News July-September 1997, Vol. 28, No. 3 ISSN 1046-1663 National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped The Library of Congress NISO process begins for digital audio book The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) Digital Talking Book Standards committee held its first meeting for two days in May to begin the process of developing a standard for a digital talking-book system. More than two dozen individuals from companies, libraries, and organizations that serve and represent blind and physically handicapped persons attended the standards development meeting hosted by NLS. The representatives contributed expertise in the areas of consumer electronics, library service, engineering, audio book production, computers, standards development, international compatibility and design, information access, and adaptative technology. Rosemary Kavanagh, executive director of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind's library, said of the meeting, "The spirit of cooperation and workmanship which prevailed was excellent and commendable." She added, "I remain much more hopeful that we will see standards that not only allow us to exchange books and materials but also buy shelf-ready items from talking-book producers the world over." Features identified Committee members identified and prioritized more than one hundred features for a future digital talking-book system. These features represent answers to the needs of blind and physically handicapped persons who will be using the system. "By focusing on user requirements rather than specific hardware or media we can develop a standard that will keep pace with the rapid changes in technology," says Michael Moodie, NLS research and development officer, who is coordinating the committee's activities. The NISO standards-development process will clearly define the performance requirements for a system. Actual implementation, or design and manufacture of machines or components, follows as a result of the standard. In order to define features for a system that does not yet exist, committee participants created an exhaustive list of characteristics for every aspect of the system. These included audio quality and controls, user interface, power sources and requirements, media navigation, help functions, copyright protection, multilingual functions, text display capabilities, and administrative considerations. The deliberations resulted in a description of a digital book that would incorporate text, voice, and other data with varying levels of user control, functionality, and data richness available to the reader. The committee proposed three levels of audio devices: a basic, six-button, portable, audio-only model; an advanced stand-alone model with more capabilities for students and professionals; and a computer-linked software version that would work through a personal computer and allow for advanced text navigation. After defining both the features and the levels of complexity, the participants assigned each feature to the appropriate device and determined whether the features were essential, highly desirable, or useful. For example, start and stop controls would be essential features on all three machines, while the option of adding notes or highlighting text would not be present in the basic machine, would be highly desirable in the advanced unit, and would be essential in the computer-linked version. Working groups formed The committee's next step was to form working groups to examine specialized areas of concern. One group will use the prioritized list of features to create an organized document with expanded descriptions and examples for review by the full committee. The second group will focus on the file format of digital talking books; it will consider the rapid developments and changes digital file format guidelines and specifications are undergoing because of the explosive growth of World Wide Web (Internet) publishing. The third group will research the user interface, specifically matters such as design of controls, tactile and visual markings, and feedback to users. A fourth group will examine copyright protection in the digital domain, an area that is currently capturing much attention in the digital publishing community. The groups will present their findings at the committee's next meeting in September. Under NISO guidelines, a first draft of the standard is due within eighteen months of the first meeting. A final standard is expected within two to four years. (photo caption: Michael Moodie (center), NLS research and development officer, leads the discussion flanked by (left) Brad Kormann, NLS, and Marilyn Courtot, NISO, and (right) John Cookson, NLS; Rosemary Kavanagh, CNIB; and Dan Dantzler, Telex. Photo by Jim Higgins.) NISO talking-book standards committee members American Council of the Blind, Don Breda American Foundation for the Blind, James V. Rossi American Printing House for the Blind, Jack Decker Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired, Barbara McCarthy Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies, Linda Koldenhoven Blinded Veterans Association, George Brummell Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Rosemary Kavanagh The Hadley School for the Blind, Vivian Juig Industry Canada, Assistive Devices Industry Office, Mary-Frances Laughton Institute of Gerontology, University of Michigan, Lois M. Verbrugge LaBarge Electronics, Kerry Littrell National Federation of the Blind, Michael Gosse National Institute of Standards and Technology, Paul Vassallo NCR Corporation, Steve Jacobs NISO, Marilyn Courtot NLS, John Cookson, Frank Kurt Cylke, Judith Dixon, Wells B. Kormann, Thomas McLaughlin, and Michael Moodie The Productivity Works, Inc., Mark Hakkinen Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, John Churchill Telex Communications, Inc., Dan Dantzler TRACE Research and Development Center, University of Wisconsin, Gregg Vanderheiden VisuAide, Inc., Gilles Pepin World Blind Union, Curtis Chong Magazines program changes to begin with new year Starting in January 1998, new titles will make up almost one-third of the eighty-two braille and audio magazines offered to NLS patrons, and some titles will be available on cassette for the first time. These improvements to the magazine program are the result of two studies recently conducted by NLS, one on magazine format and the other on magazine content, to determine the extent to which magazine offerings meet patron needs. Annual magazine production currently averages around 3.5 million copies issued. New titles will begin with the first 1998 issue of each magazine. Most of the current magazines will continue to be available, but several popular magazines will be added to the collection, replacing others that will be discontinued, and some current magazines will be produced in a different format. The offerings also include a combined edition of the NLS program magazines Talking Book Topics (TBT) and Braille Book Review (BBR) that is produced on computer diskette. New titles will be sent automatically to current subscribers when the new magazine replaces one in the same subject area. For instance, subscribers to the Washington Post Book World will automatically receive the New York Times Book Review. Subscriptions will be needed for other new titles. The July-August editions of TBT and BBR contain revised lists of magazines offered in the appropriate format and information for patrons about actions needed, if any, to subscribe. These lists will be repeated in subsequent issues. Magazines on cassette All children's, young adult, and foreign-language audio magazines will be produced on cassette tape instead of on flexible disc. This group of magazines includes five new juvenile titles, of which two will be recorded together on one cassette. This step is the result of a format study that recommended that all magazines be produced on cassette, as long requested by patrons. The transition to cassette for all magazines will be phased in and is expected to take three to four years, depending largely on funding. Content study The study of braille and audio magazine titles, which began in May 1996 (see News, July-September 1996), was coordinated by Michael Moodie, NLS research and development officer, and conducted by Bosma and Associates International (Bosma). After meeting with NLS staff and an advisory committee consisting of patrons and network librarians, Bosma began the survey phase of the study in June 1996. The consultants mailed surveys to 2,500 magazine program subscribers, 1,000 library patrons who do not subscribe to any NLS magazines, and 143 regional and subregional librarians. Bosma also conducted follow-up telephone interviews with twenty-five network librarians and administered ten focus groups with NLS patrons, nine of them with magazines users and one with patrons who don't get magazines. Response rates for the mailed surveys were as follows: braille users, 46.8 percent; audio users, 53.4 percent; patrons who don't get magazines, 39.8 percent; and librarians, and 61.5 percent. Results reported by Bosma indicate overall satisfaction with the NLS magazine program, with 86 percent of braille users and 78 percent of audio users indicating that they are generally "satisfied" with the program. Approximately half of braille readers and 40 percent of audio readers expressed a moderate to strong desire for new titles. When asked to indicate the three subject areas in which they were most interested, braille readers most frequently chose cooking, mystery/detective fiction, and book reviews; audio readers' most frequent choices were mystery/detective fiction, news/current events, and history. Readers also indicated interest in a broad range of other subject areas. Audio readers strongly supported a cassette rather than a flexible-disc format. Of the patrons who do not subscribe to NLS magazines, 50 percent indicated that they were unaware of the magazine program. Other reasons included choosing not to read magazines (16 percent) and dislike of the flexible-disc format (50 percent). The advisory committee held its final meeting at NLS on January 30 and 31, 1997, to consider the survey results and make recommendations for new titles. A separate advisory committee on children's magazines met online in December 1996. The overall goal of the study was to create a balanced collection of braille and audio magazines that would meet the reading needs of the greatest number of patrons. Considerable effort was expended by committee members and NLS staff to provide suitable titles in areas identified by the evaluation team and through survey results. Advisory committee on children's magazines Consumer: National Federation of the Blind, Barbara Cheadle Librarians: Albany, New York, regional library, Cassie Hamm; New Jersey regional library, Karen Messick; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, regional library, Kathi Kappel; South Dakota regional library, Connie Sullivan Advisory committee on magazines for adult readers Consumers: American Council of the Blind, Deborah Kendrick; National Federation of the Blind, Sharon Gold; at large, Jay Leventhal and Elizabeth Dougherty Librarians: Midlands Conference, Nancy Walton; Northern Conference, Jane Somers; Southern Conference, Rayhe Puckett; Western Conference, Keri Putnam Audio advisory committee looks at technology The twenty-first century seemed to be on everyone's mind when the National Audio Equipment Advisory Committee convened at NLS March 12-14, 1997. Concerns about digital technology figured prominently in the thirty recommendations submitted by the fifteen-member group representing consumers, librarians, and volunteer repair personnel. Michael Moodie, research and development officer, explained that digital technology is definitely a part of NLS's future, though the medium for the next generation of talking-books has not been named. He briefed the representatives on the standards that were to be proposed at the May 1997 meeting of National Information Standards Organization (NISO), emphasizing that the process for establishing the standards of the technology would take more than two years (see story, above). NLS studio director Margie Goergen-Rood, Production Control Section, and senior electronics specialist George Stockton, Engineering Section, updated the group on projects they are undertaking. Goergen-Rood heads the digital original mastering and duplication experiment, while Stockton is testing digital talking-book computer simulation. Recommendations Consumers were concerned that "future talking-book technology" be able to  handle footnotes,  announce the machine's serial number, and  spell words on request. They also asked that new cassette magazines be "tactually different" from book cassettes and that they be enclosed in easy-to-open packaging. Finally they requested that the twenty-first-century equipment be "reliable, lightweight, and compact." Network librarians emphasized the need for the new equipment to eliminate usage barriers by removing the speed-selection feature, using bolder and larger type and braille labels on switches, and having the machine play all four sides of a cassette as the E-1 cassette machine does. They also requested that audio introductory material spell out author names and keywords in titles, in light of our diverse population and the possibility of lost labels, and that NLS pay special attention to the needs of our growing population of older Americans. The librarians commended NLS for  its budget request to increase production of cassette-book machines in 1998 and  the Volunteer Training Recognition Project. The Telephone Pioneers and Elfun repair representatives also commended NLS on the Volunteer Repair Project and on improving the "cleanability of CBMs." They asked that NLS  purchase amplifier board testers,  encourage libraries to clean machines before submitting them for service,  reduce NLS's turnaround time on back orders, and  develop a battery-charging system to accommodate repair services of various sizes. In general Other topics on the agenda were of a routine nature and included the production of C-1s, C-2s, batteries, solar chargers, and extension levers; the equipment inventory status; and the magazine studies. (photo caption: Network representatives (left to right) Rebecca Sherrill, Cecilia Marlow, Gordon Reddic, and Paul Jacobsen ponder their contributions to the committee report. Photo by Yusef El-Amin.) (photo caption: Repair representatives on the committee are (left to right) Carl Gingrich, J. Walter Alfred, Gerald Adamson, Richard Iversen, and Robert Smith. Photo by Yusef El-Amin.) (photo caption: Consumer representatives (left to right) Bonnie Peterson, Carolyn Garrett, and Corrine Blank share their opinions with the committee. Photo by Yusef El-Amin.) National Audio Equipment Advisory Committee Members Consumer representatives: American Council of the Blind, Carolyn Garrett; Blinded Veterans Association, Corrine Blank; National Federation of the Blind, Bonnie Peterson; Northern Region, John Farina; Western Region, Fred Mansfield Network library representatives: Midlands Region, Cecilia Marlow; Northern Region, Gordon Reddic; Southern Region, Rebecca Sherrill; Western Region, Paul Jacobsen Telephone Pioneers representatives: Midlands Region, Gerald Adamson; Northern Region, Carl Gingrich; Southern Region, J. Walter Alfred; Western Region, Richard Iversen Elfun representative: Robert A. Smith NLS orientations reach 566 network staff members Five hundred sixty-six staff members from network libraries throughout the country have attended three-day orientations at NLS from 1979 through 1996, the years for which records have been kept. During that time, library personnel from forty-five states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have attended the orientations. "The orientations provide an opportunity for staff in the field to see how the process of providing special-format materials works at the national level," explains Devon Skeele, network consultant, who coordinates the orientation program. She adds that, because NLS handles the development and production of materials while local libraries distribute the books and machines to patrons, it is important that the two parts of the program work smoothly together. "I wish I had known more about NLS when I was working as a network librarian," she says. "It would have helped me to understand `the big picture' behind policies or decisions made in Washington." An orientation participant echoes that thought: "Now I can see NLS as a group of helpful people, instead of as a nameless, faceless organization, as it had seemed to me before, and I think that will prove a real help in future work in the system." During the three-day orientation session, participants first view a videotape outlining NLS operations. Then chiefs of the two divisions, Materials Development and Network, explain the activities under their direction. Participants also meet with section heads and staff officers to receive information on such topics as automation activities, research and development, and outreach, as well as on the process of producing books. Participants follow this process from the selection of individual books through the shipment of finished books to the libraries. A visit to the NLS recording studio and an informal meeting with the NLS director are included. Orientation participants have opportunities for unstructured interaction with NLS staff and for exchange of ideas with each other. "A most valuable aspect of this orientation was the sharing done by the participants," said one attendee, "sharing problems, program ideas, PR ideas, and so forth." Over the years, the orientations have become more formalized. What began as sessions scheduled more or less ad hoc has recently developed into sessions held regularly four times per year. Participants can now also arrange for a tour of the Library of Congress. The sessions are open to personnel serving in libraries for the blind and physically handicapped throughout the country. Staff members are selected by their own libraries, which also fund their travel and lodging. Each orientation session usually includes about eight to ten participants. Most staff members have worked at their libraries at least six months before attending the orientation. "I found that having been at the library for a few months was an asset in understanding and interpreting the presentations," said one. "I suggest a `delayed start' for everyone." "I think it's particularly wise to send people who have worked for a library at least a year," said another. For more information about the orientations, libraries can contact Devon Skeele, Network Services Section, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20542. (photo caption: Robert McDermott (second from right), NLS automation officer, leads a discussion on the many NLS automation activities and their current status with orientation attendees (from left) Tameka Lyons, NLS; Christie Briggs, Montana; Beverly Lee, Wyoming; Constance Pirtle, Wisconsin; and Robert Joyal, New York City. Photo by Yusef El-Amin.) Regional conferences held Network librarians in the four NLS Conferences convene in their separate regions in odd-numbered years, alternating with the national conference held in even-numbered years. Midlands/South. The Midlands and Southern Conferences met together in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on April 27-30. The theme of the conference was "Making The Connection." The keynote speaker, Jake Williams, spoke on "The Personal Experiences of a Talking Book Narrator." He was followed by George Kerscher, research fellow with Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic of Montana, who spoke on "RFB&DAdvancing Technologies and Their Use by the Print Disabled Community in a Digital Age: E-Text, Digital Audio, and WWW Access." Tours included a visit to the Oklahoma regional library, the League for the Blind, and the Murrah Building bombing site. Sessions included "Barcoding: Circulation and Equipment Inventory Control: Experiences from the Real World"; "The Story of Narrative Television Network"; "Myths of Management"; "Assistive Technology: Manufacturers Showcase Their Latest"; "How Visually Impaired Travel the Internet" presented by Judy Dixon, NLS consumer relations officer; and two sessions on the Comprehensive Mailing List System (CMLS) presented by Carolyn Sung, chief, NLS Network Division, Robert McDermott, NLS automation officer, and Mike Everette, Data Management Associates. Commonality sessions focused on "Creating Participatory Friends Groups," "Listservs: Finding and Managing Winners/ Avoiding Losers," "Assistive Technology and Public Libraries: A Cooperative Approach," and "Publicizing Your Event." Barbara Perkis, Illinois regional librarian (acting), was elected chair of the Midlands Conference. Dale Propp, Texas regional librarian, was elected chair of the Southern Conference; and Michael Gunde, assistant director of the Florida Bureau of Library Services, was elected vice chair/chair elect. The Southern Conference will meet in Atlanta in 1999. The place for the Midlands Conference has not been set. North. The Northern Conference was held on Long Island, New York, on May 7- 9. Programs included presentations on "Culture, Communications, and Choices" by Marilyn Benoit, staff director, NYNEX Center for Individuals with Disabilities; "Changing Role of Librarians in Helping People with Visual Impairments Access Information" by Gilbert Hennessey, director of educational products and services, The Lighthouse Inc.; a "Demonstration of Prototype Technology" by Kim Charleston, librarian, Perkins School for the Blind; and "What Do You Say to Your Clients When They Ask: How Do I Get on the Net?" by Peter Mikochik, technology consultant. Tours included a visit to Talking Books Plus (Suffolk County subregional library), the Andrew Heiskell Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in New York City, and the Helen Keller National Center in Sands Point, New York. Carol Taylor, Connecticut regional librarian, was elected chair of the Northern Conference. The 1999 conference will be held in the vicinity of Rocky Hill, Connecticut. West. The Western Conference met in Anchorage, Alaska, on May 10-13. The conference theme, "Serving the Unserved and Underserved," reflected the West, which has many disabled people living in very remote areas. The conference focused on how the librarians can better serve distant populations by utilizing new technologies and the Internet to provide better access. The keynote speaker was Dr. Frederic Schroeder, director of the Rehabilitation Services Administration, who provided a national prospective on reaching the unserved and underserved. Other speakers included Margaret Andrewes, advocacy coordinator for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, who spoke on "Building BridgesLibrary Advocacy and Reaching Out," and Judy Dixon, NLS consumer relations officer, who presented "New Technologies and Accessing the Internet." Commonality sessions focused on using technologies more efficiently, setting up a technology center using assistive devices, and using volunteers. NLS staff provided an update on NLS activities including automation, CMLS, copyright, and the magazine studies. Keri Putnam, Nevada regional librarian, assumed the chairmanship of the Western Conference. The next meeting will be in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Network exchange Florida (Bradenton). On January 10, the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Talking Books Service in Manatee County was celebrated at an open house, which was made possible by the generous contributions of talking-book patrons. The Bradenton Talking Books Service was officially designated the first local service in Florida in 1971. In February 1974, under a cooperative agreement between the Manatee and Sarasota County Library Boards and a grant from the state of Florida, Bradenton began service to residents of Sarasota County. When the service began twenty-five years ago, forty-five individuals were enrolled and 106 books were circulated. This past year, some 2,300 residents of Manatee and Sarasota Counties were enrolled and almost 90,000 books were circulated. Participants in the program included Ernie Padgett, Manatee County Administrator, who read a proclamation designating January 1997 as Talking Books Month. Donald John Weber, Florida regional librarian, pointed out that the Bradenton service was the prototype for subregional services in Florida, which now has eleven local libraries. Certificates of appreciation were presented to library volunteers and to the Mana-Sota Lighthouse for the Blind, the Bradenton Division of Blind Services, and the Florida regional library in recognition of their work to provide the "gift of reading." (photo caption: Talking Books volunteer Sue Hardin, accompanied by her guide, Penny, receives a certificate of appreciation from Fred Duda, then subregional librarian. Photo by Jonathan Sabin.) South Carolina (Columbia). The regional library was highlighted in the annual report of South Carolina State Government Quality Network Association. Under the heading "success story," the article outlined the library's achievement of a 100 percent book inspection rate in 1996. A 1995 patron survey identified book inspection as a major need. "We weren't doing anything," says Guynell Williams, regional librarian, "and receiving books that were damaged, incomplete, or not rewound got a lot of complaints." Staff members developed an inspection plan that was implemented in mid-August 1995, with September 1995 the first full month of inspection. By December 1995, the new process yielded a 99 percent rate, and 100 percent was achieved for ten of the eleven months of 1996 covered in the report. Williams explains that the entire staff of nine participates in inspection, which takes each person from one and a half to two hours a week. In addition, three volunteers contribute about the same amount of time. "If that doesn't finish all the books," Williams says, "the two mail clerks do what's needed to keep things current." "We're pleased with the staff response to a need patrons identified, and that the plan achieved the goal so quickly," says Williams. (photo caption: The South Carolina regional's tape inspection team members (from left) staffer Billy Wilson, volunteer Rob Moberg, and staffer Mark Frick doing what they do best: inspect books.) Illinois (Chicago). The Chicago Public Library building, at 400 South State Street, is the new home of the city's Talking Book Center. Chicago's subregional library moved to the new location at the Harold Washington Library Center in the Chicago Public Library building last April and celebrated the move with a grand opening on June 7. It was a festive occasion, hosted by Talking Book Center head Mamie Grady and Illinois regional BPH librarian Barbara Perkis, and attended by other officials from the Illinois State Library and from the city, as well as NLS headquarters representatives and a host of supporters and volunteers. Patrons and staff of the talking-book program have hailed the move as a great improvement. The new center is more centrally located in the city than the former Roosevelt Road location and easier to reach by car or public transportation. The Chicago Public Library building itself provides greater physical access to disabled visitors, and the center's collections and equipment are easier to use. "The former Talking Book Center had the technology patrons needed," explained regional librarian Barbara Perkis, "but the materials were underused." Patrons have expressed their approval of the new location, too. "Walk-in traffic has already doubled," one staff member reported in July. The center's staff has been able to extend hours of operation to include evening and Saturday hours. And although this has meant an increased workload for them, it has also brought them many more volunteers eager to assist visually impaired readers. In fact, with its new location in the city's popular public library, interest in the talking-book program, in general, appears to have increased. North Carolina patron gives up an old friend Editor's note: The North Carolina newsletter Tar Heel Talk... has begun running articles by patronsas many as space permits and editor Gary Ray can, in the words of a patron, "con out of" them. Here is what one patron had to share. And the world moves on by Patricia Stone This is the end of an era for me. Today, I am returning my record player to the North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. It has served me well for sixty years, but it is now time for us to part. I received my first talking book on record in 1936. I had just graduated from the Virginia State School for the Blind and was on my way to entering James Madison College. The talking-book machine was part of my college equipment. It was a heavy black box weighing forty pounds and played only the hard discs. It was cumbersome to handle, but it gave me access to some of the college material I needed. I recall one particular night when I was listening to an English assignment in the dark. I was feeling a bit special, since I could read after lights out when the other students could not. I was alone in the dark room when John Knight's voice came on reading The Raven. When his spooky voice boomed "Once upon a midnight dreary..." I became so frightened that I jumped up, turned on the light, and called to my roommate to come and give me reassurance. John Knight truly knew how to read that poem! From then on the talking book was my constant companion. Through college and then during my career as a social worker for the blind, it brought enlightenment and enjoyment to my world. It continued to be an important part of my life through graduate school in Cleveland; for eighteen years thereafter, it served me well as I pursued my career as the coordinator of children's services at the Cleveland Society for the Blind. When I retired in 1979, I brought the "Old Trusty" with me to my favorite stateNorth Carolinawhere I once again began receiving excellent services from the North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. By this time, many of the recorded books were on flimsy discs and books on tape were becoming the core of the talking-book collection. I must tell you, with tongue in cheek, that the talking book brought another kind of reading to me. In the "old days" those responsible for putting books into braille had some kind of misconception that visually impaired people should not have access to "naughty" novels, so we never had the chance to read them. The talking-book sponsors had no such restrictions, and we were able to read the same novels available to sighted people. By now we were on par with the reading world and could even brag a bit that we had just finished a "bestseller" that some of our friends were still on the waiting list to receive in the public libraries. In 1995, the Library of Congress pressed its last book on disc. Magazines are still being produced on records and most of the discs from the past are still part of the collection. It was decided to put all new books on tape. It has often been said that when one door closes, another door opens. Technology has come into its own, yet I look back with a feeling of gratitude for the sixty years I spent with those records.--And the world moves on. (photo caption: Patricia Stone.) Friends of Libraries for Blind and Physically Handicapped Individuals in North America The article reprinted below was accompanied by this letter to the Librarian of Congress: Dr. James Billington, The Librarian of Congress Library of Congress 101 Independence Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20540 Dear Jim, Greetings, I am sending you an article from the 18 April 1997 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, the contents of which your splendid service of books on cassette has in part made possible. I have, with your help, new technological adaptive aids for writing and reading, and a lot of help from my friends and University, been able to continue in my position as chair of Design in the Tisch School of the Arts for fourteen years being legally blind. I encourage and praise your work and contribution to allowing physically challenged students (and teachers) to enter and swim in the main stream. The degree of independence you afford is not only most helpful educationally and professionally but also psychologically. Let me add my own experience and little measure of success as something of my widowers mite of witness to the success of your good and most valuable work. Jim, I thought this could serve as something of an updating of my activities. I have followed your career through the press and with bulletins from our mutual friend, my brother Michael. I send you warm regards and the National Library Service for the Blind sincere and many thanks. With warm best wishes, Lloyd Burlingame, Chair Department of Design Set Designer Turned Scholar Rebuilt Program at NYU With Vision But Not Sight by Lawrence Biemiller IF HIS LIFE WERE A BROADWAY SHOW, Lloyd Burlingame says, critics would complain that the plot was hackneyed: A rare genetic disorder slowly robs a successful New York set designer of his sight, leaving him just enough peripheral vision to avoid bumping into people on the teeming sidewalks of Greenwich Village. "It's sort of like bad playwriting to make a designer lose his vision," chuckles Mr. Burlingame, sitting at his breakfast table while two cats scamper through the sunny apartment, batting Braille labels for new compact disks across the wooden floors. But the critics would have a hard time disliking this show's white-haired lead, a man with a ready laugh, a storyteller's command of anecdotes, and a smile as bright as a Times Square marquee on opening night. Mr. Burlingame is retiring at the end of this semester after 26 years as chairman of the design department of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and while he probably won't win a Tony Award, he has already been handed a Theatre Crafts International Outstanding Achievement Award and will soon receive an N.Y.U. medal for distinguished teaching. Although he had to give up teaching his design classes in the early '80s, he has continued offering courses about music in the theater. He has also learned German and immersed himself in research for a book about Alfred Roller, a Viennese set designer who worked with Gustav Mahler. Surviving 26 years as a department chairman is no mean feat for anyone. "My job is a little like being Noah," Mr. Burlingame says. "I have lions and tigers and bears, and I have to create a peaceable kingdom." Meanwhile, his two Vermese cats race and tumble underfoot, chasing another CD label. "What have they got now?" he asks. A visitor chases down their toy and hands it to Mr. Burlingame. "Walk Mor 49," he says. For someone using Braille, he explains, abbreviating is an important time-saver. "Walk" is Wagner's opera Die Walkre; "Mor" represents the conductor Rudolf Moralt; and "49" is 1949--"the first Ring recorded after the war," he says. "I'm a music freak. The cats get bombarded with Verdi and Wagner." Indeed, his den is lined with shelves that hold hundreds of CD's and cassette tapes. The labels that Clementine and Hugo have been chasing around were commissioned for new additions to the collection. Adding to the den's clutter are boxes of papers that Mr. Burlingame has been moving from his office at N.Y.U., a machine that scans text and reads it aloud, and a computer that reads aloud whatever he writes. Less high-tech is the back of the den's door, where Mr. Burlingame posts reminders written with a black marker in blocky, inch-high letters. Mr. Burlingame grew up in the Washington suburb of Arlington, Va. He was only 12 when he designed his first show, The Apple of His Eye, for the Bailey's Crossroads Theater--"a huge, old, red classic-summer-stock barn," he says. "A real Washington institution." Even so, he says, his parents were "sort of ootchy" about some of the sex farces that Bailey's offered. After all, he was only 12. After graduating from the Carnegie Technical Institute, now Carnegie Mellon University, Mr. Burlingame became the head designer for the Pittsburgh Playhouse--at age 21. At 24 he designed his first Off-Broadway show, Jerome Kern's Leave It to Jane. "It was a hit," Mr. Burlingame says. "It ran 2 1/2 years. I got royalty checks every week. I thought, `What's so hard about this?'" A year later, he found out. What was to have been his first Broadway musical, a show called Lock Up Your Daughters, "opened in New Haven and closed in Boston." Still, having designed a show intended for Broadway gave him credibility. He found plenty of work--designing operas, plays, even "industrials," which he says are "basically like musicals except that instead of Carol Channing coming down a staircase, a new Lincoln comes on center stage." "I used them to pay for the Mozart operas," he says. "Operas are my home base." It was a desire to spend more time on operas and less on sex farces, he says, that led him to accept an offer of a job rebuilding the N.Y.U. graduate design program, which trains not only set designers but also costume and lighting designers. The department has about 75 graduate students, as well as a faculty of which Mr. Burlingame has always been particularly proud. Mr. Burlingame had been in the job about six years when his sight began failing. "I drove off a road in East Hampton in a little red VW I had," he says. "It looks like you see everything, but you don't." Ten years passed, and much of his vision eroded, before his doctors reached a diagnosis: Stargart's disease, a recessive genetic disorder. "It's been a real adventure," he says. The university has been "splendid," but even so, he says, "you're constantly asking yourself, `Am I just being carried along?' I'm not the least bit interested in living my life as a stunt. "When this thing hits you and you're still relatively young and pretty much identified with what you do, all of a sudden you go from being a somebody to being a nobody. The New York Times used to say I was good. You ask yourself, `What value does my life have if I can't do what I set out to do?'" The answer, he says, came in a dream. "There was a black preacher and two of me, a me in a suit and the other one with a cane. The preacher looked over at the me with the cane and then said to the other me, `You have got to help your handicapped brother.' That was a big, big dream." You have to decide, Mr. Burlingame says, that "the center of you" is not the body that has failed you in some way. "That isn't who you are--that's the trick." Over lunch, he can't resist telling stories on himself. Sitting down at a formal dinner with John Brademas when Mr. Brademas was N.Y.U.'s president, Mr. Burlingame poked his fork gingerly into what he thought was his entree and instead put the garnish in his mouth--a lemon wedge. There was nothing to do but pretend he was a lemon lover. Two years ago he lost "the last chunks of central vision," although he expects to keep a degree of peripheral vision. Technology and [the Library of Congress] help tremendously--he listens to four or five books a week--but still his life demands a heightened level of concentration that can wear him out if he tried to do too much. "It's like being on a budget," he says. "You have to figure out what's important and what's not." Barbara Cokorinos, the design department's program coordinator, keeps a sharp eye on things for him. As soon as he comes in, Ms. Cokorinos gives him a rapid-fire briefing on what he needs to handle and what she has taken care of in his name. He leads a visitor to a meeting at which next year's graduate assistants are chosen, then to a tete-a-tete about financial aid at which he checks up on university politics and confers about strategies. He remembers what others would want in writing: names of students, last year's budget figures, and more. He doesn't go out much at night now, except with friends, but during the day he's a regular at N.Y.U.'s gym and at neighborhood restaurants. After he retires, he plans to spend half of each year in Vienna, doing research for his book on Roller and Mahler and the avant-garde--grist for the mill, as he would put it. "I'm hanging my book on a production of Tristan und Isolde they did in 1903," he says, happily. He adds that the archive he uses is in the Palais Lobkowitz, where Beethoven premiered his "Eroica" symphony. Which, now that he's mentioned it, brings up an interesting point: Beethoven was almost entirely deaf when he composed his later works, including the Symphony No. 9. Call that a hackneyed plot if you like, but no one complains about the way it turned out in the end, any more than people in the design department here complain about hearing Mr. Burlingame's laughter in the halls. (Copyright 1997, the Chronicle of Higher Education, reprinted with permission.) (photo caption: Lloyd Burlingame.) About the Friends This 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 is associated with national library programs and encourages local Friends groups in the United States and Canada. Individuals, institutions, and corporations may join Friends. For more information, contact Friends of Libraries for Blind and Physically Handicapped Individuals in North America, Inc., 1555 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036 USA; phone (202) 462-9600; fax (202) 462- 9043. Native American librarians tour NLS Twenty librarians representing several Native American tribes were introduced to the talking-book program in March. Outreach to Native Americans is one of the current NLS priority areas, along with adding more Native American literature to the collection. The librarians came from Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Washington state. Devon Skeele, NLS network consultant, coordinated the orientation. The librarians visited NLS as part of a tour organized by Kathy Price, Office of Library Programs at the U.S. Department of Education. At the librarians' request, NLS is preparing a press release about the talking-book program to be used in their respective newsletters. To further awareness of each other and to promote outreach services, NLS is also sending names and addresses of tribal libraries to appropriate cooperating libraries. Britain's National Library for the Blind: Braille service for more than a century Evolving from a sitting room and an auto showroom, the National Library for the Blind has been lending braille reading material to the British since 1882. It all started in the front room at the home of one Martha Arnold, a mid-Victorian "maiden lady" who wanted "to bring solace and light...and raise the literacy standard of the blind." Some 114 years later, braille literacy is being promoted by new chief executive Margaret Bennett. Bennett recently took over from Pat Lynn, who realized a lifelong dream by taking an early retirement to move to Scotland. Bennett has had nystagmus, a congenital eye defect, since birth. It makes her extremely nearsighted; she can't drive, and she reads print with a magnifying glass. Before Lynn left, she oversaw distribution of one thousand braille, Moon-type, large-print, and print/braille volumes a day from the library's Stockport headquarters to readers in the United Kingdom and overseas. In 1995-1996 alone, the library gained more than nine hundred readers. Over the years the library has had a somewhat tumultuous history in both space management and administration. Librarian emeritus Dr. W.A. Munford is writing a retrospective of the institution's history focusing on buildings and interaction, or lack thereof, between the library's two branches. Initially, Miss Arnold's books circulated only to residents of London. A northern library had been founded by the Manchester and Salford Blind Aid Society. It became the "northern branch" in 1917 and served eight nearby counties, leaving the rest of Great Britain and overseas to its London cousin, which had moved several times before settling on a building in Westminster and later at its current Stockport location. Meanwhile, the northern branch made do with a former car showroom. The two branches did not work closely. They had separate staff and governing committees, and each was headed by its own secretary-librarian. The branches were completely independent through 1950, though the London branch later housed a governing council that oversaw the activities of both branches. The governing council decided in 1950 that the northern branch needed to be renovated. But beforehand, it said, a chief should be hired to manage the library as one autonomous unit. Dr. Munford became librarian and director general in 1954 and in the same year issued a report saying the northern branch needed remodeling and most books should be moved to the more spacious Westminster facility. The northern branch committee applauded the remodeling but balked when it came to moving books. "Next came the forecast...that long delays were inevitable were a copy of a book needed by a Manchester reader available only in Westminster. I felt bound to agree... granted the assumption that the telephone had never been invented and had NLB service not been entirely postal." Since then, the library has been running more smoothly as it kept up with changes brought about by computers. It now has a state-of-the-art system and has set a standard for braille excellence. The library's publicity department, which is stressing a new braille literacy program, accounted for 6 percent of the library's 1.3 million expenditure in 1995-1996 (NLB is funded completely by donations, legacies, and investment income). One of the library's most avid readers, Joe Bollard, did just that when he rode his bicycle 750 miles from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town with more than one hundred Irish participants in a sponsored bicycle ride. The cyclists met Nelson Mandela during the October 1996 tour. For his part, Bollard had a lot of reading to catch up on when he returned: the NLB had just begun swapping braille volumes with the South African Library for the Blind. The free trade doubles the number of books available to readers in both countries. So the library that started in Miss Arnold's sitting room eventually outgrew branch standoffishness, remodeled its automobile showroom, kept abreast of the ever-changing computer industry, and achieved a global reach. With its renewed focus on braille literacy, the 114-year-old institution is at once returning to its roots and reaching beyond Miss Arnold's wildest dreams. (This report was culled from the National Library for the Blind's newsletter Hands On, its 1995-1996 annual review, and press releases.) (For further information, contact National Library for the Blind, Cromwell Road, Bredbury, Stockport SK6 2SG, United Kingdom; telephone: 0161 494 0217; fax: 0161 406 6728.) International briefs South Africa (Durban). South Africa's new national constitution has been recorded and is now available on cassette. An audio version of the historic document was recently sent to NLS/BPH by Pauline M. Hoffman, National Director of Tape Aids for the Blind, which is part of South Africa's National Library Service for the Blind and Print-Handicapped. Hoffman described her government's dual plan to implement real democracy and, at the same time, to work toward universal adult literacy and to guarantee the right of access to information. The new approach is in keeping with the philosophy of Tape Aids for the Blind, "that all visually impaired people have the right to read," she said. The new constitution has been recorded in several of South Africa's eleven official languages. It is available in a language of choice for all readers, including those who are visually impaired. (photo caption: Pauline Hoffman (left), national director of Tape Aids for the Blind, and Andrea Williams, manager of the Cape Town branch of Tape Aids for the Blind, South Africa.) Malaysia (Penang). After more than seventy years in operation, St. Nicholas Home for the Visually Handicapped has developed an impressive array of services that reach patrons well beyond Penang. In addition to its primary school, vocational training classes, and program of care for the aged, the library at St. Nicholas Home produces books and other documents in braille, books on tape, and recorded newscasts. These materials are loaned to visually impaired persons at St. Nicholas Home, across Malaysia, and in Brunei and Singapore. St. Nicholas Home also provides brailling services to customers throughout the region and offers computer literacy classes for local residents. The library's talking-book program consists of 240 Malay-language recordings and 719 recordings in English. Some are duplications of tapes available through other sources, but many are produced at St. Nicholas, often relying on volunteers with particular language proficiency. The library's collection of recorded newscasts provides four-cassette sets containing news and articles from recent newspapers and magazines. The library has more than seventy patrons of this English-language service. Computer classes include instruction in MS-DOS, Wordstar, WordPerfect, and Hal screen reader. The library's braille collection has 4,180 volumes--1,370 in English, 1,575 in Malay, and the remainder in other languages of the region. The library staff is also looking for new ways to produce books in braille. At present, most are produced using a Perkins Brailler and reproduced on a thermoform machine. The library also employs volunteers to key in text electronically so the text can be converted into braille on-line. St. Nicholas is also experimenting with electronic processes for both scanning and automatically converting text into braille. The St. Nicholas Library staff's wide-ranging responsibilities would be even more daunting without the help of its loyal volunteers, according to librarian Bhoh Khye Juat. Most volunteers are local citizens, residents of the Penang region. The local chapter of the American Women's Association, which has members from all over the world, also contributes to St. Nicholas's roster of volunteers. (Information from St. Nicholas Home for the Visually Impaired, Annual Report and Accounts, 1995.) India (Delhi). The Shruti Talking Book Project, brainchild of the Yashoda Charitable Trust at the University of Delhi, was established in early 1997 to expand and coordinate talking-book programs throughout India. The Shruti project will increase the number of talking books available to visually impaired persons by helping volunteers at participating high schools and colleges establish talking-book collections in their local libraries. To do this, the Shruti project staff will visit each institution, help student volunteers set up a recording studio, and train the volunteers to produce high-quality tapes of books selected for their collections. The Shruti project staff will also train the volunteers to manage the collections by cataloging, labeling, and storing the tapes carefully. The student volunteers will then manage each collection as a self-sustaining, autonomous library. The Shruti project staff, with support from the Yashoda Charitable Trust, will also establish a central location for collecting and storing information about talking-book collections nationwide. They will receive a master copy of each recorded volume from each participating institution, and they will then be able to provide information about talking-book collections to patrons across the country. The center will also be able to direct patrons to the nearest location where a particular book can be borrowed. The Shruti Talking Book collections will not be the first such collections in India; an agency in Bombay began recording books almost twenty-five years ago. But the number of recorded volumes has always been low, only a few lending libraries have been established, and these centers have generally operated independently of one another. By helping to overcome this isolation and decentralization, the Shruti Talking Book Project will greatly improve access to print media for visually impaired persons throughout India. (For further information, contact the Yashoda Charitable Trust, Post Office Box 2124, Delhi 110007, India; telephone: 91-11-725-8467.) Botswana. Faith Macheng of the Botswana National Library Service visited NLS in early April to learn about NLS policies and procedures. Botswana is establishing its first nationwide program of library services for blind and disabled citizens. In addition to NLS, Macheng visited federal and state government offices concerned with disability assistance and rehabilitation programs. France (Paris). The English Language Library for the Blind (ELLB) has a collection of more than 1,200 recorded titles, which it lends to visually impaired subscribers in France and elsewhere. This collection began as a project of the Junior Guild of the American Cathedral in Paris in 1959 to assist a Nazi death-camp survivor who was living in France. Its mission soon expanded, and its recordings became popular in the international business community and among other English speakers in the region. Today most ELLB subscribers are in western Europe, but tapes are sent to people as far away as Egypt, Israel, and even Australia. The ELLB receives no support from the French government. Instead, it relies on subscription fees, volunteer fundraisers, contributions by individuals and nonprofit organizations, and donations of corporate sponsors. The annual subscription fee is about 300 French francs (roughly the cost of producing one recorded volume). The ELLB founder, the Junior Guild of the American Cathedral in Paris, still provides major support. Other assistance comes from the American Foreign and Cultural Union, the British Embassy in Paris, the British Commonwealth Women's Association, and several other nonprofit organizations. There are also several major corporate sponsors. The ELLB collection includes a broad assortment of fiction and nonfiction, and about two hundred titles are added each year. Volunteers do most of the recording, and with its international roster of volunteers, the collection represents an impressive array of English-language accents on tape. Volunteers also duplicate tapes, maintain mailing lists, prepare mailings, and handle requests from subscribers. Mitzi Friedlander reads...and reads...and reads Popular narrator Mitzi Friedlander has become the first person in the history of the talking-book program to record one thousand books. Her record-breaking book was Beyond the Double Night, a biography of Hames Morrison Heady, a deaf-blind Kentuckian who was a writer, inventor, and poet. The books's author, Ken Thompson, lives in Spencer County, Kentucky. A narrator for thirty-five years, Friedlander was honored in a ceremony at the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 28. APH is one of four contractors who produce recorded books for NLS (see Projects & Experiments, April-June 1997). APH opened its studios in 1936, almost immediately after recorded books were added to the NLS program. Friedlander is familiar to the NLS readership as the voice of such classics as Gone with the Wind and Charlotte's Web. In 1993 she was honored with the Alexander Scourby Award for excellence in the narration of nonfiction titles. She is an outstanding member of the Louisville theater community, has appeared with Actors Theater, the Kentucky Opera Association, and the Louisville Children's Theater. She holds an M.A. in theater arts from the University of Louisville. (photo caption: Narrator Mitzi Friedlander expresses her appreciation at the APH awards ceremony.) 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, Robert Fistick, Yvonne French, Ruth Nieland, and George Thuronyi