NIMAS

What is the NIMAC?
The National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC), established in 2006, makes it easier to obtain materials for students with disabilities. Publishers send electronic files to the NIMAC. These files are then used to produce braille, large print, digital text, and audiobooks.

What kinds of materials does the NIMAC collect?
The NIMAC collects files for printed textbooks and related printed core materials published primarily for use in elementary and secondary school instruction and required by a state or local educational agency.

What is NIMAS?
The National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) is a technical specification that publishers must use in preparing files for the NIMAC.

How can districts participate?
When purchasing new textbooks, school districts should require publishers to send NIMAS files to the NIMAC. This does not add to the cost of the purchase order, and it will help to build a national library of files. Most publishers have experience with this process.

How can districts get accessible materials?
In Massachusetts, several providers are available to help schools obtain materials. These organizations access files from the NIMAC and make them available in accessible formats, often at no cost to the school:

Massachusetts Accessible Instructional Materials Library
Formats: braille and large print
Web site: http://www.mavisionlib.org/
Contact: 781-575-1843, 800-827-7772, cbrasier@mavisionlib.org

Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic
Formats: audiobooks (CDs and downloadable audio)
National web site: http://www.rfbd.org/
National contact: custserv@rfbd.org or 800-221-4792
Local web site: http://www.rfbd.org/Boston_Unit.htm
Local contact: 617-500-2706

Bookshare
Formats: digital text (used with read-aloud software or braille devices)
Web site: http://www.bookshare.org/
Contact: Use the online form at http://www.bookshare.org/contactUs .

Which students are eligible to use these materials?
Because the NIMAC relies on an exemption to copyright law, materials are available only to elementary and secondary students who are blind, visually impaired, have a physical disability, or have a reading disability resulting from an organic dysfunction. In addition, students need to have an Individualized Education Program (IEP).
What if a student is not eligible to use NIMAS-derived materials?
School districts are responsible for providing accessible instructional materials to students with disabilities who need them, regardless of whether the students are eligible to use NIMAS-derived materials. Schools can investigate purchasing accessible materials directly from publishers, obtaining permission from publishers to adapt existing materials, or working with materials that are in the public domain (and thus free of copyright restrictions).
Are students eligible if they have a 504 plan and not an IEP?
Students who do not have an IEP are not eligible to use NIMAS-derived materials. However, students with a qualified disability are eligible to use materials that were not produced using NIMAS files. Any of the three providers listed here may have non-NIMAS versions, especially for books that were published before 2006.

Do students need special instruction on the use of these materials?
Students will need instruction on using the materials and the associated technologies. It is helpful to provide this same instruction to the students' teachers and parents. It is also important to continue providing reading instruction (including braille instruction, if appropriate) so that students will be able to access print as they encounter it throughout their lives.

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education NIMAS Brochure
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Flowchart
Susan Hargrave presention 8/25/09

For more information, see the Department's web site: http://www.doe.mass.edu/edtech/assistive/nimas.html