News ISSN 1046-1663 April-June 2001, Vol. 32, No. 2 National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped The Library of Congress Soros Fellows explore service potential Six visiting fellows from Eastern Europe arrived at NLS on April 1 for two months of intensive exposure to American practices for providing library materials and services to blind and physically handicapped individuals. Participants are sponsored by the Soros Foundation as part of an annual program to help strengthen emerging democracies. The group was greeted with a lunch in the office of James Billington, Librarian of Congress, and a reception to meet NLS staff the next day. They then settled down to weeks of hard work and learning. NLS director Frank Kurt Cylke indicated how pleased he and the NLS staff were to have attracted applications from such a talented group of professionals. Three of the fellows are from Russian libraries, two are connected with libraries in the Slovak and Czech Republics, and one is involved with veterans assistance and employment in Georgia. (See News, Jan.-Mar. 2001.) Major interests vary from braille literacy, provision of job- related information, production and dissemination of braille and recorded reading materials, computer access to information, cooperation with public libraries, compilation and availability of reference materials, and a host of related concerns. Comments from fellows  I have a lot of really interesting and useful information, which I trust will help Russian libraries, in particular, the Russian State Library for the Blind (RGBS), to improve informational services. Some aspects of the NLS work can be especially useful for the RGBS as a methodical centre for special libraries in Russia--for example, the network libraries' cooperation, directed by the NLS. The 72 special libraries for the blind in Russia have very different levels of development and it's important to improve the system of guidance and consultation for them. Also the close contact between libraries for the blind and public libraries is impressive.  For me, as a librarian and a blind person, it was very important to review the NLS online catalog in action and find that it is easy to use. In our country we have made first steps in this direction, and it is necessary to demonstrate to those in power that the Internet is to play a great part in the access to the information.  Regarding our library, the following services will be important: 1. offering access to our online catalogue using adaptive technologies-- I have learned a lot on this topic; 2. providing training on the network of public libraries that offer their services to blind and visually impaired persons; and 3. providing interlibrary loans (ILL), especially the possibility of international interlibrary loan.  I am interested in the production of talking books because I believe that they will be more useful in our country than braille books. I am also interested in computer-access programs and software for the blind population. We are also planning some training courses in braille for children, so I am also interested in the working of the section where books for children are. My special interest is in the work of the reference section.  I note that volunteers are a very important part of library services, and one of our goals could be to encourage and to train even potential persons interested in this field.  I wish to say that the NLS staff is very helpful, responsive, and interactive, and even our highest expectations were exceeded. A varied program "All participants have different professional backgrounds and needs," says Linda Redmond, head of the NLS Reference Section and chair of the NLS Soros Committee. "And services in their countries have different attitudes and are at different levels. Our program covered a multitude of activities and approaches." "Our planning, of course, focused for intensive study on NLS procedures, but we also arranged training time at the main library, particularly for exposure to specific technical expertise," says Redmond. The first month was spent in Washington and included a visit to the Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind, whose prime concern is rehabilitation. The program's agenda, arranged by the Soros Committee, contained visits to NLS regional libraries and several organizations that deal with various facets of providing service. In all cases, personnel of the organization were on hand to explain its purposes and procedures, conduct tours, and handle questions from the Soros Fellows. Vivian Crump, assistant to the chief of the NLS Materials Development Division and Soros logistics coordinator, accompanied the Fellows on their visits.  In Baltimore, Maryland, the group stayed at the facilities of the National Federation of the Blind, a large consumer advocacy group whose headquarters contain recording studios and an extensive display of adaptive computer technology hardware and software, as well as residential accommodations. The week also included visits to the Maryland regional library and the Enoch Pratt Free Library.  In Princeton, New Jersey, the site was Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to provide recorded books on request of individual members. Its primary focus is on educational books and professional materials for post-secondary students. The master-tape files include educational materials for students at all levels, and many literary classics.  In New York City, the group visited the American Foundation for the Blind, whose activities include consumer advocacy, research into aspects of blindness, and production of recorded books for NLS. They also toured the regional library, a branch of the New York City Public Library. There they examined a unique circulation system with conveyers for moving books to and from storage areas on several different floors.  The final destination was Watertown, Massachusetts, and the Perkins School for the Blind. Besides being internationally famous for its teaching, the residential school houses the Massachusetts regional library and an outstanding collection of print materials related to blindness and handicapping conditions. (photo caption: The Soros Fellows are welcomed by NLS director Frank Kurt Cylke (right). Standing, Olga Leonidovna Kuznetsova, St. Petersburg, Russia; Nana Merabi Alexidze, Tbilisi, Georgia; Alexander Mikhaylovich Kungurov, Yekaterinburg, Russia; Daniela Tąthov , Bratislava, Slovak Republic; Galina Sergeevna Elfimova, Moscow, Russia. Seated, Vladimira Sykorova, Prague, Czech Republic.) Advisory committee reviews audio equipment The National Audio Equipment Advisory Committee (NAEAC) meeting on April 4-6, 2001, brought together representatives of consumer groups, repair volunteers, and network librarians to review the current status of NLS's equipment manufacturing and repair programs and to discuss the direction of change for the future. The committee's three subgroups also submitted specific recommendations of interest to their constituents, to be addressed by NLS. Current materials. After welcoming remarks by NLS director Frank Kurt Cylke and Materials Development Division chief Brad Kormann, the meeting's moderator, Engineering Section head John Cookson, reviewed planned improvements in sound amplifiers, extension levers, headphones, solar battery chargers, and other machine accessories. Quality Assurance head Don Smith summarized concerns about the past year's production and repairs, giving particular attention to current headphone production and repairs for the E-1 (Easy) and C-1 (standard) cassette machines. Equipment and materials maintenance coordinator Kevin Buck and assistant coordinator Kevin Watson updated the group on volunteer repair operations. They reported that the Telephone Pioneers alone repaired more than 76,000 playback machines in the year 2000. Equipment control officer James Miller brought the group up to date on the status of equipment inventories nationwide, the balance of machines and accessories on hand, and current procedures to ensure accountability and control. Production Control Section head John Bryant summarized ongoing changes in magazine recording contracts and procedures. Cookson reviewed the status of the C-2 cassette machine recall, with additional comments by Buck and Network Consultant Mary Mohr. The precautionary recall was prompted by the discovery, during a routine inspection, of a latent defect that posed a potential fire hazard. Digital planning. Most subsequent discussion looked forward to the approaching digital era in alternative-format reading materials. Cookson described NLS's progress in the Digital Audio Development Project. Research and development officer Michael Moodie summarized progress in creating standards for digital talking books within the National Information Standards Organization. He also described the features of a digital talking book that the draft standard supports and discussed a possible time frame within which the draft standard can be implemented. John Bryant discussed various aspects of digital original mastering. NLS audio book production specialist Billy West presented some considerations in the use and duplication of digital masters. Senior electronics engineer Lloyd Rasmussen summarized NLS efforts to implement proposed standards using software capable of running on personal computers--to distribute proposed software packages to individuals who will then help define the user interface and create the digital talking books of the future. Deliberations and recommendations. After a busy first day, the subgroups of consumers, librarians, and repair volunteers convened separately to discuss specialized concerns and perspectives. They then compiled recommendations for the entire group and NLS to consider and, insofar as possible, to implement in the near future. The NAEAC consumer-group representatives commended NLS volunteers, librarians, and staff for providing quality service to blind and handicapped patrons. The representatives also saluted NLS for its work toward agreements on standards and features of digital playback machines. Discussants emphasized their desire to have consumer input in determining features of digital talking books and playback devices. The librarians' recommendations reiterated that group's enthusiasm about moving into the digital era and the desire to have digital talking books in their collections as soon as possible. Their suggestions were also aimed at greater operational efficiency in handling inventories by improving the shape, size, and labeling requirements for cassette containers and other accessories. They commended NLS on the management of the C-2 recall: "the latent defect could have had tragic consequences, but NLS's swift action and continued attention to follow- up have avoided this outcome." The librarians also asked NLS to provide auditors with a two-day orientation to the program before they conduct on-site visits to libraries. Repair volunteers discussed concerns about specific equipment and accessories, as well as the need for timely information about manufacture and repairs through service bulletins and manual revisions. The subcommittee also thanked equipment and materials maintenance assistant coordinator Kevin Watson for his work in setting up an online network to exchange machine repair information. (photo caption: Repair volunteers Anthony Guzenski and Richard Iverson put their skills to work with a C-1 cassette machine. Photo by Paul Hogroian) Committee members Consumers: Darren Burton, Northern Region; Sam Gleese, National Federation of the Blind; Norman Jones, Blinded Veterans Association; Robert Langford, American Council of the Blind; Allen Peterson, Western Region Repair volunteers: Jerry Adamson, Telephone Pioneers of America (Midlands); Joseph Bernal, Telephone Pioneers of America (South); Anthony L. Guzenski, Telephone Pioneers of America (North); Richard Iverson, Telephone Pioneers of America (West); Robert Smith, General Electric Elfuns Network library representatives: John Brewster, Braille Institute (West); Richard Feindel, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives (South); Mamie Grady, Chicago Public Library Talking Book Center (Midlands); Christine Lisiecki, New Jersey Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (North) Huntsville's Joyce Smith steps down Joyce L. Smith, who has retired as librarian of the Huntsville, Alabama, Subregional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, was honored by her colleagues at the annual meeting of the Southern Conference of Librarians in Charleston, South Carolina, with the presentation of a plaque and certificate signed by NLS director Frank Kurt Cylke. The text of the award, dated February 28, 2001, reads: "This is to certify that Joyce Smith has served the lending needs of blind and physically handicapped individuals residing in the Huntsville, Alabama, area for more than thirty-three years in an outstanding manner. Joyce Smith is commended for her personal approach to librarianship and has earned the title Librarian Extraordinaire." Smith's library career began at the time of the epoch-making legislation of 1966 that committed federal funds to the expansion of library services to blind and disabled readers and permitted the organization in some states of subregional libraries, of which Huntsville was the first. Smith has been on hand from the earliest days of the subregional's existence and has maintained an unwavering allegiance to principles of service that include face-to-face interaction between librarians and patrons and intense, responsive participation by the library in the affairs of the local community. Born in Wisconsin, Smith trained as a nurse but took the opportunity to enter library service when she and her husband moved to Huntsville in the late 1960s. She first became involved in braille transcribing through a church volunteer group, and offered her assistance to the library director when she learned of the newly available federal dollars that would allow the development of braille and talking book facilities. The Huntsville subregional began "with twenty books on the shelf and many hopes and dreams." It was at this point that Smith's long-term commitment to ensuring high-quality access to library materials to print-handicapped readers in the community crystalized. "We felt that blind individuals should have the same thing that other people in the community have--that is, they should be able to use their local public library and the library should have a book format that they could use. They should be able to be to call us and get help, and they should be able to know somebody in their local community who can provide library services. Since everybody else in Huntsville comes to this library, they should too." During her three decades with the Huntsville subregional, Smith not only worked to serve her patrons but performed often unheralded work for the network as a member of several NLS advisory committees, analyzing and making recommendations concerning many aspects of the service's performance. Topics included braille distribution and machine repair protocols. She is a certified braille transcriber and a certified narrator whose voice may be heard in the NLS collection of recorded books. She has also participated vigorously in disability service provision in the Huntsville area, most conspicuously as a member of the board of directors of the Huntsville Rehabilitation Association. She plans to continue working with the agency. She has, in addition, pledged volunteer hours in the Heritage Room at the Huntsville Library, where her skills as a librarian together with her own explorations in regional history will enable her to knowledgeably assist patrons interested in genealogy and other data hidden away in local archives. "I've had a wonderful career," Smith says. "I really loved it. I learned an awful lot, and I loved meeting all the people I've known-- patrons especially, and colleagues from all over at national conferences." Smith has been plainspoken in her concerns, and her 1982 Speaking Out (edited by Leslie Eldridge, NLS/BPH, Washington, D.C.) article should be revisited by anyone who wants to know the quality of impassioned advocacy. Smith is unequivocal on the value of real people within communities working to meet the needs of those communities. "I do not think that anybody respects a fence-sitter," she writes. "You get shot at from both sides, so I say what I think and hope it will do some good." "I think for this library service you need a special kind of person who is willing to go beyond the normal requirements of the job," Smith has said. Colleagues and friends agree that Smith has lived up to her own high ideals. (photo caption: Joyce Smith) (photo caption: Carolyn Sung, NLS Network Division chief, presents appreciation plaque.) Friends of Libraries for Blind and Physically Handicapped Individuals in North America Musicians making their mark Three professional musicians who are NLS patrons are enjoying great popularity among aficionados of jazz piano around the world, along with high critical acclaim. Each of these artists is opening new doors, breaking down barriers, crossing boundaries, and successfully communicating the love and respect they bear for the traditions that underlie the music they perform. Bess Bonnier, a much-loved regular on Detroit's lively jazz scene, has recently produced a CD of her jazz cantata Suite William. The fifteen-movement suite is based on texts drawn from As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Love's Labour's Lost, and other works of Shakespeare, to whom Bonnier returned for an intensive rereading in the early '90s. "As I was reading, I realized that there's song all over the place," she has said. "The words were begging for music." Bonnier was already a successful club performer when she completed a degree in English at Wayne State University in the late '60s. Suite William was premiered in performance in 1994 and finally produced in the studio in 1999, with Bonnier on piano, Paul Keller on bass and claves, Cary Kocher on vibes and congas, and Pete Siers on percussion. It is Bonnier's fifth album, following 1997's acclaimed Love Notes. She released her first album, Theme for a Tall One, in 1958. Bess Bonnier is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 1986 Arts Foundation of Michigan Award for music and the coveted Governor's Arts Award for the State of Michigan in 1990. (photo caption: Bess Bonnier playing at her home in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Photo by Susan Tusa/Detroit Free Press) Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, where she currently resides, Valerie Capers has recently released Wagner Takes the A Train, a set of original compositions and standards that expresses her love of jazz while allowing her to exploit the full range of her classical training and insight. Though only her fourth album, Wagner Takes the A Train builds on the solid reputation Capers has quietly built among in- the-know jazz listeners, and garnered high praise from critics as well as such artists as Dizzy Gillespie. Capers lost her sight at age six but went on to become the prestigious Juilliard School of Music's first blind graduate in 1960. The music of John Coltrane and the prodding of her brother Bobby, a reed and flute player with Mongo Santamaria's Afro-Cuban ensemble, made her decide to pursue jazz performance and composition. Her 1967 release, Portrait in Soul, was followed in 1982 with Affirmations and 1995's Come on Home. When not composing, performing, and recording, Capers has been employed as professor of music at Bronx Community College, where she is now artist-in-residence. In Marcus Roberts's latest release, In Honor of Duke, the pianist is backed by Jason Marsalis on drums and Roland Guerin on bass, in elegant performances of his own compositions celebrating Ellington's life, work, and spirit. Steeped in jazz history and tradition, and trained to a level of keen technical virtuosity, Roberts has previously recorded a selection of classic tunes by Ellington himself. Roberts was born and brought up in Jacksonville, Florida. Blind since age five, he studied music at Florida State University, after which he came to the attention of the influential Marsalis family, touring and recording with Wynton Marsalis's ensemble from 1985 to 1991. He recorded six albums of his own for RCA before moving to Sony/Columbia in 1994. In addition to the Ellington tribute, Roberts has explored the American solo piano tradition in albums devoted to Jelly Roll Morton, Scott Joplin, George Gershwin, Thelonious Monk, and James P. Johnson. Roberts has won scores of awards, toured extensively, and is a committed activist in music education. (photo caption: Marcus Roberts. Photo by MichaelOchsArchives.com) (Editor's Note From time to time we introduce members of the Friends of Libraries for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in North America, some of the many talented and accomplished individuals who illustrate the diversity of interests and achievements possible to blind and handicapped peoples.) (About the Friends Individuals, institutions, and corporations may join the Friends of Libraries for Blind and Physically Handicapped Individuals in North America. The nonprofit group supports library programs for blind and physically handicapped persons in the United States and Canada through a number of activities and products. The Friends of Libraries is associated with national library programs and encourages local friends groups in the United States and Canada. For more information, contact Friends of Libraries for Blind and Physically Handicapped Individuals in North America, Inc., 1800 Johnson Street, Suite 800, Baltimore, MD 21230, USA; phone (410) 659-9314.) Attorney becomes Alaska expert U.S. Interior Department attorney and NLS patron Paul Kirton lost his eyesight in early childhood accidents in his native Texas. Following the advice and example of his father, who was blind from age fourteen, Kirton refused to let his loss deter him from setting and achieving ambitious goals. He earned a college degree in anthropology and a law degree from the University of Texas. His early legal work was in labor law, for the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and as a consultant to the National Federation of the Blind, the NAACP, and the American Civil Liberties Union. Kirton has worked at Interior for nearly forty years, most of that time in the Solicitor's Office, specializing in land matters affecting the state of Alaska. His interest in the far northwest developed during his law school years, but soon after arriving at Interior in 1961, he was told there would never be enough work on Alaska to fill his time. This situation changed, and in a few years Kirton earned the reputation of being the department's Alaska expert. In fact, he can recite many of the Alaskan land bills by memory. In 1997, he earned the department's Distinguished Service Award for his commitment and excellence in his work. In recent years, Kirton has worked out of his home in northern Virginia. At his direction, a reader at departmental headquarters in Washington prepares drafts that eventually become court briefs and decision papers used by policymakers. Kirton stays in touch with his office and Alaska contacts by a telephone headset, which rests on a table next to his desk, beside a pile of recorded books. Disabled veteran continues active lifestyle Former army sergeant Karoline Martin has received many commendations and won numerous awards since she joined the military in 1983. She completed a rigorous airborne training course at Fort Benning, Georgia; served a tour of duty in Frankfurt, Germany; and excelled as a member of the elite Fifth Special Forces Group at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. But after exposure to hazardous chemicals and an on-the-job accident left her with optic nerve damage and vision losses, she left the army in 1990. Martin barely missed a beat in her vigorous lifestyle. Her energy and determination continued to compel her to study, learn, and achieve. She became a certified horseback riding instructor and has renewed her passion for downhill skiing. In 1997 she also won the Disabled American Veterans' award as the Outstanding Disabled Veteran of the Year. Historian writes of millennia of human interactions Englishman Rodney Castleden is a respected author in ancient history. His publications include Arthur: The Truth behind the Legend (2000), Atlantis Destroyed (1998), The Stonehenge People (1990), The Knossos Labyrinth (1990), Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete (1990), and other works. Blind since birth, he has advanced training in geography and geomorphology and brings fresh insights to his subjects. For example, his understanding of land forms and earth sciences lends an environmental awareness not usually evident in works on early European cultures. Castleden's World History: A Chronological Dictionary of Dates, written in 1994, provides a summary narrative of human endeavors in some 38,000 years on Earth. In the book's preface, he describes the sweeping chronology as "a vivid and kaleidoscopic picture of the human story as an extraordinary web of interactions...." He goes on to compare human existence to an "endlessly complicated symphony" in which each individual has an important place. Braille reader does a "Rugrats" voice NLS's newest friend is a Rugrat. Twenty-two-year-old Dionne Quan recently landed a role as the voice of Kimi, a character who joined the Disney cartoon in the movie Rugrats in Paris. Quan, whose scripts arrive at her door in braille format, was selected for the part over 147 competitors. She has been acting since age fourteen and has taped commercials, CD-ROM games, and animated series. As the voice of a Rugrat, she joins a cast of other adult actresses. Quan is one of only 650 members (out of about 100,000) of the Screen Actors Guild who have disabilities. Kimi, now a regular on the series, is an Asian American female who has tomboyish tendencies, lacks fear, and has a lot of confidence. Quan says she enjoys playing her because "she is so unlike me." (photo caption: Kimi and Dionne Quan. Photo by AP/Wide World Photos) Price brailles his way through his garden He plants them. He waters them. He weeds them. He squishes the bugs that attack them. He picks them. They're beautiful and everyone enjoys looking at them. Except him. William Price, the 94-year-old gardener, gets his joy from feeling the textures of his dahlias, tulips, and hibiscus, which he raises from seeds. A patron of the Suffolk County, New York, subregional library, Price has been blind for more than fifty years. For six months of the year, he and his wife live in an 1880s farmhouse, where, mostly by himself, he tends the 45-by-50-foot vegetable and flower garden. The garden's paths are "braille for his feet": some are paved with wood chips, others with boards, and some with dirt. Price strings up fishing lines in the spring to make sure his rows are straight. Price is among the 10 percent of known world gardeners who are blind. He gained his skills as a student at the State Agricultural and Technical College, Farmington, New York. After school, he farmed and gardened. By the time his vision succumbed to retinitis pigmentosa, Price had amassed a large "visual vocabulary" of plants, space, mass, and volume--all of which has translated into a beautiful, tranquil garden in far suburban New York. Senior scientist searches for evidence of extraterrestrials Kent Cullers is a physicist and senior scientist at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, California. As an expert in signal processing, he is part of a team of scientists who scan the heavens for signals with a pattern that could indicate an intelligent source somewhere in outer space. "Within 60 to 100 years," he said, "we should be able to search the whole galaxy." Cullers has been blind since birth but learned at an early age to do many mathematical operations in his head. Now he uses computers to convert plain-text documents into braille or voice output. He is an NLS patron and enjoys talking with people about his work. He acknowledges that his life provided the basis for a character in the 1990s movie Contact, about extraterrestrial contacts with Earth. Cullers has some advice for young people: "Don't let anyone tell you what you can or can't do. You decide. Pick something you really love, something where you'll be willing to spend the hours and hours and hours that will be necessary for you to do it." Cincinnati achieves a century of service The regional library in Cincinnati, Ohio, marked one hundred years of providing reading materials to blind individuals with a celebration at the Cincinnati Public Library's south building on March 29. About 125 people, mostly library patrons, were on hand for the occasion. Kim Fender, director of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, welcomed those attending. Speakers included NLS director Frank Kurt Cylke, who focused on the future of digital library services to blind and physically handicapped people. He was followed by longtime narrator Terry Hayes Sales, from the American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Kentucky. Sales's voice is well known to service patrons from a career that started in 1938 and includes more than 800 recorded books. Sales ended her formal presentation with a reading and took questions from the audience. She later talked with people informally over cake and cookies. Tours of the library facility were available throughout the day, including a 27-square-foot tactile map of Washington, D.C., which is on temporary exhibit. Elsewhere in the Cincinnati Public Library was a display of embossed books and writing instruments, photographs, and other educational materials used by blind people throughout the century. History. Originally known as the Library Society for the Blind, the collection--the fourth of its kind in the country--began in March 1901 with 100 embossed books located on shelf space set aside in the Cincinnati library. It was established by Florence and Georgia Trader, the same two sisters who founded the Clovernook Home and School for the Blind two years later. Georgia Trader lost her sight at age eleven in 1887; her sister was her lifelong companion and an advocate for blind individuals. With an early contribution of $1,500 and considerable public support, the collection grew to 1,000 titles within the first four years, and by 1911 the program was serving borrowers in forty-three states. A children's program was added, and the Trader sisters began to teach braille to both children and adults. By 1929, more than 5,000 books were available. The Cincinnati library was named one of the eighteen original regional libraries in 1931 when Congress established the NLS program, then known as Books for the Blind. The network linked libraries across the nation that were already providing embossed books to blind readers. The program began providing recorded books three years later. Service today. The Cincinnati Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped serves approximately 6,000 adults and 600 children in thirty-three counties across southern Ohio. While most service is provided by mail, the main library contains a stack area lined with braille and recorded books for browsing, adjoined by three private rooms for using assistive technology equipment or reviewing printed materials from other departments with a sighted reader. (photo caption: Narrator Terry Hayes Sales steps away from the podium to chat with patrons.) (photo caption: The Trader sisters, who founded the Cincinnati library service in 1901.) Florida regional marks fifty years of growth In 1950, the Florida Council of the Blind set up the Florida Talking Books Library in a 4,000-square-foot barracks that had been used to house the World War II Women's Army Corps. The space was more than adequate for the six staff members of the new facility--the thirty- second authorized regional library in the NLS network. The staff provided recorded books for 900 patrons. That was more than fifty years ago, and in the year 2000, the Florida Bureau of Braille and Talking Book Services celebrated its anniversary with a series of events, culminating in an open house on September 16, 2000. In a brief ceremony in the Donald John Weber Conference Room, Mike Shallow, vice mayor of Daytona, and Jim Ward, chair of Colusia County Council, read proclamations recognizing the bureau and its accomplishments. Florida state senator Locke Burt reflected on his part in the growth of the Library. Burt, instrumental in securing library funding, described how his grandmother's talking books became part of his childhood memories. Michael Gunde, chief, Bureau of Braille and Talking Books Services, and Doug Hall, head, Volunteer and Community Relations, also greeted participants and guests during the all-day event. More than 200 guests toured the facility and were encouraged to purchase stamps and collect a pictorial talking-book stamp cancellation from an on-site post set up for the day by the U.S. Postal Service. About 110 volunteers were on hand to help show off bureau operations. The Palm Coast Lions Club came in to repair machines, shelve books, and do clerical tasks. Key Club members and their drivers shelved cassette books. The Bureau of Braille and Talking Book Library Services shares the campus with the Division of Blind Services Offices, and guests were invited to visit and learn about the other services provided by the division. The 50th anniversary issue of the patron newsletter, Touch and Listen, bore the slogan "Remembering the Past, Celebrating the Future." The edition chronicled the library's evolution from its early days in the barracks to its present facility, measuring 89,160 square feet. Now a state agency serving more than 45,000 Floridians, it boasts a circulation of more than two million books and magazines, possibly the highest distribution of talking-book and braille material in the country. The library employs twenty-seven career service employees, with an annual operating budget of $984,000. Volunteers contributed more than 130,000 hours, the equivalent of 62.8 full-time employees. Braille book-lending services were added in 1975. The Florida Talking Books Library was officially renamed the Florida Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. The library attained "bureau" status in 1987 and established the Friends of Library Access, Inc., in 1991. In 1994 the library became the Bureau of Braille and Talking Book Library Services. It established a Machine Repair Center at the Tomoka Correctional Institution in 1996, expanding the facility in 1998. In addition, the library is supported statewide by eleven subregional libraries. The first, Bradenton Subregional Library, came on shortly after the Florida Talking Book Library was transferred to the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services in 1971. Thereafter, the Florida network added subregionals until reaching its present scope with the addition of the Pinellas Subregional Library in 1993. In 1999, the Florida network achieved a major goal when it established a statewide computer network using the Keystone Library Automation System. (See News, July-September 1999). The regional library also circulates publications that are recorded at five off-site studios located in Daytona Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Jensen Beach, Miami, and Stuart. Insight for the Blind, in Fort Lauderdale, is the most prolific of the group. Staff indicate that much of Florida's success was fueled by the goal of its late director, Donald John Weber, who served for nearly twenty-five years: "Every patron request filled promptly when it is received." (photo caption: Anniversary sign fronting the library is displayed by regional librarian Mike Gunde. Photo by Dorothy Minor) International briefs The Netherlands. The new Federation of Dutch Libraries for the Blind was created in May 2000, as a result of the merger between three existing organizations--Studie en Vakbibliotheek (SVB), Centrum Gesproken Lektuur (CGL), and the Federatie van Nederlandse Blindenbibliotheken. Marijke van Bodengraven was named the new director of this organization, and was scheduled to take over her new duties as of September 1, 2000. Luc van Gompel-Plinsenga acted as interim director of the Federation of Dutch Libraries for the Blind during the transition period, from May to August 2000. Canada. Paul E. Thiele, founder and former director of the University of British Columbia's (UBC) Crane Memorial Library and now client advisor for both the Crane Library and the Disability Resource Center, was elected chair of the National Board of Directors of Voiceprint, the National Broadcast Reading Service, in August 2000. The board consists of twelve members who advise Voiceprint management on all matters pertaining to broadcasting. Voiceprint is licensed by the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to provide an English language reading and information service for Canada's blind, visually impaired, and print-disabled persons. The service provides daily broadcasts of newspaper and magazine articles read by highly trained and talented volunteers. The broadcasts are heard by more than 200,000 Canadians across Canada and the Far North. Voiceprint's main office is in Toronto, but satellite studios and teams of readers are located in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, and--soon--in Halifax. Voiceprint is partially government funded, and the rest of its operating budget comes from donations, the sale of advertising, and corporate sponsorship. The National Broadcast Reading Service operates a subsidiary, Audiovision Canada, Ltd., which produces videos for broadcast, rental, and purchase. Thiele said that his election as chair of the National Board of Directors of Voiceprint "represents a full circle" in his career. "It feels good to be involved on a voluntary basis with broadcasting again and with information dissemination." He stated that his work with Voiceprint complements his work at Crane, since both organizations are making information available to individuals who cannot use ordinary print materials because of a disability. Read across America Day: Lansing gives braille a push Adaptive technology coordinator Scott Norris of the Library of Michigan's Service to the Blind and Physically Handicapped added an extra dimension to this year's Read across America Day by introducing braille materials into the festivities. Contacted by a Barnes and Noble bookshop in Lansing for advice on alternative media, Norris seized the opportunity to boost braille awareness in the community. He read from a braille book to an eager group of children, displayed an array of braille and PRINT/BRAILLE books, and gave braille bookmarks and cards to the kids and their parents. Read across America Day is an initiative of the National Education Association. Now in its fourth year, the project promotes and celebrates reading, emphasizing particularly the importance of caring adults in the development of children's reading skills, enthusiasm, and commitment. This year, Read across America Day coincided with the anniversary of the birth of Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) on March 2, 1904, and themes and characters from the work of the incomparable storyteller were much in evidence. Norris read from the quirky, fast-moving Foot Book. The Lansing regional library's public information officer, Carey Draeger, commemorated the event in Seuss-like cadences: He read the kids a book about feet He used the braille version; oh, it was such a treat! The children just loved him; they did what he said And got brand-new ideas inside of their heads. They took reading oaths and promised they would Become the best readers in town as, really, they should. They sang "Happy Birthday" to Dr. Seuss quite loudly As their family and parents listened quite proudly. (For the full story in verse, see .) (photo caption: Scott Norris (in shirt and tie) talks with children and parents about books in braille.) The Program The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress publishes books and magazines in braille and in recorded form on discs and cassettes for readers who cannot hold, handle, or see well enough to read conventional print because of a temporary or permanent visual or physical handicap. Through a national network of state and local libraries, the materials are loaned free to eligible readers in the United States and to U.S. citizens living abroad. Materials are sent to readers and returned by postage-free mail. Books and Magazines Readers may borrow all types of popular-interest books including bestsellers, classics, mysteries, westerns, poetry, history, biographies, religious literature, children's books, and foreign- language materials. Readers may also subscribe to more than seventy popular magazines in braille and recorded formats. Special Equipment Special equipment needed to play the discs and cassettes, which are recorded at slower than conventional speeds, is loaned indefinitely to readers. An amplifier with headphone is available for blind and physically handicapped readers who are also certified as hearing impaired. Other devices are provided to aid readers with mobility impairments in using playback machines. Eligibility You are eligible for the Library of Congress program if:  You are legally blind--your vision in the better eye is 20/200 or less with correcting glasses, or your widest diameter of visual field is no greater than 20 degrees;  You cannot see well enough or focus long enough to read standard print, although you wear glasses to correct your vision;  You are unable to handle print books or turn pages because of a physical handicap; or  You are certified by a medical doctor as having a reading disability, due to an organic dysfunction, which is of sufficient severity to prevent reading in a normal manner. How to Apply You may request an application by writing NLS or calling toll-free 1- 800-424-9100, and your name will be referred to your cooperating library. News is published quarterly by: National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped Library of Congress Washington, DC 20542 All correspondence should be addressed to the attention of Publications and Media Section. Editor: Vicki Fitzpatrick Writers: Rita Byrnes, Jane Caulton, Irene Kost, and Ed O'Reilly