Resolution 2008-03
Regarding Higher Education Accessible Textbook Production & Circulation

WHEREAS, blind students in Maryland enrolled in post-secondary courses of study will benefit from having instructional materials in accessible formats made available to them in a timely manner; and

WHEREAS, the Maryland Governor and General Assembly have recognized the importance of providing blind residents of the state enrolled in higher education with such services as outlined in legislation that was adopted in 2007; and

WHEREAS, this legislation instructs publishers to provide electronic files of textbooks to the Maryland State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (LBPH) for distribution to qualified disabled students or faculty members; and

WHEREAS, LBPH was given this responsibility so that it could increase efficiency of accessible textbook distribution and eliminate duplication of effort by Maryland colleges and universities, resulting in over-all cost savings; and

WHEREAS, in June 2008, the Instructional Materials Access Guidelines Committee as defined in the higher education textbook access legislation adopted in Maryland has issued its mandated guidelines to facilitate implementation of a timely and accessible higher education textbook program in the state; and

WHEREAS, LBPH has not begun to receive electronic files from publishers or to distribute accessible textbooks to students because the Maryland State Department of Education has not finalized procedures to hire a manager for the program, which leaves the program at a stand-still and student needs unmet for another school year: Now, therefore

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland in convention assembled this sixteenth day of November, 2008, in the City of Ocean City, Maryland, that this organization urge responsible officials in the Maryland State Department of Education to promptly establish the position in the Maryland Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped to coordinate and provide the distribution of higher education textbook files to eligible students and institutions of higher education so that the social and financial benefits inherent in this state policy may be realized as soon as possible.

Return to Resolutions