Make the analogy between selecting chocolates and choosing books.

• The importance of prior experience and knowledge in making a choice. What if you’ve never been able to build this up?
• As risk increases most people feel for the safe bet eg the rectangle of dairymilk/plain
• Did you expect to be disappointed when you couldn't see what you were getting?  Does this lead to visually impaired readers having lower expectations than sighted readers?  How should staff be aware of the effects of this?
• If you like what everyone else does, you have a problem choosing because it disappears first.  Do you make do with your second/third choice?
• Although Roses are very familiar, there are some changes eg cappucino now not coffee cream. How do you approach this new author? If you’ve never tasted it how can you be sure you won’t like it?
• Personalities differ - some people like risk, others hate it.  Some people will choose not to eat the chocolate because they are on a diet or have an allergy; others are happy to give anything a go.  It's the same with books and readers. 
• Getting something you don’t expect – a pleasant surprise or a nasty shock?
• What is a hard centre book and a soft centre book?

Moving from the personal to the bigger picture

The biggest problem for visually impaired people in choosing a book is that it is impossible to browse.  Imagine going to choose books in a library or a bookshop without any visual signals: no covers, no blurbs, no reviews, no chance to read the first few pages or to scan the book. 

Instead, what has traditionally been provided for Braille and tape users is a synopsis of the story.  Synopsis is the only method of choosing available.  Synopsis guides people towards a 'safe' choice and worse still, you know what's going to happen before you even open the book.  So there are no surprises, no shocks, no discoveries, no adventures, just a nice safe read.  For many people this is where they want to be - it's safe, warm and cosy.  But it's not what happens to sighted people.  Sighted people can choose safety if they wish but they are also exposed to tantalising glimpses which tempt them to take a chance.

So in meeting the needs of visually impaired readers we must be aware of how it is more difficult to take a risk with your reading when you lack access to visual clues.  We must respect, as with any other reader, an individual's desire to play safe where that is a free choice.  But resist the tendency of sighted people to assume that visually impaired readers need any more safety than anyone else - in fact, it's just the opposite, the role of reader development in opening up reading choices is even more important when you can't access the most common means of choosing.

The real problem is the lack of books in alternative formats

Demonstration:

Tip the full box of chocolates onto the floor.  Ask everyone if that represents the number of books published in a year how many do you think are available in alternative formats?  Alternative formats include Large Print, audio and Braille.

Answer: 5%.  Show how many chocolates that is - two out of forty.

And in Braille?  Answer 1%.  That's less than half of one chocolate.

Discuss which chocolates it's likely to be.  Only two and they are both strawberry creme?  One strawberry creme and one milk chocolate rectangle? If you like cappuccino and you're visually impaired you've not much chance.

This is a shockingly graphic way of bringing home to people the real issue.  It's not that visually impaired people have different needs from those of sighted people - there is just the same range of idiosyncrasies and preferences as with any other goup of readers.  It's simply that they have far fewer choices available.

For more information about working with visually impaired readers, go to www.nlbuk.org.  In 1999 the NLB adopted a new Stock Policy to ensure that within the small number of titles it can afford to Braille, there is a commitment to range.