Accessible World

This week's guest on the Internet talk show Books and Beyond, hosted by Bonnie Blose,
has achieved national and international recognition for outstanding leadership in
a number of areas affecting the lives of thousands of blind and visually impaired
individuals. Kim Charlson , herself totally blind, has consistently displayed outstanding
leadership capabilities. In pursuing her own education, she became one of the few
blind people in the United States to earn a master's degree in library and information
science. Then, following 16 years as the Service Management Librarian and Assistant
Director, she was appointed in 2001 to the position of director of the Perkins Braille
and Talking Book Library, the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped network library in Watertown, Massachusetts, becoming the only library
director on the East Coast who is blind.. Recapping her career provides just a mini
view of a person willing to give of herself for others while at the same time advancing
her personal career goals.
She has distinguished herself as a recognized national and international expert on
library and information services for people with disabilities, Braille literacy,
adaptive technology in libraries, and information access.
Kim serves on several committees for the Library of Congress’ National Library Service
for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, the American Library Association, and is
a member of the State Advisory Council on Libraries of the Massachusetts Board of
Library Commissioners. She is the immediate past President of the Keystone Library
Automation Systems User's Group and she has served on the board of the Massachusetts
Metrowest Regional Library System. She is also the past chair of the Braille Authority
of North America, the standard-setting body for braille in the United States and
Canada. She is chair of the Massachusetts Braille literacy Advisory Council, and
is the past treasurer of the international Council on English Braille.
Kim is also active in a wide range of consumer advocacy arenas including arts access
and audio description, adaptive technology, civil rights, guide dog access issues
and special education. She also serves as an appointee of the Secretary of State
on the Steering Committee working to implement the Help America Vote Act in Massachusetts.
In addition to her many other responsibilities, Kim has published "Establishing a
Braille Literacy Program in Your Community: A Handbook for Libraries and Other Community
Organizations. She has contributed to numerous other publications including a chapter
on braille library services in the book, Braille: Into the Next Millennium, which
was published by the Library of Congress. She is a contributing author to the book,
Making Theatre Accessible: A Guide to Audio Description in the Performing Arts, published
by Northeastern University Press; and she co-authored a chapter on audio description
in the book "Video Collection Management and Development: Perspectives for Multiple
Types of Libraries, 2nd edition, published by Greenwood Publishing Group.