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| This page contains answers to common
questions received from school personnel and others. |
The GIMC provides textbooks and APH materials to registered students by
loaning them to GIMC patrons. Special Education Directors, Vision
Coordinators, Vision Teachers, 504 coordinators, or other designated
persons can register as GIMC patrons. Students must have a qualifying
print related disability and a documented need for accessible
instructional materials to be registered with the GIMC. Student
registration can be done by patrons of the GIMC when they login. Please
call the GIMC for information on becoming a registered patron.
The provision of large print books for a student with a 504
plan is the LEA's responsibility. A 504 student can be registered with
the GIMC but only books that are not currently being used by students in
special education can be provided. Other than APH funds for legally
blind students, the GIMC is totally funded by federal special education
monies. We cannot use these funds to purchase books or provide services
(beyond loaning available books) to students that are not in special
education. Historically only about 1/4 of requested books are not being
used by another student and would available to loan a student with a 504
plan. For the remainder, the LEA will either have to purchase them from
a large print producer or pay to have them enlarged. If a student with a
504 plan is legally blind and registered with the American Printing
House for the Blind (APH) the GIMC can purchase and provide APH
materials and accessible books using APH federal quota funds. Please
please call the GIMC if you need more clarification.
The provision of
accessible instructional materials is the LEA’s responsibility. The
Georgia Department of Education, through the GIMC, has taken on the
responsibility of assisting the LEAs with the provision of a
first set of AIMs but does not provide a second set. Please contact the
GIMC if you need assistance in locating sources for purchasing
accessible textbooks using local funds.
If the GIMC already has the book, it will usually ship within 2 days of
receiving the request. If the GIMC does not have the book, but it has
already been transcribed, the GIMC will research a source and order it.
This process usually takes 4-6 weeks because once a source has been
located the book still has to be embossed and bound. Braille books that
have not been previously transcribed will take anywhere from 6 months to a
year. This is the time it takes to find somebody to transcribe the
textbook, and the time to actually transcribe, emboss, and bind the book.
The GIMC will repair equipment that is on loan from the depository.
These are items that have a GIMC bar-code label. You can download and complete
a
Equipment Repair Form and mail it and the item packed securely and
marked Fragile and Free Matter for the Blind. If you have
any questions regarding an equipment repair, contact
Wayne Burley.
If you have a Brailler that does not belong to the GIMC, your school
system can use a company on the Braille Writer Repair List.
If you have a item from APH that does not belong to the GIMC, contact
us to discuss options for repair.
The following list is provided by the Textbook Office of the Georgia
Department of Education:
State
Textbook Adoption Cycle
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Books that were ordered very early in the year show up with a
due date of that June. Because volumes may ship throughout the year, the
due date is based on the original date the book was ordered, not the date
it was shipped. The system has no way to know if it is for that school
year or the next. I apologize for the glitch. We will try to catch these
in the future and change the due date manually. If we miss one, please
just call us to renew the book. I apologize for the problem and thank you for
helping us keep our inventory updated.
The GIMC does not have sufficient space or funding to store or purchase
older textbooks. Generally textbooks that are older than the last 2
state textbook recommendation cycles for a given subject are purged and
the title is made inactive. On average the state recommends books for a
subject every 6 years. For example, if Social Studies textbooks were
recommended 5 years ago the GIMC will provide those and the previously
recommended books from 11 years ago. If the LEA wants an older copyright
textbook in an accessible format the GIMC will provide them with
information to order a copy using local funds. The GIMC does not purge
older copyrights of novels and certain "classic" reference materials.
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