NIMAC UPDATE

Julia MyersNicole GainesJanuary 2008

Why did APH establish the National Instructional Materials Access

Center?

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004 named APH to house the NIMAC.

The same legislation requires states to adopt the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) file format for source files for accessible materials for their K-12 students.

NIMAS NIMAC in IDEA:http://nimas.cast.org/about/idea2004/index.html

What Is the NIMAC?

NIMAC is a central repository for NIMAS files. NIMAS files are source files that can be used to produce accessible, student-ready specialized formats, such as Braille and audio, for students in K-12 with qualifying disabilities.

NIMAC FACTS

What does the NIMAC do?

• The NIMAC receives and catalogs publishers' electronic files of print instructional materials in the NIMAS format.

• We also sign up registered users and provide the searchable web interface.

• OverDrive, Inc. is the vendor who is providing the database software and off-site storage for the NIMAC’s file sets.

NIMAC FACTSHow does NIMAC obtain files?

• States and local education agencies instruct publishers to send us files when they contract for their textbook adoptions/purchases. This is the only mechanism for us to get files. The NIMAC itself is not granted any authority to request or require that files be submitted by any publisher.

Can NIMAS files be used to produce formats for any child with a disability?

• No, IDEA provides the definition of students who may be served.

Will college students with qualifying disabilities be able to get files from NIMAC to produce accessible formats?

• No, IDEA restricts the mission of the NIMAC to serving students in elementary and secondary school.

All Figures Correct as of January 24, 2008

NIMAC: Stats January 2008

• Accepted file sets: 4,100

• Publishers working with NIMAC: 49

• States Coordinating: 44

• Authorized Users: 58 (from 31 states)

• Accessible Media Producers (AMPs): 45

• Unique Downloads by AMPs: 71

• Unique Downloads by AUs: 294

Outreach and NIMAC

• Outreach was an important part of NIMAC’s inaugural year and will continue to be a key aspect of our work.

• NIMAC routinely offers training webcasts and does further outreach through conference calls and participation in conferences and workshops.

Outreach in 2007

• In 2007, NIMAC conducted 27 Webcast trainings and outreach conference calls with various user groups.

• Participants included: Authorized Users; NIMAC State Coordinators; NIMAS/NIMAC coordinators; vendors; publishers; and Accessible Media Producers.

• Conference calls and meetings with individual publishers, state or local educational agency staff, NIMAC Advisory Council, OSEP, OverDrive were also conducted.

More Outreach in 2007…

NIMAC staff also presented at:

• Two webinars hosted by other organizations: EASI and the National Center on Disability & Access to Education (NCDAE)

• Ten conferences & workshops, including: NIMAS Development Committee; New York Institute of Special Education; Association of American Publishers RPAC; SLATE; IRCBVI; State Vision Consultants; APH Annual Meeting; AFB NIMAS Training; Getting In Touch With Literacy ; and APH ESAC and EPAC

Hot Topics• Indemnification• Definition of “Core” Print Instructional

Materials• Advance Copies• Transcriber Training• Images and ALT-Text• Images and File Size• NIMAC Outreach

Indemnification

• On December 26th, 2007, President Bush signed H.R. 2764 (the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008) into law. This legislation included language indemnifying the NIMAC.

• On January 2, 2008, NIMAC released a revised NIMAC Limitation of Use Agreement (LUA) with the indemnification clause removed.

• This new LUA has been distributed to all registered NIMAC users and is available on our website: www.nimac.us.

“Core” Print Instructional Materials

(C) PRINT INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS—The term 'print instructional materials' means printed textbooks and related printed core materials that are written and published primarily for use in elementary school and secondary school instruction and are required by a State educational agency or local educational agency for use by students in the classroom.

http://nimas.cast.org/about/idea2004/index.html

Advance Copies

• NIMAC has issued a policy statement that file sets for “advance copy” versions of textbooks will not be accepted.

• We ask that SEAs and LEAs craft their contracts with this in mind and to please avoid using language that would lead to publishers’ submitting file sets that do not correspond to the finalized print version that will be used in the classroom.

• For more info, please refer to the policy statement found at the NIMAC web site:http://www.nimac.us/advance_policy.htm

AFB Offering NIMAS Training for Transcribers

• American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) has begun offering braille translation software training with NIMAS updates.

• For more information, contact Mary Ann Siller at siller@afb.net.

Images and Alt Text

• NIMAS file sets are source files to be used to produce accessible formats—they are not student-ready.

• The current NIMAS specification does NOT require alt text for images nor any other description of the educational content contained within them.

• Most textbooks have thousands of images, many or most conveying educational content. Making this educational content accessible is part of the value-added process that AMPs can provide.

Images and File Size

• Images--their number and size--drive NIMAS File size.

• NIMAS File Sets are commonly 2-3 GB in size and may reach 12 GB in size--or more.

• NIMAS Textbook Files contain thousands of images.• File size can mean slow downloading, even for

those with fast connections. • PNGs are 5-10 times larger than JPEG. • NIMAS File size in context: typically a 90-minute

movie is less than 1 GB. (This is due to compression method used for MPEG.)

• Impact: Huge file sizes are a considerable obstacle for end users attempting to download files.

NIMAC System Development: Key Remaining Issues

• MAC compatibility must be rolled out once other development is complete.

• Louis/NIMAC federated search is on development list.

• APH is please to announce that we have contracted with Quality Solutions to move Louis to a new system that will support federated search via OAI.

Upcoming and Continuing NIMAC Outreach

• Webcast Trainings for AUs and AMPs• Quarterly Conferences Calls for Publishers• NIMAC Advisory Council (Quarterly)• NIMAC User Group (Bimonthly)• Upcoming Conferences:

--AFB NIMAS Training (February 2008)--CTEVH (February 2008)--PA AER (April 2008)

NIMAC Team

• Julia Myers, Project Director

• Nicole Gaines, NIMAC Manager

• Anne Ledford, NIMAC Support Specialist

• OverDrive NIMAC Team

How to Reach Us

• http://www.nimac.us

• 502-899-2230

• 1-877-526-4622 (1-877-52-NIMAC)

• NIMAC@aph.org