Conferences
ALVI organizes an annual event, which may be a national conference,
seminar or workshop. These activities commenced in year 2000 and have been
regularly organized since then.
ALVI Lagos Conference 2000
This was our inaugural conference that introduced the Association to the Nigerian Public. A few days before the Conference, the Chairperson, Prof.
M.I. Atinmo was on a TV morning talk show programme (Kakaki) at the African Independent Televesion (AIT) studios in Lagos (AIT was the first private independent television station in Nigeria). Prof. Atinmo explained the theme of the Conference and the rationale for ALVI activities to the public.
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ALVI Ibadan Conference 2001
The 2nd Annual Conference of the Association was held at the University of
Ibadan from Monday 15th to Friday 19th October 2001. The theme of the
conference was "Forging Collaborative Partnerships". Papers were presented on the following sub themes:
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Managing information and library
resources for the visually impaired in Nigeria |
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Interlibrary cooperation in providing
services to the visually impaired |
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Developing library information policy
for the visually impaired in Nigeria |
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Inclusive library and information
resources for people with disabilities.
Some of the papers from this conference have undergone the peer review process and have been ublished in Vol 1 number 2 (May 2002) for the ALVI journal. |
A communiqué was issued at the end of the conference - its points were:
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That ALVI noted that there is a dearth of professionals in the area
of special needs education currently' serving in schools and therefore
requests that in the interest of the UBE scheme, effort should be made
by government to engage the services of professionals particularly
ALVI members in providing the necessary support for persons with
visual impairment.
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That ALVI has observed that some state libraries have
implemented the establishment of units for the visually impaired.
Those state Library Boards that are yet to establish such units for
the visually impaired are enjoined to do so at the earliest possible time and make their library services accessible to the persons with
visual impairment in their states.
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That ALVI noted that the Federal Government should waive the
copyright law to allow the Braille Press and brailists transcribe
books into Braille without permission from publishers
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That ALVI noted that all Library Boards should set aside 10%
of their annual budgets for providing adequate library services to the
visually impaired
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That State Primary Education Boards should liaise with
their respective state Library Boards to establish functional
libraries in all special schools
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That ALVI commends all the state governments and institutions for
sponsoring their staff to the ALVI Ibadan Conference 2001 and wishes
to entreat all service providers for persons with visual impairment in
various libraries in the country to endeavour to participate in future
conferences/ seminars
To implement the items of this Communique, a Plan of Action was outlined
as follows:
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ALVI will conduct research into available resources for literacy
among the persons with visual impairment nationwide
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ALVI will prepare and submit proposal for legislation in matters
relating to copyright and the provision of Literature in specialized
format
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ALVI should have state branches
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ALVI will hold workshops/seminars in different parts of the country
with the aim of compiling a union catalogue of resources. Participants
at such workshops/seminars should come with information on the
available resources and materials in the institutions within their
ambit.
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Oyo Seminar 2002
Following the Ibadan conferences in 2001, a Seminar for institutions
serving the persons with visual impairment was held at the Federal College
of Education (FCE (spec) Oyo), to collate information on the resources
available for Braille reading and writing. The following diagram indicates
the information gathered at that seminar.
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Braille Repair/ Maintenance Workshop Lagos 2003
An Embosser maintenance workshop was held in Lagos from November 11th to 15th, 2003
at the Nigeria Society for the Blind, Oshodi. Participants were NGO's and
organizations, institutions with broken down embossing machines. The
workshop was considered necessary to provide a solid basis for the
production of reading materials for persons with visual impairment in
Nigerian educational institutions. About 11 institutions, mainly from South
West Nigeria, responded to ALVI's invitation.
Mr. Krister Esseberg, the
service manager of Index Braille Embossing Machines of Sweden, was
sponsored by his company to be the anchorman at the workshop. Mr. Dick
Tucker, the Programme Director of Force Foundation, The Hague, Netherlands
also graced the occasion with his presence. Force Foundation provided substantial funding for the workshop.
During the workshop demonstrations of embossing machine use, repair and maintenance were done and each participant had hands on experience. Mr. Esseberg had brought some spare and replacement parts, and participants
actually repaired their machines.
After this very successful workshop, Nigeria Television Authority (NTA)'s AM
Express Programme granted a 15-minute interview to Mr. Tucker, Barrister Danlami Basharu and Professor Atinmo at 7.00am on Friday November 14, 2003. The interview provided the opportunity to tell Nigerians about the
workshop and it raised questions about the role of the Nigerian government
in providing reading materials for persons with visual impairment in
schools and tertiary institutions.
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ALVI Workshop Oyo 2004
This was a Workshop on Braille Enhancement skills for Teachers and Service
Providers of the visually impaired. It was held at the National Resource Centre for the Disabled (NRCD)
Conference Room of the Federal College of Education (special) Oyo from
September 20th to 23rd, 2004. It was a practical workshop aimed at acquainting secondary school teachers of
Braille with Braille codes used in the sciences, particularly chemistry and
mathematics. There was also a presentation on Braille codes needs in
literary texts.
The papers from this workshop were edited and published as part of JALVI Vol 3
No1, December 2004.
Photos from the 2004 workshop
