Talking Books Plus News

April 2012 Bestseller List

Ann — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:29:57 +0000

The bestseller list compiled monthly by NLS combines information taken from the bestseller lists of the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.

Bestsellers are included in the NLS list when they appear on one of the above bestseller lists for a month or more.

Once a title appears in the NLS list with an NLS number, it will not appear on future lists.

The acronyms used for newspapers and book clubs in the NLS bestseller list are:

Code Source

LAT Los Angeles Times

NYT New York Times

WP Washington Post

Accessible e-Readers and Apps

Ann — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:14:00 +0000

Librarians who serve the blind and visually impaired are saying that APPLE provides the only commercial available e-reading devices that are fully accessible out of the box. This includes iPads, iPhones, and the iPod Touch, all of which can be used as e-readers. Find a list of Assistive Technology Apps that provide additional options for accessibility for these devices on the Easter Seals of Indiana website.

Other e-readers do allow you to manipulate the size of the print, but this does not makes these devices truly accessible to people with disabilities. The Kindle 4 has talking menus with voice output that makes Amazon Ebooks accessible to visually impaired users. However, the publisher of Ebooks must choose to activate the text to speech component of each book. The Nook is inaccessible to readers with disabilities.

Money Matters for Visually Impaired

Ann — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:01:28 +0000

The National Library Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped has contracted with two news-content and media-placement services to prepare and distribute newspaper, radio, and television features about the talking book and braille program. The features are free of charge. The first of those features, from NAPS (North American Precis Syndicate) is titled, Money Matters for Visually Impaired People. The 400 word feature includes comments from 2 business people who are NLS patrons. The other service is NewsUSA.

When Battery Level Drops

Ann — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:34:52 +0000

The digital player only recharges once the battery level has dropped below a certain point. Trying to recharge the battery when it has only discharged a little won’t work. However, the player should always work when plugged in.

Switch Access to the iPad for Communication

Ann — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:34:47 +0000

AblenetUniversity is offering a free 30 minute webinar entitled, Switch Access to the iPad for Communication, on Tuesay, May 15, 2012 10 am EST. This assistive technology webinar is for Professionals and Caregivers of Persons with Special Needs. To learn more or to register for this AbleNet Online Professional Development Session, visit the Assistive Technology site on Ablenet.

Battery Life with Flash Drive

Ann — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:47:39 +0000

If the battery life of a digital player when used with a flash drive suddenly reduces in hours, it’s because of constant communication between the digital player and the flash drive. Whenever a flash drive is plugged into the digital player, players with the latest software upgrade will automatically report 10 fewer hours of battery life. The increased communication between the player and flash drive is a big drain on the battery. If the flash drive is taken out of the player, the battery life increases.

Battery May Falsely Report Hours

Ann — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:11:58 +0000

There have been issues with the digital player falsely reporting how much battery power it has. These players will indicate a full charge after only a couple of hours of charging, but they are only partially charged. To remedy this problem, Talking Books Plus members are recommended to leave their player plugged in as often as possible and the leave their player plugged in at least 8 to 9 hours to become fully charged.

Seeking participants for text readability study

Ann — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:24:52 +0000

Seeking participants for text readability study

Shawn Henry is studying users’ needs for customizing text (for example, increasing font size) for readability. She would like to talk with people who can see and can read, yet have difficulty reading “normal” text and thus need to specify different text characteristics in order to read effectively — including:

people with low vision

people with dyslexia, cognitive impairments, or other conditions that affect reading

people with declining eyesight due to aging

You can contact Shawn Henry by:
e-mail: projects@uiAccess.com
phone: +1-617-395-7664
Read about her

AFB expands website

Ann — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:23:56 +0000

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), the national nonprofit that expands possibilities for people with vision loss, has launched a redesign of its main website, www.afb.org. The new site offers a more interactive, engaging experience, making it easier for visitors to locate information on the topics that interest them.

Like the former AFB website, the new afb.org is fully accessible to people with vision loss. Visitors can change colors, font, and font size to increase content readability.

On the new site, visitors will find:
A new information architecture that improves navigability via a cleaner design
Slideshows that highlight news, events, and resources on living with vision loss
New and enhanced ways to engage with AFB through public policy campaigns and social networking channels
The ability to easily share content by e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter
In-depth descriptions of more than 1,600 agencies and organizations that offer services to people with vision loss, available for free for the first time through AFB’s Directory of Services online.

LC Book Catalog Orders

Ann — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 13:55:22 +0000

The Library of Congress (LC) National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) of which Talking Books Plus (TBP) is affiliated as a network library will be sending TBP members a form to order book catalogs. The Digital Talking Books Plus catalog is a more organized compilation of the titles in the Talking Book Topics catalogs that are received bi-monthly. The Digitial Talking Books Plus 2011 catalog will contain all of the titles in the January through December 2011 issues of the Talking Book Topics catalogs. The Digital Talking Books Plus catalog organizes titles by subject and provides a title index which makes book searching easier. As the January through December 2011 Talking Book Topics catalogs contain the same titles, once the Digital Talking Books Plus 2011 catalog is received, all of the Talking Book Topics 2011 catalogs may be discarded. TBP members are encouraged to review the large print order forms they will receive in the mail. The forms should be returned to the specified address on the postage-paid envelope provided with the form. Need any help understanding the form or catalog choices, call TBP at 574-9310.