Hoosier Highlights
Lissa Shanahan, Indiana Regional Librarian
Carole Rose, Editor
317-232-3684 or 1-800-622-4970
e-mail: www.lbph@library.in.gov
Volume XXXI No. 2
Spring 2008
Service on Saturday
We are pleased to announce that a Talking Books staff member will be at the Indiana State Library on Saturdays from 8 AM-4 PM to answer your phone calls and provide customer service should you wish to visit the library. Although the State Library has observed Saturday hours for the past three years, Saturday service for our patrons began on March 8, 2008. So far the response has been positive.
Each Saturday that the State Library is open, a different Talking Books staff member will be in the building. You may reach that person by calling either 232-3684 or (800) 622-4970. Because the State Library does not operate with a full staff on Saturday, the Talking Books representatives will be answering the phones for other work areas and will not be using the familiar "Talking Books" greeting. For example, when Pam Cook is working, she will answer the phone with: "Indiana State Library, this is Pam. May I help you." If a staff member from another part of the library should answer your call, please be patient and someone from Talking Books will be with you shortly.
If you are unable to visit the library during the week, you can now come on Saturday. However, the Senate Street entrance is closed and you will need to use the Ohio street entrance. If you want to pick up books or a replacement player, you might want to call ahead so we can have everything ready for you. And of course you are always welcome to come to the library even if you don't call ahead; we enjoy meeting and visiting with our patrons.
The library is closed on Saturdays that fall immediately before or after a state or federal holiday. It is always closed the Saturdays before Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Easter Sunday. The library is also closed on Thanksgiving weekend and during the Christmas season when necessary. Check the State Library web site www.library.in.gov for a complete list of closings. Saturday closings are also included on our Hoosier Highlights calendar.
2008 Indiana Vision Expo
We've got good news for those of you who attended our 2006 and/or 2007 Indiana Vision Expo. There will be a 2008 Indiana Vision Expo-but not in April. The Expo will be held at the Indiana State Library on Saturday, September 27, from 10 AM until 3 PM.
If you've not been to one of our expos, why not join us in September. The purpose of the Indiana Vision Expo is to introduce our patrons, their families and friends, service providers, educators, health care professionals, and other interested consumers to a variety of products and services designed to enable persons with vision loss to achieve independence.
Currently, twenty-five exhibitors will be attending this year's event. The list includes four first-time participants: The American Printing House for the Blind, Humanware Inc., the National Braille Press, and the Hadley School for the Blind.
The American Printing House (APH) produces textbooks and other educational materials, as well as general interest books and magazines for children and adults with vision loss. The organization also sells items for the classroom, the workplace, the home, and recreation. Representatives will be bringing specially designed board games, puzzles, and some exciting and challenging games to be played on the computer. The display will entertain all ages. You'll also want to take a look at a new and powerful notetaker which can either be held in the hand or used as a laptop.
Humanware, based in Canada, manufactures and distributes MP3 players, Daisy players, magnifiers, GPS systems, notetakers, and the new, popular Victor Reader Stream, the hand-held digital player that plays many types of digital books, including the NLS downloadable titles. It also plays music and can be used as an audio recorder. The distributor for our area will beat the expo and will offer a discount to anyone wishing to purchase the Stream.
The National Braille Press sells affordable Braille books and magazines, including print/Braille children's books. Many of the adult titles are available as a port-a-book-files that can be read using a Braille notetaker. NBP also sells gift items such as refrigerator magnets and Braille bracelets.
The Hadley School for the Blind is a distance educator for people in 100 countries. It offers free classes to visually impaired students and their families and affordable tuition classes to blindness professionals. Hadley also hosts online seminars on relevant topics such as shopping, budgeting, gardening, healthy eating etc.
During the 2007 Indiana Vision Expo, Dr. Richard Windsor from the Low Vision Center of Indianapolis gave a presentation on breakthroughs in the treatment of macular degeneration. The presentation was so well-received that Dr. Windsor will be the featured speaker at the 2008 Expo.
A complete exhibitor list and other important Expo information will be featured in the Summer, 2008 issue of Hoosier Highlights. Beginning in May, please visit our Expo web site: indianavisionexpo.org. The site will include profiles of our exhibitors, descriptions of many of the products and services that will be featured at the expo, and other important information.
If you would like to speak with someone about the Indiana Vision Expo, contact Carole Rose, Expo Coordinator, at (317) 232-0609 or (800) 622-4970
e-mail crose@library.in.gov
Plans are underway for a bigger, better Indiana Vision Expo for 2008. Please mark your calendar and join us on September 28.
Indiana Voices
In January, 2008, the Indiana Talking Book and Braille Library launched Indiana Voices, a program funded by a $950,000 grant from the Ruth Lilly Philanthropic Foundation. Volunteer narrators, monitors, and reviewers will narrate and produce books by Indiana authors as well as titles with an Indiana-related theme.
Narrators and monitors will work in the library's state-of-the-art recording studio, using the latest digital equipment. Until the NLS flash memory delivery system is available to network libraries, the material will be produced on cassettes.
Volunteers will be narrating and producing fiction and nonfiction titles for all ages. Plans are also underway to begin producing recorded editions of the following magazines: Outdoor Indiana, the Indiana Magazine of History, and Traces of Indiana History.
Indiana Voices program coordinator, Drake Land, is a recent graduate of Ball State University, with a secondary education major in Social Studies. Although he has only been with us since January, eleven books are already being narrated. Completed titles will appear on the Indiana Voices link on the Talking Book and Braille Library web page. Titles may also be listed in Hoosier Highlights as they become available.
Drake is also recruiting narrators, monitors, and reviewers. Narrators and monitors generally work in the recording studio foran hour once a week. Volunteers need not come to the library to review completed material.
If you know someone who might want to volunteer in one of the above areas, please contact Mr. Land at (317) 232-3683 or e-mail dland@library.in.gov
New Option for Subregional Patrons
In 2004, the Indiana Talking Book and Braille Library began using KLAS, a new automated circulation system which offered our patrons the option to browse our online catalog and access their personal records where they can add books to their request lists or reserve titles to be sent to them in the next day's mail. Patrons served by subregional libraries could browse our catalog but were not able to order their own books-until now.
In February 2008, the libraries in Evansville, Columbus, and Merrillville converted to the KLAS automated system. Now that we're all using the same system, anyone registered with the talking book program can order books online.
An increasing number of readers have either chosen to order their books themselves or has asked family or friends to place orders for them. Other readers were concerned because they thought they could only continue to receive books if they ordered then online. The talking books staff is in the office every day, ready to take your requests or help you select books. Even though you choose to order your books online, please don't hesitate to call, write, email, or visit us. We are a full-service library, ready to meet all your library needs.
If you would like to order your books online, contact the library serving you to get instructions for accessing your patron record. The toll-free phone number for the Columbus subregional is (800) 685-0624. Patrons served by the Evansville subregional may call (866) 645-2536. Since the Northwest Indiana subregional library does not have a toll-free number, patrons may call (800) 622-4970. Remember, if you simply want to browse the catalog, visit www.library.in.gov Click on the catalog link and select the Braille and talking book catalog.
Magazine News
Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Better Homes and Gardens are now available on cassette from the Braille and Talking Book Library. Contact the library to subscribe to these monthly periodicals.
Guideposts, Reminisce, Smithsonian, Redbook, and Good Old Days are among --- magazines available from our library. Unlike the NLS-produced direct-mail magazines, ours are mailed to you in those green cassette containers and must be returned.
To be sure that you are receiving these magazines in a timely fashion, it's best to read and return them as soon as possible Unlike books, which are sent on a return one get one basis, magazines are sent first-come first-serve. Your position on the priority list is determined by how promptly you read and return your magazines. The longer it takes you to read and return your magazines, the longer it will take for you to receive the next issues. An issue will remain on the shelf for one year before it is withdrawn. For example, if you should receive the January issue of a particular magazine which isn't returned until March of the following year, you will be moved to the bottom of the priority list and won't get any more issues of that particular magazine because the previous year's February issue has been withdrawn. You would need to call the library to have your name put back on the priority list for that magazine. Believe it or not, has actually happened to a few patrons. Ideally, the turnaround time for reading and returning a magazine is two weeks. This may not always be possible, but the sooner you return an issue, the sooner you will get another one.
Your Library At Work
Have you ever wondered how many Indiana residents are registered with the Talking Books Program or how many books are circulated during the year? Who are the most popular authors or the most often-requested titles? How are we working to enhance and improve your library service. In this and subsequent issues of this newsletter, We'd like to share some inside information about your library and its mission to offer superior customer service.
At the end of 2007, 8125 individuals and 635 institutions were registered with the Indiana Talking Books Program. The ages of our patrons range from 3 to 107. From October, 2007-September, 2008, the regional and subregional libraries circulated 348,000 recorded, Braille, and large print titles. The most popular author in 2007 was Danielle Steel. Other popular authors included Lillian Jackson Braun, Louis L"Amour, Tamar Meyers, William Johnstone, Beverly Lewis, Zane Grey, and Catherine Coulter.
Our mission, however is to be your full-service library, not just a warehouse that circulates books and magazines. Indiana Vision Expo, Indiana Voices, new Saturday hours, and ordering books online have already been mentioned. TBBL and the subregional libraries encourage our customers to visit us whenever possible. If you can't visit, please keep in touch by phone; we'll do the same. Our libraries also welcome outreach opportunities such as exhibits and speaking engagements. We especially enjoy visiting with our patrons.
TBBL staff is in the process of visiting Indiana's low vision support groups. We have visited three in the past year and will be visiting five more before September. We want to reach every low vision consumer group, so if we've missed your group, please let us know and we will arrange a visit.
Services for children include a summer reading program complete with prizes for everyone and a party at the library. We are also expanding our collection of large print and Braille titles for readers in grades k-4.
More programming is being planned and updates will be featured in upcoming issues of the newsletter. This is your library and we want to know how you feel about the services we currently offer. We welcome suggestions for improving these services or adding new ones. Although we may not be able to act on every recommendation, each one is important to us and will be reviewed.
New Name, New Look
When the first issue of Hoosier Highlights was compiled in 1976, the Indiana Regional Library was known as the Division for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Later we became the Special Services Division, and finally, the Indiana talking Book and Braille Library. And now it's time to give our 32-year-old newsletter a makeover. When you receive the summer issue, our newsletter will feature a new name and a new logo.
Hoosier Highlights doesn't really reflect the library's name and its mission. A name has been suggested, but if you would like to submit a suggestion, pleas contact editor Carole Rose before June 1, 2008. The summer issue will also feature a new logo
One aspect of the newsletter that has changed over the past few years is its content. In addition to library news, we began including informative, entertaining articles. The response has been positive. Readers share their personal experiences and accomplishments in our Patron Profile column. This feature is so popular that we plan to include it more often. In the summer, 2008 issue, we will profile the Optical Optimists, the Madison County area low vision support group. We plan to interview and profile other support groups during the coming year
Is there specific information you would like to see in the newsletter. Do you have suggestions for an informative article. Is there someone you want to nominate for our patron profile feature. If so, please contact Carole Rose at (317) 232-0609 or (800) 622-4970
e-mail: crose@library.in.gov
Accessible Google
Google, the most popular search engine, is now accessible to persons with vision loss. It has been tested by our staff and it really works!
To access Google, type labs.google.com/accessible/
Type the topic you want to search in the search box, move down to the Go button and press enter.
Google will then select and display links to sites that can be easily read with adaptive screen reading software. When we did a search for dolphins, Google displayed more than twenty user-friendly sites. Searching is fascinating. Give it a try and contact us if you need help to get started.
Indiana Talking Book and Braille Library Calendar
Tuesday May 6, 2008 Library Closed
Monday May 26, 2008 Library Closed
Friday July 4, 2008 Library Closed
Monday September 1, 2008 Library Closed
Monday October 13, 2008 Library Closed
Tuesday November 4, 2008 Library Closed
Tuesday November 11, 2008 Library Closed
Thursday November 27, 2008 Library Closed
Friday November 28, 2008 Library Closed
Thursday December 25, 2008 Library Closed
Friday December 26, 2008 Library Closed
Hoosier Highlights is a publication of the Talking Book and Braille Library, Indiana State Library. Hoosier Highlights is also available in braille or on cassette upon request.
Any mention of products and services in the Hoosier Highlights is for information only and does not imply endorsement.
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