News
January-March 1996, Vol. 27, No. 1

ISSN 1046-1663

National Library Service
for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
The Library of Congress

New regional opens in North Dakota 

The North Dakota Talking Book Services became the first regional library to
join the NLS network of cooperating libraries in nineteen years when it
opened its doors on September 1, 1995. It is the fifty-seventh regional
library to open since the network's inception. Regional libraries provide
service to patrons over a large area, most often covering a state under the
auspices of the state library.
     "When this service was inaugurated in 1931, there were eighteen
libraries that provided service to blind adults," explains Frank Kurt Cylke,
NLS director, "all of them with local embossed collections and a history of
providing reading materials to blind individuals. Within the first three
years, that number expanded to twenty-six, where it remained for almost two
decades."
     There was a second growth of regional libraries beginning with Florida
in 1950 that continued through 1976, when regional libraries were
established in Vermont and Alaska. That spurt more than doubled the number
of regionals.
     Currently, forty-nine states have regional libraries, and California,
Ohio, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania have two each. There are also
regional libraries in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin
Islands. Only Wyoming is now served wholly by another state, although many
regionals contract with other states for braille materials.

Establishing the library
Sally Oremland, the North Dakota State Library's coordinator of Services to
People with Disabilities, says it took four years to move the library from
an idea to a reality. "More and more people were coming into the service
every year. When I started in 1981, there were 800 people. As the number
approached 2,000, it seemed to me there were enough people who could be
served right here in North Dakota," she said. Oremland monitored the service
provided to North Dakota's eligible patrons by the South Dakota Braille and
Talking Book Library.
     "The patrons are glad because they wanted the service to be offered in
their state, even though the regional library in South Dakota gave them
excellent service," says Stella Cone, head of the state library's new
Talking Book Services.
     Both Cone and Oremland express deep appreciation for assistance from
the South Dakota regional library: "Dan Boyd and the entire South Dakota
regional library staff have been a tremendous help" in making the
transition. The regional librarian says she hopes to be able to provide the
same level of service as patrons have been receiving from South Dakota.
     "A lot of effort goes into establishing a library," says Steve Prine,
head of the Network Services Section at NLS. "The agency sponsoring the
facility has to provide space or a building and to acquire staff and train
them to provide service for blind and physically handicapped people. It also
has to acquire collections and automated circulation systems and develop
really a whole range of knowledge about serving this population."
     Oremland and a team--including William Strader, then state librarian;
Doris Daugherty, information services director, and Cindy Larson, business
manager--went to work after landing a $50,000 grant from the Bush Foundation
of St. Paul, Minnesota. "It was hard, but there was so much help from the
network, particularly the Western Conference, and from NLS. We didn't have
as much space as we thought we needed, but Steve Prine helped us realize it
was possible to work with the space we had," says Oremland, who was named
North Dakota librarian of the year for her undertaking.

Space, people, and planning
The new library is housed on the capitol grounds in the Liberty Memorial
Building, home of the North Dakota State Library. "We're sort of scattered
all over," says Cone, explaining that some services are on the third floor,
stacks on the sixth and seventh floors, and administration on the ground
floor.
     Her major goal "at this point is to get adequate numbers of books on
the shelf" for North Dakota's 2,100 patrons.
     Setting up a collection is one of the areas in which NLS lends the
most support. "We provide the collection of new books that are being
produced. We also arrange for them to acquire a collection of older titles
through the multistate center, other network libraries, and the XESS cycle.
Equipment is provided through a separate machine-lending agency in North
Dakota, so readers will have access to the books and equipment to play them
on in state," says Prine. 
     NLS also supplied a variety of information, including policy manuals
and reader selection tools such as catalogs and bibliographies, and software
for the circulation system, READS (Reader Enrollment and Delivery System),
that is used to circulate books and magazines and to track machines. "And we
provided the expertise in terms of automation and guidance in that area,"
says Prine.
     Cone also wants to help "circumvent some of the isolation experienced
by patrons" because of the distance between towns and residences. "Some
patrons say it is a real pleasure to talk to us," Cone says, "and that makes
me feel warm and fuzzy."
     Cone, who joined the state library staff in June 1995, has had varied
experience that includes working in academe and with elderly persons. She
served as circulation manager for the library of Jamestown College,
Jamestown, North Dakota, for five years. In 1994, she received a grant from
Clarion University of Pennsylvania that allowed her to earn her masters in
library science in 1995. The Sanford, North Carolina, native earned her
bachelor's degree in business administration from Pikeville College in
Pikeville, Kentucky. Later she served as a special activities director for a
nursing home in West Virginia, where she became familiar with the concerns
of aging, and blind and physically handicapped people.
     The new regional librarian is assisted by two other full-time
employees: Terri Wilhelm, reader adviser; and Sandy Williams, circulation
manager. Both Wilhelm and Williams are veterans of the state library.
Wilhelm served as volunteer coordinator, while Williams had worked with the
interlibrary loan and reference departments. Cone also receives support from
volunteers and the North Dakota Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation. 
(photo caption: The new regional in Bismarck, North Dakota, has several
office spaces in the Liberty Memorial Building, home of the North Dakota
State Library.)
(photo caption: Reader advisor Terri Wilhelm assists many North Dakota
patrons by phone. In the first ten days of 1996 alone, thirteen new patrons
enrolled.)
                              ###

LC service to the blind cited to Congress

Testimony on the Library of Congress appropriation for fiscal year 1996 was
presented on February 22, 1995, before a subcommittee of the House of
Representatives Committee on Appropriations. At that time the long-standing
history of the connection between the Library and provision of books for
blind readers was reviewed.
     James Billington, Librarian of Congress, introduced the subject with
the following comments:
     "Well, it is, you know, an extraordinary service.... The whole system
has been very extensively audited and gotten a very good reading from the
auditor during the past year.
     "It is a marvelous thing that this country extends access to the blind
and physically handicapped. I think more and more people are realizing that
this is not only a humane and a good thing to do, but it has all kinds of
practical, good consequences for the health of the country. So I think it is
a wonderful system."
     Frank Kurt Cylke, NLS director, provided committee members a brief
summary of the Library's century-old commitment to provision of books for
blind individuals (see below) and said:
     "The Library of Congress has long recognized that the blind community
is an important one. Indeed, our relationship with the Library goes back to
1897, which makes us, I believe, a core part of the Library and mission of
the Library.
     "In the deep depression back in 1931, Ruth Pratt of New York and Reid
Smoot of Utah brought forth the suggestion from the American Library
Association that a program specifically aimed to provide materials for blind
individuals be placed in the Library. That was signed by President Hoover.
The program came from that very small start in 1931 to a service that
provides books, magazines, and other reading materials in braille and in
audio formats to three-quarters of a million people.
     "Last year these individuals were exposed to and read more than
thirty-five books each....We are a very heavily used, a very integral part
of the Library.
     "Many of the people in the United States and around the world who use
the program are of an older age. You also should consider younger people,
the people who are of school age, people who are in the working community,
people who are in the Congress itself, indeed, people in every aspect of
life. We are more than a recreational program. We are a program that
provides a very necessary part of life.
     "...This, combined with a zero-based financial management approach
each fiscal year and careful planning result in a program effort efficiently
providing a vital service to eligible users."
     Copies of the program audit, zero-based NLS management plan, braille
centralization business plan, and the budget plan were submitted for the
committee file. Committee member Representative Ray Thornton of Arkansas
replied to the testimony:
     "I do want to commend you for your excellent attention to [the
programs that you have described]."
                              ###

Books for the Blind and the Library of Congress
--- When the new Library of Congress building was opened in October 1897, a
special reading room for blind people was established. The new Librarian of
Congress deemed it "wise to make some provision for blind persons `in a
library of national character.'"
--- In 1898, H.M. Utley, librarian of the Detroit Public Library, suggested
that one library might supply books to all the readers in a state or in a
large section of it.
--- The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) made a study of library work
for blind people in the United States and Canada during 1928 and 1929. In
1929 the AFB with its advisory committee from the American Library
Association recommended that the federal government should supply free books
for blind persons to a selected list of geographically well-distributed
libraries.
--- In 1930, Ruth Pratt, congresswoman from New York, and Reed Smoot,
senator from Utah, introduced identical bills into the House and Senate
authorizing an annual appropriation of $75,000 to the Library of Congress
for books for blind adults, to be distributed by regional centers.
--- Helen Keller was one of the prominent people who appeared before the
House Committee on the Library in support of the Pratt bill. With the
appropriation raised to $100,000, it passed the House on February 28, 1931,
(the Senate had passed the Smoot bill in January) and was signed into law by
President Hoover on March 3, 1931.
--- Passage of the Pratt-Smoot bill was "a recognition by Congress" that
blind people "shared with the sighted a desire and capacity for intellectual
development and pursuits; that they possessed...ambitions and aspirations,
talents and capabilities worthy of encouragement and enhancement, not only
for [their own benefit] but for the betterment and benefit of the entire
Nation."
--- On July 1, 1931, the Books for the Adult Blind project began operation
and the Library of Congress placed an experimental order for fifteen braille
titles from four presses that had submitted proposals.
                              ###

National conference set for April 28-May 2

The 18th biennial National Conference of Librarians Serving Blind and
Physically Handicapped Individuals will be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
from April 28 through May 2, 1996, at the Westin William Penn Hotel in the
city's downtown Golden Triangle area. This is the first time the national
conference has been held in Pittsburgh.
     Pittsburgh was the home of Andrew Carnegie, the noted American
industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie's contribution to the library
world is widely known, and the one-hundredth anniversary of Pittsburgh's
Carnegie Library is being celebrated this year.

Scheduled activities
The conference will begin on Sunday afternoon, April 28, with presentations
on recent developments at NLS and meetings of the regional conferences.
     Monday's program will feature a keynote address by Sally Alexander,
blind author of a number of children's books. Other presentations will
include the U.S. Postal Service on utilizing barcoding for improved delivery
and the Midlands Conference on effective newsletters.
     Highlights for Tuesday, April 30, include a presentation on braille
literacy by Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, president emeritus of the National
Federation of the Blind, and a morning series of commonality seminars. The
afternoon will be devoted to tours of the Western Pennsylvania School for
Blind Children; the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh--Library for the Blind
and Physically Handicapped; and The Carnegie, a cultural complex including
the main library, museum of natural history, museum of art, and music hall.
There will be a reception at The Carnegie for conference participants from 5
to 6:30 p.m.
     The National Automation Conference will be held on Wednesday, May 1,
followed by meetings of the regional conferences. A reception will be
sponsored by the Herman H.B. Meyer Memorial Literary Club and Declamatory
Society from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
     On Thursday, May 2, Dr. Euclid Herie, president and chief executive
officer of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and treasurer of
the World Blind Union, will give a presentation on the topic "The Future of
the Library: A World Perspective."
     The conference will conclude with a discussion of a national mission
statement, the future of the NLS consultant program, and reports from the
regional conferences. Adjournment of formal conference activities is
scheduled for noon.

Training opportunity
Robert McDermott, NLS automation officer, will provide a training session on
using dBASE to generate reports from circulation systems. The session will
take place on Thursday afternoon following the conference. This opportunity,
a conference first, is being held at the request of the network.

Conference planning
Michael Moodie, NLS research and development officer, is coordinator for the
conference.  Planning for activities and presentations has been done in
conjunction with the chairs of the four NLS regions: Geraldine Adams of
Oklahoma for the Midlands; John Brewster of New Mexico for the West; Julie
Klauber of Suffolk County, New York, for the North; and Guynell Williams of
South Carolina for the South.
     National conferences are held biennially in even-numbered years and
include time for the four regions to hold separate business meetings. The
regions hold conferences in their own areas, or combine with another region,
in odd-numbered years.
(photo caption: Pittsburgh's historic inclines offer passengers a
spectacular view of the Golden Triangle. Photo by Andrew A. Wagner.)
(photo caption: Michael Moodie, NLS research and development officer and
conference coordinator.)
                              ###

About Pittsburgh

The city of Pittsburgh offers many attractions for conference participants.
Located in southwestern Pennsylvania about halfway between New York and
Chicago, Pittsburgh is centered on the intersections of the Ohio, Allegheny,
and Monongahela Rivers. The city is within a two-hour flight or a day's
drive of more than 70 percent of the U.S. population. Pittsburgh was named
in 1758 for Britain's secretary of war William Pitt. Its history, dating
from the French and Indian War, is rich with the flourishing of the coal,
steel, and aluminum industries. Modern Pittsburgh is a national financial
center and home to more than 800 advanced technology firms.
     Pittsburgh's compact downtown is encompassed in an eleven- by
eleven-block area that contains eight of the world's largest corporations,
several banks, three major department stores, a state park with a large
fountain, a variety of shops and restaurants, and many cultural offerings.
     The Westin William Penn hotel, where the conference will take place,
is located in the heart of Pittsburgh's downtown Golden Triangle area. Built
in 1916 as the dream of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, the hotel features
large dining and meeting areas appointed in Italian Renaissance-style dcor.
The hotel will accommodate conference participants in its nearly 600 guest
rooms and thirty-five function rooms. The hotel's business center provides
copy and fax machines and secretarial services.
     The surrounding area includes attractions such as the 2,885-seat
Benedum Center for the Performing Arts, a $42 million restoration and
expansion of the Stanley Theatre built in 1928 as a movie palace version of
Versailles. The center houses the Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Ballet
Theatre, Civic Light Opera, and the Pittsburgh Dance Council and also hosts
first-run Broadway touring productions. Nearby, the Heinz Hall for the
Performing Arts is home to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and hosts
Symphony Pops concerts.
     Other landmarks include industrialist Andrew Carnegie's legacy to
Pittsburgh. The Carnegie, which comprises the Carnegie Library, Carnegie
Music Hall, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Carnegie Museum of Natural
History. The Andy Warhol Museum, the Carnegie Science Center, the Frick Art
and Historical Center, the Nationality Classrooms at the University of
Pittsburgh, and the Senator John Heinz Regional History Center, scheduled to
open this spring, round out Pittsburgh's cultural attractions.
     Other attractions in the Pittsburgh area include two inclines, or
funiculars, that operate along the Mt. Washington Hillside and offer
spectacular views of the city: the Monongahela Incline, built in 1869, and
the Duquesne Incline, built in 1877. Visitors will also find nearby the
Aviary, the Pittsburgh Zoo, the Fort Pitt Museum, and the Pennsylvania
Trolley Museum.
                              ###

Friends of Libraries for Blind and Physically Handicapped Individuals in
North America

Handicapped youngster collects friends as well as cards

Fourteen-year-old Patrick Bastien will collect almost anything, and it seems
the sunny youngster is as good at collecting friends as he is at collecting
things. In fact, lately collecting things has led to more friends.
     "Patrick was given some used scratch-off lottery tickets, and it was
suggested that he start a collection," his mother, Sue, says. A Lottery
Collectors' Society member sponsored Patrick's membership, and Patrick now
receives the newsletter and membership list and plans to join the birthday
club. "This is a most friendly, helpful, and generous group of collectors,"
Sue Bastien adds.
     Patrick's collections have brought him other friends from around the
country, including Morris Freedman, profiled in _News_ January-March 1995,
whom he met through his postcard-collecting activities. 
     "Since he can't do anything active, he enjoys collecting anything
small," his mother says, "such as tokens, postcards, common foreign money,
old milk caps, patches, pins, marbles, autographs, old Dixie cup lids, and
Mardi Gras items--even stickers from fresh fruit. The lottery tickets are
his favorites."
     Sue Bastien adopted Patrick when he was two years old. She already had
two adopted autistic children and a foster daughter with emotional problems.
When she returned to the agency for another child, she asked for "the
hardest to place" youngster they had. That was how she met Patrick, who was
born prematurely with cerebral palsy, seizure disorders, apraxia, and
cortical blindness and who has been on life-support systems since age four.
Subsequently, Sue Bastien adopted another boy with cerebral palsy, cortical
blindness, and profound mental retardation.
     Patrick has a tracheostomy, gastrostomy, and jejunostomy. He has been
unable to eat or drink anything since contracting encephalitis at age three
and a half, and he was nourished intravenously for six years. He has chronic
lung disease caused by numerous aspiration pneumonias. Patrick has been
hospitalized many times and was flown twice by Lifestar helicopter.

Patrick and friends
Patrick turned out to be an unusually determined, happy, and friendly child,
traits that according to his mother grew stronger with the years. He has
made friends wherever he goes, in school, in the hospital where he has to
spend much of his time, and now among other collectors. A big smile is his
trademark.
     Patrick has attended regular classes since kindergarten, with the help
of an instructional assistant who encourages classmates to aid Patrick
whenever possible. "He is very well liked because of his friendly, cheerful
personality," his mother says, "so his classmates all enjoy helping him."
Patrick receives speech, occupational, physical, and music therapy, and also
counseling on issues of illness and death.
     Now in the seventh grade at a middle school in Cheshire, Connecticut,
Patrick attends class whenever he is able to do so (currently for all day),
accompanied by his nurse and his life-support equipment. With modified
assignments and lots of help from staff and peers, Patrick is on the honor
roll. He usually takes a nap when he comes home, his mother says, "because
stamina is lacking, even though he is on continuous oxygen, but he really
loves to go, and he tries so hard!"
     Patrick, a Friends member, uses talking books from several sources,
including NLS, both for school work and for leisure reading. His physical
limitations rule out the use of braille, and blindness makes watching a
computer screen or television impossible, but the talking books provide an
activity Patrick can enjoy with minimal assistance and through which he can
pursue his varied interests.
     "Talking books are so wonderful," says Sue Bastien, "because Patrick
can use them to help with his school studies or to enjoy learning about new
things he'll never see and places he'll never go. They are perfect for
listening to right in bed, where he spends most of his time, and for using
even when someone else doesn't have the time to read to him. He is enjoying
listening to _Fabulous New Orleans_ from the Library of Congress."
     Currently, the Connecticut regional library is looking for books on
Mardi Gras to complement Patrick's collection of Mardi Gras items.

Surgery on Halloween
This fall, Patrick's activities were curtailed by the latest of a series of
surgeries, this one to remove a length of his left femur and reconnect the
bone with a metal plate and also to remove bone formation from his left hip.
That surgery left him in a body cast for several weeks.
     "His operation was on Halloween, so he went wearing a doctor costume
nightshirt and taking along a real little pumpkin into the operating room,"
says his mother. Because he has spent so much time with them over the past
eleven years, the Hartford Hospital staff are among Patrick's oldest
friends. "They provide him with much affection and reassurance, as well as
sharing jokes with him," his mother says.
     At home, Patrick has two shifts of nurses, with his mother taking the
third shift of the day when she returns home from her teaching job. His
grandparents also help when needed.
     Sue Bastien became interested in adopting special-needs children as a
college student in special education, when she did volunteer work in an
institution and decided "kids don't belong in institutions." She helps
Patrick with his collections and homework, reads and writes letters for him,
and enjoys his pen friends, too, especially for the joy they bring to
Patrick.

To write to Patrick
People wishing to correspond with Patrick may write him at 2262 Weatherside
Road, Cheshire, CT 06410. His mother says he enjoys hearing about people's
families, hobbies, and activities and would love to receive losing
scratch-off lottery tickets for his collection.
(photo caption: Patrick Bastien visited a pumpkin patch before his latest
surgery on Halloween. A pumpkin and his doctor costume kept Patrick's mood
upbeat.)
(photo caption: Patrick with some of his many friends from school.)
                              ###

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.
                              ###

Network exchange

Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh). The Fall 1995 issue of _Three Rivers News,_
published by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Library for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped (LBPH), contains a detailed two-page summary of
online services available to LBPH patrons through their library system or
through NLS and the Library of Congress. Instructions for obtaining
information over the Internet about Library of Congress services, new NLS
book listings, or records of in-process books are provided, as are
instructions for accessing the NLS _Union Catalog._ Services available
through LBPH include e-mail book requests, inquiries, and correspondence;
online catalog searching of the Carnegie library system holdings; and access
to information on government entries, related Internet files, and on
activities in the city.
     Other articles in the large-print newspaper announce the hundredth
anniversary of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, report on a fall festival
of children's books, and provide a bibliography on love and marriage.

Michigan (Wayne Co.). Announced in the Summer 1995 _Wayne County Newsletter_
is the recent acquisition by the Wayne County Regional Library of a Reading
Edge scanner with voice output. Patrons can use the Reading Edge daily
during the week, and they may use headphones for privacy in reading personal
material. The machine can be used for a variety of documents from letters,
faxes, and brochures to books, and it reads almost any typeface.

Virginia (Richmond). The Virginia regional library has followed its move
into new facilities with a new name, Library and Resource Center. The name
conveys the now-combined functions of two former divisions of the Virginia
Department for the Visually Handicapped that are housed together in the new
building, the Virginia State Library for the Visually and Physically
Handicapped and the Instructional Materials Resource Center (see _News,_
January-March 1995).
     On June 1, Barbara McCarthy, for ten years the director of the
Instructional Materials Resource Center, was appointed director of the
restructured Library and Resource Center. McCarthy's background includes a
masters degree in education of the visually impaired. She has been an
instructor and low-vision coordinator at the Virginia School for the Deaf
and Blind at Staunton and a rehabilitation teacher at the Virginia
Department for the Visually Handicapped. She is the current president of the
Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually
Impaired, among other affiliations.
     She says that the restructuring has streamlined the organization,
combining functions to utilize staff to the fullest. Staff in the two former
divisions will be cross trained to provide better service, and she plans to
offer extended hours, to schedule adult programming such as lectures, and to
provide more reference and research materials for students in order to
increase overall use of the facility.
     Mary Ruth Halapatz, the previous regional librarian, has left the
Virginia Department for the Visually Handicapped for a position at the
Virginia Air National Guard.

New Mexico. The summer 1995 edition of the New Mexico State Library's _News
of the Talking Book Library_ announces continued planning of the new State
Library and Archives Building. Construction will occur in 1996 and
completion is scheduled for 1997.
     _News of the Talking Book Library_ is available over the Internet at
http://www.stlib. state.nm.us/.

California (Los Angeles). More than 600 volunteers, patrons, staff, and
visitors came wearing lederhosen or long skirts to celebrate Oktoberfest at
Braille Institute's library open house October 21.
     The highlight of the event for many was the special guest appearances
by Kevin Starr, the California state librarian, and Jill Ferris, a popular
talking-book narrator.
     Visitors packed the Institute's conference center to hear Starr speak
about the value of continuing to read after becoming blind and to share his
personal experience of having a family member who is blind.
Ferris hosted an afternoon session in the library, where she greeted fans,
answered their questions, and read portions of books she has recorded.
     Visitors also participated in workshops, viewed displays about the
library and other Institute services, and toured the library. Entertainment
included a hot dog recipe contest.
     This article was provided by Julie M. Gates, media relations
coordinator at the Braille Institute.
(photo caption: California state librarian Kevin Starr, guest speaker at
Braille Institute library open house.)
                              ###

Sung becomes Network Division chief

Carolyn Sung, a member of the Library of Congress staff since 1965, has been
appointed chief of the Network Division, National Library Service for the
Blind and Physically Handicapped, effective November 13. She holds one of
the top three positions in the NLS organizational structure, reporting
directly to NLS director Frank Kurt Cylke.
     The Network Division (ND) is responsible for coordination with the 143
cooperating libraries in the NLS network, liaison with consumers, reference
services to patrons and the general public, and direct service to citizens
living abroad and music patrons throughout the country. The division also
has oversight of the multistate centers in Cincinnati and Salt Lake City and
inventory management activities in Washington.
     ND staff work closely with the Materials Development Division (Wells
B. Kormann, chief), which is responsible for selection, production, and
distribution of special-format books and magazines; cataloging; design and
production of playback machines and related materials; and quality control
of all materials produced. The chiefs of these two divisions serve on
management-review teams for all NLS activities.
     Sung has served as executive officer in the Office of the Associate
Librarian for Constituent Services since the office was organized in 1989
with more than 1,350 staff members and a budget of more than $110 million.
That service unit, whose functions have recently been reorganized into other
areas of the Library of Congress structure, included NLS and other divisions
and activities impacting directly on the general public. Most of Sung's
career has been devoted to public-service activities. "I am committed to
customer service and customer satisfaction," she says.
     Her other positions within the Library have included executive
officer, Research Services, from 1981-1989, with a detail as acting director
for preservation and national preservation program officer, Research
Services, in 1987-1988.
     Sung was selected for the Library's Special Recruit Program (now the
Intern Program) in 1970. In 1971 she was promoted to head of the Reference
and Reader Service Section in the Manuscript Division. In 1977 she became
assistant chief for bibliographic services in the Photoduplication Service.
     Sung has a bachelor's degree from Winthrop College in Rock Hill, South
Carolina; a master's degree from the University of Maryland; and a doctorate
from George Washington University. She is a certified archivist and a member
of a number of professional groups.
     "Books and reading have always been essential parts of my life," she
says, "and I look forward to the opportunity of working with the network of
libraries."
(photo caption: Carolyn Sung, new chief of the NLS Network Division. Photo
by Marita Clance.)
                              ###

Library services in Turkey

Turkey is working to centralize services to more than 500,000 people who are
blind. The country's main objectives are to open a national library for the
blind and create an institute to oversee services for blind individuals
nationwide.
     Until the 1980s, a patchwork of services had been provided through the
schools. Emin Demirci, deputy president of the Turkish Federation of the
Blind, recommended the shift to centralized services in the host country
report delivered at the sixty-first conference of the International
Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, held August 20-26,
1995, in Istanbul. The theme of the conference was "Libraries of the
Future."
     "It is hoped that this will be a turning point in the provision of
library services to the blind in this country," said Demirci.
     Paralleling the population at large, half of the Turkish blind live in
rural areas and work as farmers or agricultural laborers. The other half
live in the cities. They work as switchboard operators, assembly workers, or
packaging personnel. Others become civil servants, lawyers, or teachers in
schools for the blind. There are no sheltered workshops.
     Demirci proposed that an "Institute for the Blind" be formed to
oversee all services for blind people in Turkey. It would publish catalogs
of braille and talking books, establish different standards for recording
academic and nonacademic books, transmit "electronic newspapers" by phone
lines to computers used by blind people, publish special-interest newspapers
and magazines, and hold an annual conference for people who produce talking
books.
     Demirci also suggested starting "special departments for the blind" in
public libraries in cities where there are a lot of blind people. The
library departments would serve as information centers for people who are
blind and clearinghouses for service providers in local schools and
associations for the blind. Volunteers would be coordinated by the library
departments to read books on tape and convert books to braille.
     Although recorded and braille reading material for blind people in
Turkey was historically provided by schools, in the 1980s two
English-language institutions, Bogazici University in Istanbul and Middle
East Technical University in Ankara, established braille collections. The
Bogazici holdings are the most extensive in the country. The university
receives about thirty English braille periodicals. 
     In the late 1980s and early 1990s, talking book collections were
established in six libraries, with the largest one at Bogazici University
containing several hundred Turkish talking books.
     However, because methods are not standardized, recordings are low in
quality, according to Demirci. Some are produced in homes and most are
recorded on two-track standard cassettes rather than reel-to-reel tapes.
Master copies are often lent to borrowers.
     "We have many problems here in Turkey, but we believe that the
existing difficulties will be solved one by one in the coming years. There
is potential and there are the determined people already in place to solve
the problems," concluded Demirci.
     This article was adapted from text provided by Emin Demirci, deputy
president of the Turkish Federation of the Blind.
                              ###

International briefs

Canada (CNIB). The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) has
opened an information resource center that provides electronic access to
newspapers, periodicals, reference material, and job listings.  The opening
marks the first time newspapers have been available to some 500,000 blind
and visually impaired Canadians in a form they can read independently.
     The Information Resource Centre began operations in Toronto in June
1994. It carries electronic versions of the national _Globe and Mail,_ the
_Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen, La
Presse, Toronto Star,_ and the _Vancouver Sun._
     The newspapers are available electronically by subscription. They are
transmitted daily via satellite to TV stations, where they are broadcast in
the form of computer text using part of the TV signal called the Vertical
Blanking Interval. The signal is received by a decoder located between the
subscriber's cable TV connection and computer. The subscriber reads the
paper by voice synthesizer, braille output device, or in large print on
computer.
     The Information Resource Centre is equipped with refreshable braille
displays, voice output devices, optical scanners, braille printers, and
contrasting furniture and carpeting for people with low vision. It is the
only facility of its kind in Canada.
     "The CNIB Information Resource Centre is an adventure into the
twenty-first century. It's jam packed with technology that is being applied
to open a new information age for blind and visually impaired people in
which we will compete equally and successfully just like the rest," said
Euclid Herie, president and chief executive officer of CNIB.
     The center has CD-ROM periodicals and dictionaries. Also available are
two CD-ROM databases: the WilsonDisc, which contains the Science and Social
Science indexes, and the BLND database, a compendium of materials about
blindness. The center also has an electronic database of current jobs.
Updated regularly by satellite, it is searchable by occupation, province, or
ZIP code.
     This report was adapted from information provided by Rosemary
Kavanaugh, executive director of the Canadian National Institute for the
Blind.
(photo caption: Rosemary Kavanaugh.)

South Africa. The South Africa Library for the Blind increased its
circulation, repair, and reference services in 1994. The library circulated
245,000 books and magazines, 45,000 more than any other year in its
seventy-five-year history. Library Director N.J. Snyman attributed the
upsurge to an increasingly diverse readership.
     More people are ordering textbooks as the library seeks to increase
literacy among blind people. Thus, the demand for educational material in
both braille and audio formats has caught up with the demand for
recreational books the library has traditionally supplied to reflect the
culture, history, and politics of South Africa.
     Apart from educational materials and bestsellers, readers may now
select from a collection of 19,300 titles and 85 magazines in audio and
braille. The library last year produced 47 new braille books and 201 new
audio books. Magazine and book duplication rose 11 percent over the 1993
level.
     Three hundred cassette players were converted to four-track
capability, 10 percent more than in 1993. One thousand cassette players were
repaired.
     The catalog was brought up to date, with entries representing titles
already in the collection and books in production. New releases are brought
to the attention of readers through _Audionews_ and _Braillenews,_ so that
readers can reserve copies in advance.
     For books that are not in the collection, readers can use the Infolib
service to search, locate, and order books through interlibrary loan.
Infolib has also added a number of CD-ROM reference materials from which
braille output can be obtained and sent to the reader.
     This report was adapted from the 1994 annual report of the South
African Library for the Blind.

Australia (New South Wales). The number of borrowers who used the Royal
Blind Society of New South Wales last year rose beyond the eight thousand
mark for the first time. The number of borrowers in 1994-1995 was 8,049,
including 763 from South Australia, another Australian state. Most of the
borrowers are older than sixty-five, and many live in Sydney.
     During the year, the society circulated 197,742 talking book titles,
3,061 braille books, and 1,822 braille magazines. The society also has begun
offering talking books for sale in response to demand from borrowers who
want to own their books.
     In February, John Cookson, head of the NLS Engineering Section,
visited the society and gave an update on international developments in
talking books. Cookson described the transition NLS is making from analog to
digital technology.
     The society's audio production unit copied 192,736 cassettes last
year, an increase of 23 percent over the previous year. Contract recordings
also were up, increasing revenue 22 percent over last year to $142,000.
Sales of talking books to public libraries increased 35 percent to $36,700.
     Some one thousand titles were remastered, having been transferred from
old to new tapes to allow for continued copying. The reference section
handled one thousand inquiries.
     Plans for 1995-1996 include a new library system to replace existing
technology; a newsletter for library borrowers; improved access to catalogs
for borrowers; and audio-described videos. Audio-described videos are
standard commercial videos with a description of the action taking place on
the screen added to the soundtrack.
     This report is based on information from Jon Isaacs, general manager
of the Royal Blind Society of New South Wales.
                              ###

_Union Catalog_ grows
New Zealand titles added

Recorded and braille books from New Zealand have been added to the _Union
Catalog_ published by NLS. The 1,217 entries from the Royal New Zealand
Foundation for the Blind bring the total number of bibliographic records in
the catalog to 242,219 titles representing more than 17 million volumes.
     "The New Zealand listings represent an expansion of the catalog and
another step toward international collaboration in cataloging among
libraries for blind and physically handicapped individuals," said Frank Kurt
Cylke, NLS director.
     The _Union Catalog,_ so called because it is a combination of several
catalogs, contains bibliographic records for braille and audio books for
blind and physically handicapped readers. All records cite the location of
files, an essential feature for access to the material listed.
     The lists include books from the United States, Canada, Ireland, New
Zealand, and Australia. Currently, records for books from the South Africa
Library for the Blind are being converted for use in the catalog, and
inclusion of books from the Swedish Library for the Blind is being
considered.
     Of the New Zealand entries, 756 are available on four-track cassette,
while 461 are available in braille. They cover all facets of New Zealand,
including its history and politics and the social customs and legends of the
indigenous Maori people. One book, _The Incredible Kiwi,_ describes a
popular native fruit. Also included is fiction by several authors popular in
New Zealand.
     "Any registered patron who is interested can contact a cooperating
library to arrange for an interlibrary loan," said Robert Axtell, head of
the NLS Bibliographic Control Section.
     In addition to the growing number of international records, the _Union
Catalog_ also contains listings of books produced in the United States.
Besides those of NLS, which comprise the bulk of the catalog, books are
available from Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, Princeton, New Jersey;
Xavier Society for the Blind, New York, New York; and Seedlings Braille
Books for Children, Livonia, Michigan.
     The _Union Catalog_ is available in three formats: microfiche, CD-ROM,
and on line over the Internet. The latest of the quarterly microfiche
versions came out in December. A prototype CD-ROM version will be available
to NLS test sites in February. The online version is listed under BPHP on
the Library of Congress Information System (LOCIS). 
     The New Zealand titles are listed under the holding code RNZFB. The
Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind lends braille and cassette
materials to libraries for ninety days with an option to extend the loan.
The Foundation accepts requests by phone, mail, and e-mail. The address is
Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind, Private Bag 99941 Newmarket,
Auckland, New Zealand, 1031; telephone, (64) 9 302-6333; fax, (64) 9
302-0481; e-mail, mschnackenberg@rnzfb.org.nz.
(photo caption: Robert Axtell, head of NLS Bibliographic Control Section.)
                               ###

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: Jane Caulton, Margaret Cytron, Robert Fistick, Ruth Nieland, and
George Thuronyi
                              ###

*** 2/9/96 (gft) ***

Comments to: lcmarvel@loc.gov