Chilean runs virtual library for the visually impaired
El Mercurio, Chile 27/07/2004

MODENA, Italy - When Rodrigo Vergara gave up his agricultural science studies to flee Chile 30 years ago after the military coup, he would never have imagined that words would have become "big business". After a string of temporary jobs in Italy, in 1979 he started work in the translation field, setting up Logos, a company that has now risen to the top of its field.
Considering the sheer volume of words and texts passing through the company's offices on a daily basis, in 1988 Vergara came up with the idea of a digital library. Initially it was only used by Logos translators, but in 1995 it was also opened to the public. "We wanted an automatic digital system to collate all words passing through the office so that anyone needing the meaning of a word and unable to find it in any other dictionary could quickly find it in our system, and in its specific context into the bargain", explained Vergara.
With the advent of the Internet, all remaining boundaries literally disappeared. Not only had a treasure-trove of words been created, a large number of books were also being collected, some even downloaded from the Internet and others digitized.

This led to the creation of Wordtheque, a giant virtual library where visitors can find the meaning and use of any word in its literary context.Over the years, the number of publications has continued to rise. Ordinary people gradually started to send books to be uploaded and authors themselves soon realised that Wordtheque presented an excellent opportunity to market their books. Indeed, editors give Wordtheque a free copy of all new publications to allow the digital version to be published on the Internet, making it freely accessible to readers around the world.

"At the beginning, no one believed this would ever happen. However, editors and authors themselves have since realised that giving a free copy of the file is an excellent cost-free way of marketing the book. It follows that those interested in a book, if they can afford it, will then purchase a copy", explained Vergara.

At present, web surfers will find some 36,000 different kinds of books on Wordtheque (essays, novels, stories, poetry, plays, technical and scientific manuals, etc.), and the overall total is growing every day. What's more, the books are available in many languages, in addition to local dialects and native tongues.Added bonus for the visually impairedNo doubt the winning feature of this virtual library is not just the huge selection of texts and languages it contains, but also the fact that users can both read and listen to them.The books are thus uploaded as txt files, allowing the text to be easily transformed into a digital talking book using a video reader or MP3 file conversion programme
Just so, Wordtheque also gives the visually impaired a chance to use the huge library. "This is very important because even if they wanted to buy a book, they could not do so, as they are not able to read a book for general publication. It is even more difficult in other languages. Thanks to this system, they have easy access to literature available", explained Vergara.

In recent years, Wordtheque has also seen the recording of a number of texts in their original language. Recordings may be listened to from the website, sometimes even in the author's own voice. In other cases, the texts are read by an actor or volunteer. At the moment, 1,422 books altogether are available in audio format, 696 of which are fairytales for children. The latter have been translated into more than 30 languages, including Rapanui and Mapunzugun.
With so many resources at the user’s disposal, those in charge of Wordtheque are unsure of the precise number of website browsers. They do know, however, that about 500 books are downloaded every day but not by whom and from where.In Rodrigo Vergara's words, the reason for this lack of traceability is the underlying idea to safeguard the privacy of users and make the process as easy-to-use and streamlined as possible.



M. Francisca Prieto