. And
Katy
10:45
donate that. Yes. Brilliant.
Tom
10:47
And so I think the second part of that, by just adding to what Lara's saying, people can request titles for R N IB library for RNIB Bookshare. And each of those sites, they've also got recommended reading lists. And so I know on the kids and teens R NIB library reading list, for example, there are a load of selections there. So if you don't know where to start, if you don't know what's available, that's a great place to go. And then also we do link in with lots of different activities. So sometimes the best way into reading isn't by actually starting with reading itself, it's by exploring the topics, exploring the themes you might want to set things up. So we do on our our NIB children's reading pages have a list of accessible activities that people can get involved with, starting with World Braille Day on 4th of January, going right through to we do World Book Day every year. And you can request a free copy of a World Book Day book in accessible format from us. We tend to do an activity too. We do the summer reading challenge. We've recommended some activities for the summer reading challenge. There's lots available on that children's reading section. So plenty of ways in.
Katy
12:00
And are you doing anything in particular for the National Year of Reading?
Lara
12:00
This is a great question. I must admit that the National Year of Reading crept up on the RNIB…
Katy
12:00
on us all! on us all!
Katy
12:00
Tom
12:00
Tom
12:00
Lara
12:13
Exactly, it crept up on us all, right? And all of a sudden we're in January, we're like, oh my, what are we doing? We're doing. And I think what was incredible was myself and Tom were tasked with bringing a group together across the RNIB as an organization. And it's a very big national organization. And bringing people together from all sorts of different departments and services is just pulling offer as a whole. It's huge, it's absolutely massive. You know, we have talk and support book groups. So I one thing I think is really important is having that connection and that community to share your love of books like this process. So if you're someone who reads books in Braille or Audio, having someone else to connect with that reads books in that format is really important. So we have that. We of course have the library services, fantastic education services. We have services to assist technology, whole departments that look at volunteering. And one really exciting thing I would like to mention while I'm on here today, if that's okay, is that high Vis Fortnight, which of course is when public libraries talk about their accessibility, especially for those with a print disability during the first two weeks of June, coincides with the big help out, which is all about volunteering. Yeah. And also National Libraries Week, right? So we have combined these all and the National Year of Reading to create a very special micro volunteering opportunity for anyone in the UK to take part in. And it should take you literally about five minutes. You sign up on the website, go to your local library, find your accessible book section, take a picture, post it on social media, and just tell us about it. Just tell us about it. And that is what we're asking people to do during those first two weeks of June. And that is going to be so important because that will help us collect data around library accessibility and also just generally like who is engaging, who's interested in accessible reading, who's going to their public library, what's the experience, all that kind of thing. So, because there's not a lot of data around that. So that will be really interesting for us.
Katy
14:26
So even if you don't have a visual impairment, you can volunteer to do that because it would help share the information about what's available.
Lara
14:33
Absolutely. A hundred percent anyone can take part. Yes.
Tom
14:36
Exactly. And if you're sharing that online as well, if you're shouting about your local libraries accessible reading materials, you're then shouting about the library as a community resource as well. And so you might not directly benefit from it, but someone you know might. It's all about that word of mouth and spreading the hard work that a lot of libraries Lara and I have been into a lot of libraries. We've worked together quite a bit over the last few years. And so many of them are so accessible, and we just want people to go out and be using them and to know what's there. And then also the flip side of that is knowing what's needed, what's working really well, and what's needed to help make it better. So that's the target of the big help out and u High Vis Fortnight.
Katy
15:17
And Libraries Week as well. Everything is happening.
Tom
15:21
It's all in one, exactly. And only five times.
Lara
15:24
Yeah, this happens.
Tom
15:25
If you do want to take part in that, just search for R NI B and then a quick action for book covers on any internet search engine.
Katy
15:34
So you've given some ways of where people can find you. Is there anything else in terms of joining in that you want to mention, or if there's a school that's thinking we could improve our provision for our students or a family that might be listening, doesn't know about you or doesn't know how to access you yet. Anything else you want to add?
Tom
15:52
I'd say visit RNIB's children's reading resource. That's another thing we've done and we've released right at the start of the National Year of Reading.
Katy
16:00
Okay, and is that on your website?
Tom
16:01
Yep, we've got a new children's reading resource that if you go to rnib.org.uk forward slash education, it's one of the options on that page. And it covers accessible reading formats and providers, and it's a sector-wide, UK-wide provision as well. So it helps you to work out what's available, what might best suit the child that you're supporting. It gives a bit of an overview of reading aids and environments, how to help someone with vision impairment to access reading, what kind of questions to ask, what professionals to go to. It gives a list of those reading activities for children and supportive organizations as well. And then the last thing that it does, there's a libraries and learning resource centres page that's specific to libraries, learning resource centres and how to set themselves out what's accessible and what's available for people with vision impairment.
Katy
16:56
Brilliant. I've known from personal experience, having had from work, having for the first time had to explore making that provision available, that there are a lot of resources there and it's a positive treasure trove of things to find. So all there, starting on your website. Is there anything else that you're doing this year for the National Year of Reading that you can tell me about?
Lara
17:15
We were so excited to work with the British Library curate a team of their new fairy tale exhibition that is currently open to children and families and adults as well. I enjoyed it. I thought it was fun. Like myself, it was brilliant. Went last week and really enjoyed it. Yeah. Oh, isn't it wonderful? Yeah, it's very good. So we we had the sort of opportunity to work with one of the curators and make it as accessible as possible. I have a book in there that was commissioned by RNIB. So Little Red Riding Hood had that representation as a character who was harshly cited and just to make everything as tactile inclusive as possible. So, yes, if you haven't been.
Tom
17:59
They've got a sensory story. So they've got a backpack with lots of sensory items that help a child to understand their way around the exhibition and the stories that are being told in there. They've got a large print guide, they've got a braille guide with tactile pictures. So even the stuff that's behind glass, it's all accessible. And I'd recommend getting both the large print and the tactile guide. And they've got loads of accessible activities too.
Katy
18:23
Brilliant. We actually are talking to them about coming on and talking about the exhibition.
Lara
18:27
Yay!
Katy
18:29
Finally, what are your hopes for the National Year of Reading?
Lara
18:31
I think our hopes are really to get the word out that your NIB is there to support you. Again, not just if you have a vision impairment, but a print disability as well. If you're suffering with dyslexia, if you have difficulty holding up a book physically, so you can't physically read print. We are there to help you. So, of course, while our main objective is people with any sort of vision impairment or sight loss, we are also here to help all sorts of print disabilities and just really to increase that reading for pleasure and that connection for people who maybe think, I can't read print, so why bother? There are other options out there and it's wonderful and open up a whole new world for you. If anyone does want to reach out in terms of any support or they're dealing with any sort of site loss issues, R N I B helpline 0303 123 9999.
Katy
19:28
Brilliant. Thank you.