Close-Captioning of Audiovisual Materials Owned by the UVM Libraries

Policy Statement

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 794 (Section 504) and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. 12131 (ADA) require that institutions not discriminate against qualified students with disabilities and that reasonable and effective academic accommodations be provided. To fulfill the requirements of the law, UVM Libraries, in collaboration with the UVM ACCESS Office, must arrange to provide captioned audiovisual materials for disabled UVM affiliates. For audiovisual titles that are part of the Libraries' collections, written permission must be obtained from the copyright holder in advance, in order to create captioned versions of educational, audiovisual materials.

Reason for Policy

Since most educational audiovisual materials are not captioned, standard procedures must be put in place that document the responsibilities of the UVM Libraries and the ACCESS Office concerning titles owned by the UVM Libraries and used by disabled affiliates through the ACCESS program.

Procedures

1. The ACCESS Office initiates requests to create captioned versions of audiovisual materials owned by the UVM Libraries. The ACCESS Office notifies the Media Acquisitions staff of the requested titles and dates needed.
2. The Libraries' Media Acquisitions staff will research the current copyright holder and inform the Acquisitions Department of their name and address and pertinent information needed.
3. A letter will be sent to the current copyright holder by the UVM Libraries Acquisitions Department requesting permission to create a derivative, captioned copy of a legally purchased audiovisual title. The letter will include the following information:
   1. Audiovisual title, date of copyright, length and format
   2. Copyright owner's legal name, address and phone number
   3. [Name of audiovisual distributor, if different than the copyright holder]
   4. Statement of purpose for creating a captioned copy (ADA Access)
   5. Statement on the type of use and future circulation of the captioned copy
   6. The number of copies to be created
   7. Effective date and expiration date of terms of the authorization
   8. Signature of library designate and place for copyright holder's signature and date
4. Once the written approval has been received, ACCESS Office staff will be given a copy of the signed agreement and can reserve the audiovisual title from the Media Resources Department, in order to send it off-campus to be captioned. Once the captioned version has been received, the ACCESS Office will return the original copy to Media Resources.
5. Once the captioned copy has been received and used by the ACCESS Office, it will be returned to the Media Resources Department so that cataloging and processing can be completed. Information about the legal captioning of the audiovisual title must appear in the Libraries' online catalog, to make the title fully accessible to all UVM affiliates.
6. UVM Libraries' Acquisitions Department will maintain a file of all written agreements for the captioning of audiovisual titles, for the life of the captioned, audiovisual print.
7. In the event a copyright holder cannot be located, or the costs of captioning are prohibitive, one copy may be made for use by disabled affiliates, but the captioned copy must be restricted to their use and only for that specific class. This copy cannot be retained for future use and will have to be destroyed after its specified use.
8. The UVM Libraries' will cover all costs associated with purchasing educational audiovisual titles, while the UVM ACCESS Office will be responsible for all costs associated with captioning specific titles for educational use.

Contacts