[Athen] Community embossers

[John Gardner via athen-list]

Mark, some interesting history about community embossers: The Oregon State University library bought one of the original Tiger Advantage embossers about 25 years ago. They made it available to pretty much anybody, but it was too far ahead of its time. At that time there was no supporting infrastructure allowing one to send print jobs. Nor was there very much good content available. Ron Stewart and I made it more useful when we began developing a group doing "Access Technology", a name that Ron coined as far as I know. End of history lesson!

I am pleased to hear about the Canadian community embosser, and I would be delighted if US libraries would add a ViewPlus embosser to their computer rooms. The Inclusio project should soon be providing high quality content, graphics in particular, so community embossers could become very valuable resources. I sure hope so.

John


From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman22.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Mark Weiler via athen-list
Sent: Friday, October 31, 2025 11:07 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Community embossers

I haven't heard back from anyone about awareness of community embossers.  I wanted to try one more time. See below for more details.

From: Mark Weiler
Sent: October 27, 2025 4:40 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Community embossers

I attended a talk by some librarians from Kwantlen Polytechnic University in BC, where they have a community embosser<https://www.kpu.ca/library/braille-printing>.

It can be used by anyone, whether from the university or the wider community.  It's set up like a regular self-serve printer and public workstation.  People can send a print job to the embosser like they can send a job to a laser printer.  There are supports to learn how to print it.

What I find interesting was a how the community is using it. They told a story of how someone from the community learned about the embosser and came in to have a wedding invitation embossed.

Does anyone know of other examples of community embossers?

Mark


Mark Weiler, PhD (he & him)
JAWS certified and Web Accessibility Specialist
Web & User Experience Librarian
Wilfrid Laurier University
Waterloo, Ontario
548-889-5056
Notices
Upcoming Laurier Library workshops & events<https://library.wlu.ca/events>

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