The National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS) announces its newest service to the differently-abled community. It’s Visually Impaired Persons (VIP) Music Studio and Multimedia room was launched on September 27. The NALIS VIP Music Studio and Multimedia room is a state of the art facility equipped with specialized technology for enabling the blind to produce high quality audio musical productions.

The room is equipped with a Yamaha Motif XS Keyboard, the most popular professional keyboards on the market today. It is also one of the most accessible for blind users. There are accessible third-party software and scripts that have been installed on the studio system to help blind users get the most out of the features of the Motif XS8.

The Adam A5 Monitor Speakers, Mackie 1202-VLZ Pro 12-Channel Mixer, Creation Station (CS) Audio Workstation, Sennheiser 280 Pro, Headphones, Rode NT1-A Microphone, Rode NT2-A Microphone and accessible audio workstation software (Cakewalk SONAR 8.5 Producer Edition, CakeTalking for SONAR, GOODFEEL Software Package) are just some of the features of this room.

Since 2001 NALIS has facilitated training programmes to the visually impaired which give independence through technology. Other NALIS services for the blind and print disabled include: large print books and magnifiers for those with low vision; recorded and talking books; Braille books; Jaws (Job Access With Speech) enabling internet access, email, Facebook and Twitter; the Braille Embosser that translates text to Braille and also prints; the Poet OCR-Reader for the print disabled, and access to local and Caribbean information at the Republic Bank VIP facility at the Heritage Library.

In 2004 NALIS won the “Prime Minister’s Innovating for Service Excellence Award – Making a Difference to People – The Social Inclusion Award” for services to blind and visually impaired persons in the society.