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In 2002, the Kentucky Senate passed Senate Bill 243, which required that any publisher of a textbook adopted for use in K-12 public schools provide those textbooks in an accessible electronic format in order to assist schools in meeting their obligation to provide equal access to the general curriculum for students with disabilities. SB 243 also established the need for facilitating the timely delivery of accessible materials to schools. To accomplish this, the Kentucky Accessible Materials Database (KAMD) was established in October 2003.
The mission of the KAMD includes:
1. To serve as a state repository for accessible materials
2. To disseminate accessible materials to authorized users
3. To develop and implement effective tracking systems to maximize copyright protection.
4. To provide training and technical assistance to member agency staff on accessible technology tools and use of accessible content
5. To prepare and provide of NIMAS files to student-ready format.
6. To assist with awareness efforts and development of materials to increase consumer understanding and use of accessible digital materials.
Contact the University of Louisville School Research Partnership staff by telephone (502-852-3597) or e-mail (kdekamd@louisville.edu).
A Digital Rights Manager (DRM) is responsible for monitoring and documenting copyright compliance within a school. This includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities:
A DRM also must be aware of the following issues:
A DRM is a staff member designated by a school principal to request, receive, and track the usage of copyrighted accessible digital materials for students with qualifying disabilities that have been verified by a competent authority. Ideally, this individual would be school-based. However, if the principal deems a district-level individual to be the most appropriate to fulfill this role, a district-based individual may be appointed as a school’s DRM.
The school’s principal must complete the “Digital Rights Manager (DRM) Registration” web form.
To find out more about Digital Rights Management and related issues, visit our "Digital Rights Management" web page. You may also be interested in our "Presentations and Related Materials" web page.
Students with print disabilities and IEPs are eligible to receive KAMD materials if they fall into one of the four types of disabilities defined by the Library of Congress regulations (36 CFR 701.6(b)(1)) related to the Act to Provide Books for the Adult Blind (approved March 3, 1931, 2 U.S.C. 135a): (Click here to see this information in table form)
(i) Blind persons whose visual acuity, as determined by competent authority, is 20/200 or less in the better eye with correcting glasses, or whose widest diameter if visual field subtends an angular distance no greater than 20 degrees.
(ii) Persons whose visual disability, with correction and regardless of optical measurement, is certified by competent authority as preventing the reading of standard printed material.
(iii) Persons certified by competent authority as unable to read or unable to use standard printed material as a result of physical limitations.
(iv) Persons certified by competent authority as having a reading disability resulting from organic dysfunction and of sufficient severity to prevent their reading printed material in a normal manner.
Only students with verified print disabilities in the categories of blindness, visual impairment, physical disability impacting ability to hold a book or turn pages, and reading disorder from organic dysfunction ARE eligible.
Students with all other disability types ARE NOT eligible to receive KAMD materials. This includes students with: other learning disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorders, emotional disabilities, ADHD/ADD, ESL and ELL, and cognitive impairments. These students are only eligible if their disability is accompanied by a visual or physical disability, or a qualified reading disability that has a physical basis (as defined by the Library of Congress regulations (36 CFR 701.6(b)(1)) related to the Act to Provide Books for the Adult Blind (approved March 3, 1931, 2 U.S.C. 135a). (Click here to see this information in table form)
The DRM must have the NIMAS Eligibility form completed. This form must be signed by the appropriate “competent authority” based on the type of disability the student has.
(Click here for NIMAS Eligibility form in Word format) (Click here for NIMAS Eligibility form in PDF format)
This process would typically involve the parent taking the primary role, and the school playing a supportive role. School staff (i.e. building ARC chair or person of comparable authority) should meet with the parent to explore avenues to obtain the student textbook in digital form. If a NIMAS version is determined appropriate, then the NIMAS Eligibility form must be given to the parent to take to their child’s doctor who would then complete the form certifying the student has a reading disability resulting from “organic dysfunction”. If the student has a recent psychoeducational assessment, this should also be provided to the physician. School personnel may also want to create a document similar to the one that Iowa's True AIM project has created to help physicians understand what accessible instructional materials are, how these materials might benefit students, why a physicians' signature is needed on the eligibility form, and how to distinguish an organic from a nonorganic basis to the student's reading disability. (True AIM doctor's fact sheet (PDF))
(Click here for NIMAS Eligibility form in Word format) (Click here for NIMAS Eligibility form in PDF format)
A school should work closely with the student’s parent to explain the eligibility process (i.e. must have an IEP and signed eligibility form from a physician) as they work with their family’s physician. However, it is ultimately the parent’s responsibility to facilitate completion of the eligibility form by the physician.
The completed and signed NIMAS Eligibility form should be kept on file by the school’s Digital Rights Manager. It should be made available to the KAMD staff upon request.
The school must have purchased the print version of the instructional material being requested, and this print version must be available for student use.
Before a school can request and receive materials from the KAMD, the following steps must be followed:
1. The school’s principal must designate a building level staff person to be the Digital Rights Manager (DRM). The DRM is the local school level staff person deemed by the principal to be responsible for monitoring and documenting copyright compliance within the school.
2. The DRM must have a completed NIMAS Eligibility form signed by an appropriate “competent authority” (see table above) on file for each student who will be receiving the digital file. (Click here for NIMAS Eligibility form in Word format) (Click here for NIMAS Eligibility form in PDF format)
3. The school must have purchased the print version of the instructional material being requested, and this print version must be available for student use.
4. The DRM must complete the KAMD Digital Textbook Request form
The KAMD Digital Textbook request from can be found here.
At this time, the KAMD can provide digital textbooks in: Rich Text Format (this is a simple text file with or without images or navigability), Word (a formatted text file with or without images), HTML (a web page that will open in a browser with images and navigability), and DAIST 2005 (talking book).
The KAMD also has access to a limited number of textbooks published prior to 2006. The file format for these textbooks varies by publisher but is likely to be RTF, Word, or PDF.
In choosing the most appropriate file format for a qualifying student, the DRM should keep in mind two things: 1) the student’s preference for or comfort level with a particular file format, and 2) the technology tool that will be used to access the file.
NOTE: There is a 1:1 student-to-digital textbook ratio. At any given time, only one copy of the digital textbook can be assigned to as student. That is, the student can have only one copy of the digital textbook in only one file format at a time. (e.g. For any individual student, the school can not request 1 copy of the textbook in DAISY format and 1 copy of the same textbook in HTML. By the same token, neither can the school request 1 copy of the digital textbook for use in the school building and 1 copy of the same digital textbook for use at home.)
The digital textbook will be burned to a CD or saved to a flash drive (depending on the size of the file). It will be delivered to the school by USPS and will require a signature by someone at the school.
The KAMD staff makes every effort to deliver the digital file in 15 business days from the date of the request. However, all files go through a Quality Control process before being issued, and errors found in a file may delay its delivery time. The extent of the delay will be dependent on how quickly the publisher is able to correct these errors. DRMs will be notified when the delivery of a requested file will be delayed and the reason for the delay.
Since each digital textbook has a unique tracking number embedded in it and is meant to be distributed to a specific student, the DRM should request one copy of the digital textbook for each qualifying student. The reasons for this are: 1) this one-to-one correspondence is how the KAMD tracks and reports the number of students served, 2) the DRM is responsible for knowing where all KAMD materials are at any given time, and 3) so that the student has full use of the file at any given time.
The only exception to this policy involves the production of a BRF file. When a BRF file is going to be created from the KAMD digital file, the resulting BRF can be redistributed to multiple students. However, the same eligibility standards must be followed, the eligibility form must be completed and signed for any student receiving the BRF, and the DRM is obligated to either request a copy of the digital file for each student or to notify the KAMD of the number of additional students who will be receiving a BRF created from the KAMD file.
While an IEP is a vital first step in qualifying a student to receive KAMD materials, by itself this documentation is not sufficient to verify eligibility. Since it is possible for a student to have an IEP but not possess a qualifying disability, a completed NIMAS Eligibility form signed by the appropriate competent authority is needed in addition to the IEP in order to qualify to receive KAMD materials.
(Click here for NIMAS Eligibility form in Word format) (Click here for NIMAS Eligibility form in PDF format)One of the purposes in using digital textbooks is to provide equal access to the curriculum for students with special needs. Since a textbook can be considered part of that curriculum and is likely to contain content not included in similar textbooks used in lower grades, in most cases it is not appropriate to request a textbook other than the one being used in the classroom. In addition, for any digital textbook requested, the DRM must be able to verify that a print version of the requested textbook has been purchased by the school and is available for use by the qualifying student.
Only the school’s appointed Digital Rights Manager (DRM) is authorized to request KAMD materials. This limitation provides the assurance needed that the files are being used appropriately and are being used by qualified students. However, qualifying students, their parents, or their teachers are encouraged to contact the school’s Digital Rights Manager (DRM) if they wish to receive a digital textbook from the KAMD.
If you are a student with a qualifying disability (or are the parent or teacher of a student with a qualifying disability), and you would like to know who is the DRM for your school, visit our Digital Rights Manager (DRM) Search web page, or contact the University of Louisville School Research Partnership staff by telephone (502-852-3597) or e-mail (kdekamd@louisville.edu).
A file that is no longer needed by the qualifying student for whom it was requested should be returned to the KAMD using the following mailing address:
KAMD Coordinator
University of Louisville
1405 E. Burnett Ave.
Louisville, KY 40217
1. Many publishers produce an online or CD version (usually a simple text file or a PDF) of their textbooks that is available with purchase of the print version. Check with the publisher’s area sales representative to see if these options are available. When making your inquiry, make certain that the materials are “Section 508 compliant”, which means that they are accessible to various assistive technology devices.
2. Under certain conditions, school personnel are allowed to make their own digital file of a textbook, usually through scanning or creation of an audio file. See the “Copyright Issues” section of the Kentucky Department of Education’s Digital Curriculum web page http://education.ky.gov/curriculum/conpro/Libmed/Pages/Copyright-Issues---Library-Media.aspx to understand what conditions must be present in order to take advantage of this option.
3. While a digital version of the textbook may be ideal, it may not always be possible (e.g., the student doesn’t qualify, the publisher doesn’t have a digital version available, scanning is too labor intensive, etc.). In those instances, one option may be to locate supplemental materials that support the curriculum and are available in a digital format. Please visit our Accessible Instructional Materials web page for ideas on where to locate these types of materials. Other resources may also be found on our “Resources” page.
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