National Alternative Materials Sharing System for Disabled Persons

The National Library for the Disabled at the National Library of Korea has developed the National Alternative Materials Sharing System and the Chaeknarae Service for disabled persons who were left to their own devices to search for locations providing alternative materials (e.g., Braille or recorded materials). A national union catalog of alternative materials was established under the System by collecting dispersed materials through inter-institutional cooperation. Also, a source document service is available for providing online alternative materials including DAISY and electronic Braille materials in real time. Moreover, an application based on cloud technology enables the simultaneous use of alternative materials on devices and applications. Currently, 841 libraries are participating in the System, and 500,000 alternative materials in the union catalog and 90,000 online alternative materials are available. The Chaeknarae (literally, “books with wings”) Service is a free shipping service for delivering materials to disabled persons who can use the System to request any kind of alternative material and receive them at home. As of 2015, Chaeknarae has 564 participating institutions and 1,310,000 users.