Braille Book Review
March-April 1998
In Brief
BANA announces plans for 1998
The Braille Authority of North America (BANA) met in Atlanta, Georgia,
December 8-9, 1997, and elected officers, adopted new codes, and formed
new committees.
Serving in 1998 are Dolores Ferrara-Godzieba of Associated Services
for the Blind, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, chairperson; Betty Niceley of
the National Federation of the Blind, Baltimore, Maryland, vice chairperson;
Phyllis Campana of the American Printing House for the Blind, Louisville,
Kentucky, secretary; and Charlotte Begley of the Clovernook Center of Cincinnati,
Ohio, treasurer.
In addition, the BANA Board approved the official use of the following
braille codes:
- Braille Formats: Principles of Print to Braille Transcription (formerly
the Code of Braille Textbook Formats and Techniques)
- the International Supplement for Braille Music Notation, which will be
incorporated into the Manual of Braille Music Notation, American Edition
1998. (The new code book will be available in print, in braille, and on
CD-ROM.)
- the Braille Code for Chemical Notation (based on the Nemeth Code of Braille
Mathematics and Scientific Notation 1965)
The BANA Board is developing a specifications manual to be used when preparing
codes for publication.
BANA has also announced plans for a website to be available by the spring.
The group formed an Ad Hoc Committee on Braille Signage and a new BANA
Technical Committee on Tactile Graphics.
The Spring BANA meeting will be in Washington, D.C., April 27-28, 1998.
Reliability study postponed
Braille Book Review January-February 1998 carried a story on the National
Literary Braille Competency Test in which people interested in participating
in the reliability portion of the study were asked to call the Human Resources
Research Organization (HumRRO). The response has been overwhelming.
Revisions of the test, however, will take longer than originally
anticipated. Therefore, the reliability portion of the study will not begin
this summer. Anyone interested in participating or wishing more information
about the test and related study should wait for future announcements.
Please do not contact HumRRO at this time.
Braille bibliography features books on well-known personalities
The braille version of Entertainers, a bibliography listing books available
from the NLS collection about the lives of film, television, and recording
stars will be released this spring.
Patrons and libraries who requested the publication on their annual
order forms should automatically receive their copies in the mail. Others
may request Entertainers from their local cooperating libraries. It is
also available through the Internet by accessing the NLS home page at http://www.loc.gov/nls
The following information is reprinted from Talking Book Topics
March-April 1998.
NLS News Articles Now on Cassette
Beginning with this issue, Talking Book Topics (TBT) on cassette will include
selected articles from News, a quarterly newsletter from NLS. News reports
programs, services, research, and developments in library service for blind
and physically handicapped persons. Articles cover news of a national scope,
and a Network Exchange section focuses on information about activities
at local cooperating libraries. The International Briefs section highlights
trends and projects in libraries around the world.
Four times a year, "Selections from News" will be located on side four
of the cassette following the text of TBT. No changes in subscription are
necessary to receive the newsletter. News is also available on subscription
in regular print and in braille and from the NLS Internet site in electronic
form.
Cassette Books 1996 Recorded Edition Published
Cassette Books 1996 has been produced by NLS in flexible-disc format. The
catalog describes flexible-disc and cassette books for adults produced
in 1996. It lists fiction and nonfiction books by subject category and
also includes sections on bestsellers, young adult books, and Spanish books.
Cassette Books 1996 was mailed directly to patrons who had previously ordered Cassette Books 1995. The catalog can also be obtained from your cooperating library. A cassette version is available on loan from cooperating librar
ies
as RC 43228.
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