NAME: Enhancement to field 007 in the Community Information Format
SOURCE: Ohio Resource Center for Low Incidence and Severely Handicapped
SUMMARY: This proposal suggests defining a new character position (/10) for handicapped parking information in field 007 (Physical Description Fixed Field).
KEYWORDS: Field 007 (Community Information); Parking; Physical Description Fixed Field
RELATED:
STATUS/COMMENTS:
12/01/95 - Forwarded to the USMARC Advisory Group for discussion at the January 1996 MARBI meetings.
1/21/96 - Results of USMARC Advisory Group discussion - Approved. It was recommended that "high clearance" and "low clearance" need to specify heights. In addition, it was recommended that the issue of how much information on language interpretation is given be reexamined.
2/15/96 - Results of final LC review - Approved.
PROPOSAL NO. 96-5: Enhancement to field 007 1. INTRODUCTION This proposal suggests adding a new byte to field 007 (Physical Description Fixed Field) in the USMARC Format for Community Information to accommodate additional information related to access for the disabled. The change proposed involves defining a new character position with five values for handicapped accessible parking information. The proposal also mentions the possible need to revisit some of the existing field 007 data elements to clarify and/or enhance defined coded values. 2. DISCUSSION When the USMARC Format for Community Information was originally developed the need to record information about the physical accessibility of an event, program, or organization for the disabled was accommodated by the definition of a new configuration of field 007 (Physical Description Fixed Field) with 10 character positions (positions /00-09). The character positions allow for the encoding of information about stairway ramps, special doors, furniture, equipment, display racks, restrooms, the existence of elevators, telephones, special emergency lights, the availability of sign language interpretation, and sub/supertitles. Although the Community Information format provides a variety of note fields where textual information relating to accessibility can be recorded, the physical accessibility aspects were considered important enough to merit the definition of coded data elements to facilitate machine processing, particularly retrieval. Since the Community Information format was first published in 1992, many large-scale projects have built databases of community information. The state of Ohio followed the lead of several other states in creating state-wide databases of community information. The Ohio project has included special agencies such as the Ohio Resource Center for Low Incidence and Severely Handicapped. The creation of community information records at the Ohio Resource Center makes extensive use of field 007 to encode information about accessibility of resources for the handicapped. During their experience of trying to encode physical access information they were surprised to find no field 007 position defined for encoding information about parking. Considering that Ohio includes state forests, lakes, parks, etc. in its community information database, a large number resources should include information about the parking of automobiles and vans. Information about the availability of wheel chair ramps, special doors, and elevators is only useful if a handicapped person also knows whether he or she will be able to park at a site so equipped. For the wheelchair bound, information about height restrictions related to covered parking is also important. 3. PROPOSED CHANGES The following is presented for consideration: -- Define an eleventh character position (007/10) for handicapped accessible parking information in field 007 in the Community Information format. The new character position could contain one of the following values. a No handicapped accessible parking available b Handicapped accessible parking available with high clearance for special vehicles c Handicapped accessible parking availabie with low clearance only n Not applicable u Unknown 4. OTHER CONSIDERATIONS Most of the other field 007 positions have proven to be adequate as currently defined. Despite this success, the values currently defined for some of the positions have not always proven to be clear and/or adequate. While working with field 007, some USMARC users have suggested that the values for Special door (field 007 position /02) need to cover more than special hinges. Special handles and automatic door openers are also part of the equipment for the handicapped recommended to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The problem could be taken care of by making the existing values for position /02 more generally, for example, instead of identifying hinges, the byte could identify special doors, that is, doors having one or all of the following: special hinges, special handles, automatic openers. Specific details about the special equipment would be given in field 575 (Accommodations for the Disabled Note). Comments on one other fixed-length data element, 007/08 (Sign language) suggest that the Community Information format needs to address the language interpretation needs of more than the hearing impaired. Oral/voice interpretation is sometimes provided for the vision impaired. Tactile interpretation can be provided for the vision and hearing impaired. Other interpretation-related services might also be coded in field 007. The question about how inclusive the format should be needs to be answered. If the goal is to accommodate interpretation for all disabilities, the definition of position /08 should be reexamined and a proposal written to redefined it more broadly. _________________________________________________________________ ATTACHMENT A 007 Physical Description Fixed Field--General Information (NR) Indicators and Subfield Codes This field has no indicators or subfield codes; the data elements are positionally defined. Character Positions 00 Category 01 Stairway ramps 02 Doors 03 Furniture, equipment, display racks 04 Restrooms 05 Elevators 06 Telephones 07 Flashing emergency lights 08 Sign language 09 Subtitles and/or supertitles < 10 Parking> _________________________________________________________________ FIELD DEFINITION AND SCOPE This field contains [10] <11> character positions (00- [09]<10>) that provide coded information about physical accommodations for people with disabilities. Textual information for the coded information found in this field may be present in field 575 (Accommodations for the Disabled Note). The data elements are positionally defined. All defined character positions must contain either a defined code or a fill character (รพ). A fill character may be used in a particular character position when the creator of the record has decided not to attempt to supply a defined code. Code n (Not applicable), when it is defined for a data element, indicates that the character position definition does not apply to the record. _________________________________________________________________ -- EXAMPLE 007 edbbcbcaaa<b> [Information pertains to people with a disability (007/00); there is a stairway entrance ramp but no internal ramps because the organization is on one floor (/01); the doors have been widened so as to accommodate wheelchairs (/02); the furniture, equipment, and display racks have been arranged to meet the needs of people with disabilities (/03); there are special restroom accommodations but no grab bars in toilet stalls (/04); there are special elevators to accommodate wheelchairs and the elevator control buttons have raised letters (/05); the telephones have been lowered but no handset amplifiers are available (/06); there are no flashing emergency lights (/07); sign language is not used (/08); there are no subtitles or supertitles available (/09)<; and handicapped parking is available with high clearance for special vehicles (/10)>.] _________________________________________________________________ ATTACHMENT B 007/10 Parking Codes a No handicapped accessible parking available b Handicapped accessible parking available with high clearance for special vehicles c Handicapped accessible parking availabie with low clearance only n Not applicable u Unknown _________________________________________________________________ CHARACTER POSITION DEFINITION AND SCOPE A one-character alphabetic code indicates the availability of parking for the handicapped including vehicles with special height requirements. _________________________________________________________________ GUIDELINES FOR APPLYING CONTENT DESIGNATORS * CODES a - No handicapped accessible parking available Code a indicates that no handicapped accessible parking is available. b - Handicapped accessible parking available with high clearance for special vehicles Code b indicates that parking spaces are available for handicapped access in areas, either covered or in open air, that do not present obstacles to vehicles with special height requirements. c - Handicapped accessible parking availabie with low clearance only Code c indicates that handicapped accessible parking spaces are available but that they cannot be accessed by vehicles requiring high clearance due to either indoor (e.g., low ceiling) or outdoor (e.g., anti-RV arches) obstacles. n - Not applicable Code n indicates that parking availability information is not applicable to the community information entity involved. u - Unknown Code u indicates that it is not known whether parking for the handicapped is available.