Update January-March 1998, Vol. 21, No. 1 ISSN 0160-9203 National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped The Library of Congress Braille transcriber receives Community Spirit Service Award Lehigh Valley Braille Guild transcriber Joan Yehl was named one of two winners of the Community Spirit Service Award in the education category for 1997 by the Allentown, Pennsylvania, newspaper, the Morning Call. The award included a plaque and a monetary contribution to the Lehigh Valley Braille Guild. Mrs. Yehl was first introduced to the braille alphabet in 1959 when she and her visually impaired son spent two weeks at the Overbrook School for the Blind in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "I took to braille like a duck to water," she proclaims. Mrs. Yehl joined the first braille-transcribing class offered by the newly formed Lehigh Valley Braille Guild in 1966 and received certification in literary braille transcription from the Library of Congress later that year. She also earned a proofreading certificate in 1970. A high point in Mrs. Yehl's career as a volunteer came last April when she was installed as president of the National Braille Association (NBA) at its twenty-fourth - annual conference in Texas. Mrs. Yehl had joined the NBA in 1968 and served on the Textbook Format Committee. She became a member of the NBA board of directors in 1989. She shares her textbook-format knowledge by holding workshops for the Guild and at NBA meetings across the United States and Canada. As president of NBA, she leads a two-thousand-member body of volunteers. Mrs. Yehl continues to work with the Lehigh Valley Braille Guild. This group of twenty-five volunteers produces locally requested reading materials and textbooks for Pennsylvania adults and school children who are visually impaired. Often these braille reading materials are enjoyed by many others across the country and abroad. During Mrs. Yehl's thirty-one years as a Guild member, she has served as chairperson and as a proofreader and has been responsible for structuring and assigning textbook work. She has received many awards including a Distinguished Service Award in 1973, the Sertoma Award in 1988, and the NBA twenty-year Continuing Service Certificate in 1993. In the spring of 1998 Mrs. Yehl will receive NBA's twenty-five-year Continuing Service Certificate. (photo caption: Joan Yehl at her computer, where she transcribes braille literature. Photo by Ken Clauser.) 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, 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 announced plans for a website to be available in the spring. The group also 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. Announcement The Points of Light Foundation has declared April 19 25, 1998, National Volunteer Week. The theme "Volunteer! Get Connected" is a call to all Americans to become involved. It is also an opportunity for volunteer program managers to pay a special tribute to their volunteers. We at the NLS take this opportunity to say "thank you for getting connected" to all our volunteers across the United States! For further information on ideas for celebrating National Volunteer Week, contact Freddie Peaco at NLS or the Points of Light Foundation, 1737 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20006; (202) 223-9186. American Association of Retired Persons survey shows no decline in grassroots volunteerism (Reprinted with permission from the December 19, 1997, Older Americans Reports) Volunteerism is alive and well in America. Public commentary suggesting that Americans are disengaged and apathetic toward social and civic involvement is simply not the case, Joan Baumgarten, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) volunteer board member, insisted at a press briefing on December 18, 1997. Concerned over the impact of a rumored decline in volunteerism, AARP conducted a survey to determine if its grassroots support, as well as democracy, could be in jeopardy. AARP seeks to "nudge cynicism off our national stage," Baumgarten said, by using the survey results as a means of dispelling common myths about civic-mindedness in society. The report, Maintaining America's Social Fabric: The AARP Survey of Civic Involvement, reviewed social and civic involvement as well as political and community involvement and trust. The "trust" factor, AARP research director Constance Swank said, became a very troubling statistic for the researchers. Only three out of ten surveyed had trust in the federal government; local governments fared little better. "Trust is an important precursor to civic involvement," Ms. Swank said, but "despite the lack of trust, Americans do believe they can make a difference." The survey showed a nearly even split on the trust people place in others within their community. Overall, 86 percent of the respondents volunteer in a formal or informal capacity, with 44 percent volunteering actively in the past year. The majority of people who volunteer, the survey noted, exhibit high religious involvement and regular newspaper readership. "There is a great deal of strength in community that can be built upon," Ms. Swank said. Through civic and political involvement, Americans believe in personal and - collective efficacy that leads to social involvement. North Carolina salutes volunteers by Linda Carron, NCLBPH volunteer More than ninety volunteers, staff, and friends were present at the North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NCLBPH) Volunteer Recognition Dinner and Friends' Annual Meeting on October 29, 1997. The gala was organized by the library's volunteer director, Gary Ray, and funded by the Friends of the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. It was held at Ballentine's Cafeteria in Raleigh, North Carolina. Participants were entertained by live and recorded musical presentations, a described movie--shown on video equipment purchased for the library by the Friends--and demonstrations of the Friends' new web page using a laptop computer. Dr. William Waters opened the annual Friends' meeting with an introduction of the new officers and board members. Following the presentation of the annual report, John Welch, assistant state librarian, congratulated volunteers and expressed his appreciation to them for a very productive year of dedicated service. He told the group that the NCLBPH received two of the largest operating-budget increases that the North Carolina legislature passed during the year for the state library. Library Services Section chief Denise Sigmon and regional librarian Francine Martin presented NCLBPH certificates to volunteers who had contributed twenty-five to ninety-nine hours of service and NCLBPH certificates and pins to volunteers completing 100 to 199 hours of service. Donna Rosefield, assistant to the deputy secretary of the Department of Cultural Resources, awarded department certificates for completing 200 to 499 hours of service to Marilyn Band (289 hours), Eloise Iddings (300 hours), Murray Lorber (468 hours), Harvey Sage (398 hours), Edna Smith (300 hours), and William Stephenson (353 hours). Ms. Rosefield then announced that North Carolina Governor James B. Hunt Jr. would declare 1998 the Year of the Volunteer. The Governor's Awards for volunteer service were distributed by Allen Perry, executive director, and Cynthia Temoshenko, developmental disabilities coordinator of the Governor's Advocacy Council for Persons with Disabilities. Certificates went to Ingrid Kops (536 hours), Ann Smith (515 hours), and Gary Ray (1,255 hours). Freddie Peaco, government information and volunteer specialist, NLS, presented a Library of Congress Volunteer Certificate to Mary Beth Smith, who amassed 1,601 hours of service. She also presented Dr. William Waters with a plaque from NLS for meritorious service. A North Carolina native, Peaco said she loves returning to her home state and felt especially privileged to present the award to Dr. Waters, her rehabilitation counselor during her high school and college years. "It is a real privilege to thank you on behalf of NLS and personally for what you did for me so many years ago," she said. "I've come full circle." Dr. Waters wrapped up the evening by presenting the prestigious Volunteer of the Year Award to Arthur Katz. Mr. Katz has given more than seven hundred hours of service to the NCLBPH. During the past year, seventy-five volunteers contributed more than 4,800 hours of service. These special people perform tasks that vary from working in the recording and braille program to assisting in the shipping department to providing clerical support to repairing machines. The studio and braille volunteers produced six cassette books, three braille books, more than sixty-eight issues of various periodicals, and fifteen special requests. "The volunteer program plays a very important part in helping us provide high quality services to our readers," said Ms. Martin. "Here at the library, volunteers add that special touch!" North Dakota names Pioneer of the Year North Dakota Telephone Pioneers who repair talking-book machines were honored in Grand Forks on Wednesday, November 5, 1997. The noon luncheon was sponsored by the North Dakota School for the Blind and the state library. During the luncheon Tom Marler was named Pioneer of the Year. Mr. Marler has been in charge of the Grand Forks Pioneers group for several years and has been an active member on this team of dedicated workers for more than twenty-five years. When Mr. Marler was employed with the telephone company, he often spent his lunch hour working on the talking-book machine repair project. Now that he has retired, he spends even more time repairing machines. He admits the technology has changed over the years, but what has not changed is his sense of dedication and hard work with the Telephone Pioneers of America and the talking-book repair program. Other Pioneers honored were Ken and Betty Bauer, Russell Holm, Raymond and Yvonne Roller, Ed Raasakka, and Allen Syrstad. Brad Kormann, chief of Materials Development, NLS, presented a plaque to the group and a certificate of appreciation to each of the Pioneers. On behalf of NLS he thanked them for their repair service, acknowledging that their shop predates the NLS repair program. This autonomous group of the Telephone Pioneers of America has been working with the North Dakota School for the Blind for about thirty-five years. The group meets weekly to repair talking-book machines for the entire state. According to Mr. Marler, the Telephone Pioneer Talking-Book Machine Repair Services in Grand Forks started between 1955 and 1958 in the basement of Pioneer Leo Speare, who was central manager of the telephone company. In 1967 the repair group moved into a newly built telephone company facility. Ken Bauer and Tom Marler began repairing machines during noon hours, and they have continued with the program ever since. "The earlier machines used vacuum-tube technology and weighed quite a bit more than the present machine," recalled Mr. Marler. "At one time Fargo and Bismarck also had Telephone Pioneer groups repairing machines, but now this is the only group in the state." Pioneers have contributed about 150,000 volunteer hours during the past forty years, repairing and maintaining the machines that are loaned to visually and physically handicapped citizens of the state by the North Dakota School for the Blind. Betty Bauer and her husband, Ken, also participate in the Library of Congress talking-book reclamation project. With Mr. Bauer's assistance, Mrs. Bauer has broken down at least 1,300 talking-book machines, carefully recycling salvageable parts. Krolick receives Migel award (This article was excerpted from the Bulletin of the National Braille Association, Winter 1997/98.) Bettye Krolick received the American Foundation for the Blind's (AFB) 1997 Migel Medal in the volunteer category at a ceremony in New York City on Friday, November 7, 1997. Mrs. Krolick learned braille at the University of Illinois and received Library of Congress certification in literary braille in 1965 and in music braille in 1967. Since then she has conducted workshops and seminars, mainly through the National Braille Association (NBA), for vision teachers and music teachers as well as volunteer music transcribers. She helped introduce the use of personal computers for the transcription of all codes of braille and evaluated several of the software programs now available for this purpose. Mrs. Krolick has served NBA for many years. She was elected to the board of directors in 1975 and served as music chairman until 1981. She started the Automation Committee (later called the Computer-Assisted Transcription Committee) of NBA in 1983 and served as committee chairman until she was elected NBA president in 1987. At the conclusion of her term in 1989, she served as Fund-Development Committee chairman until 1991. She has also served as chairman of the Music Technical Committee of the Braille Authority of North America (BANA) since 1990. She is the author of several books, including the New International Manual of Braille Music Notation. A graduate of Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, Mrs. Krolick is a professional violinist with symphony orchestras in Fort Collins, Colorado, and in Greeley, Colorado. Her spirit is perhaps best shown by a story she told about herself in her acceptance speech: The first time I called a major paper company on behalf of NBA to ask if they had fan-fold braille paper, the lady on the other end chuckled and said, "What's that?" I chuckled with her and started to hang up, but she said, "No, I'm serious. Tell me what it is, and we will make it for you." I'm grateful to proudly represent all volunteers and to share with you some of the rich rewards we volunteers enjoy as, each in our own way, we do whatever our little part is in the big picture of responding to needs and creating whatever is needed. In his letter commending Mrs. Krolick for earning the award, Frank Kurt Cylke, director of NLS, wrote: Every blind individual involved in any serious way with music has encountered the results of your thoughts and efforts. Words alone cannot summarize the impact you have had on the hearts and minds of thousands of blind individuals. It can only be paraphrased that "You came, you saw, you produced" (to the world's benefit). (photo caption: Bettye Krolick.) In memoriam Edna La Sauce transcribed for thirty-nine years Edna La Sauce, a veteran braille transcriber, died last July in Atlanta, Georgia, following a long illness. Mrs. La Sauce had been a certified braille transcriber since 1958. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, where she learned braille and was an active transcriber, she and her husband, Barney, moved to Atlanta in 1972 and immediately began brailling for the Atlanta Braille Volunteers (ABV). Mrs. La Sauce served as textbook chair for ABV and handled all textbook assignments for the group. She was also active in many charities, her church, and the arts, and she enjoyed travel. "Edna was always able to find the time to help anyone in need," says Ruth Koloski, ABV president. "While glaucoma finally forced Edna to give up braille, she and her husband maintained friendships and interest in the ABV." Mr. La Sauce was also certified in literary braille transcription in 1983. In 1995, Mr. and Mrs. La Sauce were the recipients of the Rhonda W. Walker Award, given annually by the Georgia Council of the Blind. "The inscription on their plaque is a fitting tribute still to this woman of extraordinary generosity and spirit, and to her devoted husband of more than fifty years," says Mrs. Koloski. The plaque commends Mr. and Mrs. La Sauce for the "many years [they have] shared their sight and talents to give love and help to their friends." Braille student-instructor dialog The Braille Development Section receives numerous questions concerning a variety of problems in braille transcribing. This article addresses some of them. The question-and-answer format is intended to give clarity. Student: I have been asked to transcribe a time line into braille. In the time line, the abbreviation for years is represented by the letters yrs. Since yrs stands for the short-form yours, is a letter sign required before the letter y? Instructor: No. Since you are transcribing a time line, it is clear from context that the letters yrs are used to represent the abbreviation for years. Student: Could you explain how bullets are transcribed in braille? Instructor: In literary braille only, bullets are transcribed by using dots 3-6, 3-6 in cells 3 and 4 with the text beginning in cell 6. Student: Is the ditto sign always preceded and followed by a space in braille? Instructor: Absolutely. The ditto sign should always be preceded and followed by a space. When transcribing a book, the sign should be listed on the special symbols' page. (See Section 31e of the official code, English Braille, American Edition, 1994.) Student: The book that I am transcribing contains a preface. At the end of the preface, there is an attribution. Since the preface ends on line 24 of the braille page, should the attribution begin on line 25, or should it be carried over to the next braille page? Instructor: It should begin on line 25. In braille a credit line should always begin on the same page as the ending of the quoted matter to which it refers. When necessary, completion of a credit line or attribution may be carried over to a new braille page. Student: I have just completed my thirty-five-page trial manuscript. Is it permissible to have it proofread by my teacher? Instructor: Absolutely not. The trial manuscript is the final examination in the braille transcribing course. It may be proofread only by the student, not by any other braille transcriber, braille reader, or teacher. Similarly, the trial manuscript is to be taken from a print book or article. Therefore, it is not acceptable to transcribe your trial manuscript from a braille book written in grade 2 braille. Student: I am a blind person who is working toward certification as a literary braille transcriber. Is it permissible to select a book written in grade 1 braille and transcribe my trial manuscript into grade 2 braille? Instructor: Yes. A blind applicant who wishes to submit a trial manuscript for certification in braille transcribing may select a book written in either grade 1 or grade 1 1/2 braille and transcribe his or her manuscript into grade 2 braille. A copy of the material used for the trial manuscript must be provided by all applicants. Volunteers master new skills During the month of December 1997, certificates in braille transcribing were awarded to nine literary transcribers and one music transcriber. (Because of a delay in awarding evaluator contracts, literary braille trial manuscripts and mathematics braille transcribing tests were not scored during October or November.) LITERARY BRAILLE TRANSCRIBERS Alaska Vicki L. Altman, Anchorage California Dorothy E. Jones, San Anselmo Shirley A. Manning, Sacramento Gloria A. McLaughlin, Coronado Alice Blessing Schultz, Santa Ana Florida Kerry Carr, Mt. Dora Carol A. Levens, Fort Myers North Carolina Wendy Dixon Barber, Newport Wyoming Jeanette R. Campbell, Rawlins MUSIC BRAILLE TRANSCRIBERS John J. Strangis, Woodside, New York Meetings National Braille Association (NBA) Spring Regional Meeting and Workshops, Holiday Inn Downtown, Louisville, Kentucky; Friday, May 8 Saturday, May 9, 1998. Fall Regional Meeting and Workshops, Holiday Inn City Line, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Friday, October 30 Saturday, October 31, 1998. Twenty-fifth National Conference, Antlers Doubletree Hotel, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Thursday, April 29 Saturday, May 1, 1999. For more information about these meetings, contact National Braille Association, Three Townline Circle, Rochester, NY 14623-2513; (716) 427-8260. California Transcribers and Educators of the Visually Handicapped (CTEVH) CTEVH XXXIX Annual Conference, Los Angeles Airport Hilton, Los Angeles, California; Thursday, March 26 Saturday, March 28, 1998. CTEVH XL Annual Conference, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Sacramento, California; Thursday, March 25 Saturday, March 27, 1999. For more information about these meetings, contact CTEVH, 741 North Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90029-3594; (213) 666-2211; website: http://edtech.sdcs.k12.ca.us/epd/ctevhhome.html. Visual Aid Volunteers of Florida (VAVF) Annual Meeting and Conference, Treasure Island Inn, Daytona Beach Shores, Florida; Thursday, April 30 Saturday, May 2, 1998. For more information about this meeting, contact Florence Mathiesen, 6097 Blueberry Lane, Crestview, FL 32536-7142; (850) 682-7750. Reliability study postponed Update (October-December 1997) carried a story on the National Literary Braille Competency Test (NLBCT) 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. Say How? gets companion Narrators who found useful Say How?, the pronunciation guide for names of people, will be delighted that author Ray Hagen has just released a companion volume, The Acronyms, Brand-names, and Corporations (et al.) Book. The new publication, referred to as The ABC Book, contains pronunciations for corporate names such as the Fontainbleu Hotel, brand names such as Puma and Porsche (as in cars), and acronyms such as ERA (pronounced E-R-A) and NOW (pronounced like the word). "These things come up in books almost as often as peoples' names do, and few if any dictionaries are of any help at all," says author Hagen, a narrator in the NLS studio. Hagen began compiling The ABC Book shortly after beginning Say How? The twenty-page spiral-bound edition is updated annually and distributed to all NLS recording studio contractors. Audio Art Funny voices There is a dangerous tendency for some narrators to go totally bonkers at the sight of quotation marks. Let's take the cases of two venerable narrators, Max and LaVerne (not their real names). Give them third-person narratives and they deliver the goods in an efficient, professional manner. But hand them books filled with various people's quoted dialog and they become completely unhinged. For such narrators, undergoing gender reassignment is most unsettling. For the listener, it's sheer hell. Every female character in Max's books sounds like a pennywhistle, while every male character in LaVerne's books sounds like a frog. See, Max is convinced that in order to deliver any woman's dialog, he must disguise his rolling-thunder manly bark by swooping up into a piping falsetto. And lovely LaVerne, when confronted by a male character, digs deep down into her shoes to produce a gravelly rumble that would register on the Richter scale. But a man speaking in a falsetto doesn't sound remotely like a woman; he just sounds like a man speaking in a falsetto (thereby making every woman sound stupid in the bargain). And a woman's bottom register sounds equally unlike a man. It just sounds like-- well, a frog. As it happens, all women aren't sopranos (Tallulah who?), and all men aren't booming basses. But it's not only a matter of gender. All children don't talk baby talk (it's adults who do that), all older people aren't creaky-voiced octogenarians, all pretty women aren't bubbleheads, all blue-collar men aren't half-wits, all blacks don't talk jive, and all southerners aren't redneck crackers or designing women. Think of the last time you were telling some friends an anecdote regarding an encounter with people of varying personas and genders. Did you go to great throat-torturing pains to give each person a wildly different character voice, or did you simply tell the story? Why assume that when you read a book aloud you have to come up with all these vocal disguises for every poor fool who enters the story? And then there's the matter of range. If you want to use a character voice, does it have the same range, flexibility, and color as your natural voice? Or are you stuck with a two-note range and a sore throat? Am I saying you should never, never, never use a character voice for anything, ever? Of course not. But if you do, it needs to be (1) justified, (2) a full-bodied characterization, not merely a funny voice, and (3) comfortable--for both you and the listener. Here's one useful guideline. If you've decided to use a trick voice for a comic character, consider whether you'd be able to maintain that exact voice if he/she were to be suddenly plunged into a profoundly tragic scene in the next chapter. If you can pull it off, then great, run with it. If not, ditch it. There are, after all, only so many people living in your throat. Playing characters is mainly a matter of attitude anyway. Get that right and the voice naturally follows. Do yourself, the author, and the listener a favor: talk like a person. (photo caption: Ray Hagen, NLS narrator. Photo by Jim Higgins.) Update is published quarterly by: National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped Library of Congress Washington, DC 20542 Correspondence should be addressed to Publications and Media Section. Coordinating editor: Freddie Peaco Publication editor: Jane Caulton Braille student-instructor dialog: John Wilkinson Audio art: Ray Hagen