Insights
Spring, 2008
Inside this Issue:
Bookworm
A Note from the State Librarian
It is with great regret that I announce Faith Lundgren will be retiring from her position as Director of the NJ Library for the Blind and Handicapped. Faith has done a wonderful job representing NJSL/LBH to New Jersey residents, LBH customers, service organizations, government and funders. She has successfully managed the Grounds for Sculpture partnership, the Fall Festival, strategic planning, the Regional Technical Assistance Center opening, and much, much more. Our Assistant Director, Adam Szczepaniak, will be serving as Interim Director until the position is filled.
A Note from the Director
I am excited and also a little sad to announce my retirement. I will be leaving the Library on June 18, headed for my retirement home in the Adirondacks. I have cherished the opportunity to serve you, and will miss working with both customers of the library and the staff.
Best regards,
Faith Lundgren
Reading on the Decline?
Not so in the Blind and Physically Handicapped Communities!
A study by the National Endowment for the Arts indicated a 10 percent decline in literary reading between 1982 and 2002, a total loss of 20 million readers. Conversely, participants in the Talking Book Program read more than the general population by a significant amount. The average National Library Service customer reads seven times more than most sighted readers, an average of 35 books a year. While LBH customers read more books, their tastes do not differ much from sighted readers, according to the NLS. With more than 400,000 titles, the Talking Book catalog offers something for every bookworm from kids to seniors.
Newsletter in Spanish?
Would you prefer to receive our newsletter in Spanish? Please call 800-582-5945 and let us know.
NFB-NEWSLINE
Would you like a newspaper with your morning cup of coffee? NFB-NEWSLINE® added its 250th newspaper AND it is still growing. Four Spanish-language newspapers are now available to all subscribers. The service handles thousands of phone calls each day for people across the country that now access daily newspapers and magazines using the toll-free centralized call-in center. This service enables those who cannot read conventional print to have access to all content offered on NFB-NEWSLINE® when traveling throughout the United States twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. http://www.nfb.org/nfb/newspapers_by_phone.asp.
Another Way to Get All the News – Audiovision!
Did you know you could subscribe to Audiovision and listen to broadcasts of local newspapers and grocery ads? Audiovision is available without charge to any resident of New Jersey who lives within the Audiovision broadcast area and is unable to read standard print because of a visual or physical disability.
Each listener receives a pre-tuned receiver. Audiovision airs seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Broadcasts schedule features local programming Monday through Friday from noon to midnight. Additional programming is provided by other radio reading services from other states.
Volunteers at our Trenton studios read newspapers. Volunteer opportunities for on-air readers, clerical assistants, and technicians are available. For more information or to register for the Audiovision Radio Reading Service call (800)792-8322.
Looking for Something New to Read?
NLS annually publishes a catalog of Audiobooks produced in the prior year. The catalogs provide book descriptions arranged in categories such as “Animals, “Mysteries” and “Travel”. If you would like a copy of Cassette Books 2003, 2004, 2005 or 2006, please call us and we will send one out to you.
We have subject catalogs of books in Large Print that you may also request. The African American Authors and Large Print Cookbooks were both revised recently. Ask your Reader Advisor for additional catalogs.
Learn to Use a Computer
Did you know that you can learn to use a computer free of charge?
You can learn to send and receive email and surf the Web using assistive technology hardware and software such as screen readers and screen magnifiers. The classes, offered by DeWitt & Associates, are sponsored by the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and are located statewide at public libraries and other community facilities. To enroll, or for information, call 877-447-6500,
X 227, or email info@4dewitt.com.
Volunteers are Stars
LBH honored the power of volunteer service and celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the Audiovision Radio Reading Service at LBH on Friday, April 18. LBH honored its dedicated corps of 157 volunteers with a Volunteer Appreciation Dinner and Awards Ceremony, “A Night of Volunteer Stars." These volunteers, from teens to senior citizens, contributed 3,499 hours of service in 2007 to our customers. The event bridged National Library Week (April 13-19) and National Volunteer Week (April 27-May 3). This biennial event is sponsored by the Friends of the Library.
Be Prepared
Everyone needs to plan for emergencies, and know what to expect in the event of an emergency. A person with a disability, or someone who works with, lives with, or assists a person with a disability, can use the booklet: “Preparing for Disaster for People with Disabilities and other Special Needs,” a brochure available from FEMA. It contains information that can help you organize a personal disaster plan and includes plans for the care of service animals and or pets during a disaster. This booklet is designed with checklists and extra space for you or your helper to use to organize information that will help you prepare for a disaster.
Go to the FEMA webpage to select a text file of this document:
http://www.fema.gov/plan/prepare/specialplans.shtm.
If you would like a hard copy of the brochure, please call the Library at:
800-792-8322 and we will send one to you.
Library Holidays Observed
Memorial Day Weekend |
Saturday, May 24, 2008 |
Memorial Day |
Monday, May 26, 2008 |
Library Closed Saturdays |
July - August |
Independence Day |
Friday, July 4, 2008 |
Labor Day |
Monday, September 1, 2008 |
Columbus Day Weekend |
Saturday, October 11, 2008 |
Columbus Day |
Monday, October 13, 2008 |
Election Day |
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 |
Veterans Day |
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 |
Thanksgiving |
Thursday, November 27, 2008 |
Thanksgiving Weekend |
Saturday, November 29, 2008 |
Christmas |
Thursday, December 25, 2008 |
Christmas Weekend |
Saturday, December 27, 2008 |
Cassette Machines and Books on Tape
While we have received the very last allotment of new cassette players, LBH expects to be able to continue service to our customers until the new Digital Talking Books and Players are made available. We’ll be providing repaired tape players that have been returned by other customers. If you have a cassette player that you are not using, please return if to us so that we will have enough equipment on hand to meet the demand.
When we do receive the Digital Talking Books and Players, the first ones will be reserved for Veterans, and for customers who are one hundred years of age and older. As we receive monthly allotments of machines, they will become available for general distribution.
We do not plan to accept requests for the new Digital Talking Book Players until closer to the time when we actually have the equipment to distribute. There is no need to contact us with requests at this time. Until the digital machines and books arrive, we will be sending you cassette players and Talking Books on tape as we do now.
Did you know we are a machine lending agency of the National Library Service, and as such are responsible for keeping track of all equipment distributed to Talking Book customers? If you are no longer using the loaned equipment, including books, players and headphones, they must be returned to NJLBH in Trenton. If a family member or friend has this responsibility, let them know that there is no postage required when returning items “Free Matter” by U.S. mail. Occasionally our equipment items are donated to Goodwill, put in a yard sale, or simply tossed away. Since the tape players and recorded books are the property of the U.S. Government, please make every effort to get them back to us. If you have any question about where or how to return items, please call us for information. 1-800-792-8322.
SAVE THE DATE:
2008 Blind and Visually Impaired Awareness Night,
July 25th with the Trenton Thunder.
War and Picnics Spring
2008 Bookworm Column by Patt Ferrari
Memorial Day is more than just
firing up the grill for that first BBQ or breaking out the white sandals.
Memorial Day is a day set aside to remember the sacrifices of our men and women
in uniform. Usually I tell you where you can get great stories. In this issue,
I will also take this opportunity to let our uniformed men and women know where
they can tell their own stories.
NJN Network Local Projects
Initiative
NJN is looking for photos, video, film
and stories of both living and fallen WWII Veterans from
Ongoing is the Veterans History
Project, which collects and preserves personal stories and other documents
from
at 1-888-371-5848 or www.loc.gov/vets.
If history were taught the way the following books describe
it, we’d all have been history majors. The War of American Independence is told as a breathless, fast-paced
action novel in 1776 (RC 60330, LT 24900) by David
McCullough. Imagine trying to run a war with people you’ve never met, suspecting
that maybe that guy over your right shoulder is working behind your back to get
you fired. Imagine moving out with
10,000 of your best buddies, and having no Route 1, no Turnpike and no Golden
Arches. Make it February and snowy and you’ll understand why it took 40 days to
go from Fort Lee to
Howard Fast wrote quick reads about the two sides of the
Revolution, The Hessian (LT 1481, RC 17645) and April Morning (LT 161, RC 43072, B580). Told through the eyes of 15 year olds, both
detail the struggle to understand the forces moving around them. The Hessian presents the role of the
Quakers in contrast to a young German drummer’s thoughts. April Morning describes the individual
choices to fight for freedom or for the King made by family members who faced
each other on
Abel Jones, late of Queen
More modern are the wildly popular series by W.E.B Griffin,
Tom Clancy and Patrick Robinson. The
first book of each series below is listed on the checklist. William Edmund
Butterworth III, known to us as W.E.B. Griffin, has written The Honor Bound series featuring Cletus
Frade of the WWII Office of Strategic Services in Buenos Aires during 1942-43;
and Men at War, which also features
the OSS in WWII. Marine careers followed
from Parris Island to
For lighter fare as summer approaches, Christina Skye has
written a delightful series called Code
Name: Romance. These books don’t need to be read in order. All take place
on the West Coast, and feature FBI undercover types. Dogs, cats and koala bears
appear for all you pet lovers! Don’t want a lot of books by the same author, and
want a little romance and adventure? Think Lucille Ball meets James Bond and
you’ll have Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination (RC 58550, LT 24323) a romp through the Caribbean and Middle East with stops in
War and Picnics -
Bookworm Spring 2008 Checklist
Formats: RC= cassette LT=Large
print BR=Braille
|
|
1776 |
RC
60330 ___ LT 24900 ___ |
April Morning |
RC
43072 ___ LT 161
___ B 580__ |
The Hessian |
RC
17645 ___ LT 1481 ___ |
Owen Parry’s Abel Jones Series |
|
Faded Coat of Blue |
RC
50818 ___ |
Shadows of Glory |
RC
58243 ___ |
Call Each River …. |
RC
58265 ___ |
Honor’s Kingdom |
RC
57524 ___
|
W.E.B. Griffin
|
|
Honor Bound |
RC
37933 ___ |
Men at War |
RC
45119 ___ |
Semper Fi |
RC
25064 ___ |
Tom Clancy |
|
Without Remorse |
RC
37058 ___ LT 18411 ___ |
Patriot Games |
RC
26015 ___ LT 21857 ___ BR 7162 ___ |
The Bear & the Drag |
RC
50854 ___ LT 23401 ___ |
Naval Series: Nimitz Class |
RC
46464 ___ |
Naval Series: Kilo Class |
RC
47774 ___ |
Code name: Romance
|
|
Code Name: Nanny |
RC 61434 ___ |
Code Name: Princess |
RC 62027 ___ |
Code Name: Baby |
RC 62525 ___ |
Code Name: Blondie |
RC 64059 ___ |
Olivia Joules and … |
RC
58550 ___ LT 24323 ___ |
Name: ________________________________________________
Address:_______________________________________________
Email:_________________________________________________
