Braille Readers are Leaders Contest
By Alicia Waters | October 14, 2009
The National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the National Association to Promote the Use of Braille, and the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children are pleased to announce the 27th annual Braille Readers Are Leaders contest. This contest encourages children around the country to be proud of their ability to read Braille and continually work to improve their skills. For contest registration and deadlines, register online. All who register by December 1 get a T-shirt. All contest materials must be received no later than Friday, January 22, 2010. To request a paper registration form please contact: Braille Readers Are Leaders Phone: 401-659-9314 x2510.
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BookArmy
By Alicia Waters | October 8, 2009
Would Talking Books Plus members who use the Internet be willing to check out a website called Book Army? Book Army is a social network site for readers that features user reviews geared toward finding the user a good book to read. There are several webpages covering books, authors, groups to talk about books, and forums to discuss much more about books. The site claims that users can keep track of what friends and family are reading without asking. And add friends to share book recommendations, reviews, and messages. Book groups can talk about one novel like in an online book club or create themed book lists. Groups can be created for absolutely anything book related. In the Forums, events can be listed such as creating private reading events just for friends, family or a class. Public events are welcomed as well. Let us know at tbplus@olis.ri.gov what you think of this site and we’ll share it with other Talking Book Plus members on this blog.
The words in this posting, Book Army, have a link to another webpage.
Topics: Books to Read | No Comments »
Spooky Reads
By Alicia Waters | October 8, 2009
From Associated Services for the Blind & Visually Impaired (ASB) Online Bookstore’s list of Braille books and Overdrive’s ContentWire offering of digital books for October, here are some scary and spooky reads that are available as well from the Talking Books Plus library for free to members.
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes RC50233
Thomas Harris
The Silence of the Lambs RC27020
Stephen King
Dolores Clairborne RC35892
The Shining RC51373
The Stand RC56081
Richard Matheson
Hell House RC68106
I Am Legend RC47903
Anne Rice
The Queen of the Damned RC28034
Mary Shelley
Frankenstein RC25835 RC25706 (Spanish)
Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus RC25835
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde RC26427
Bram Stoker
Dracula RC40864
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Banned Books Week
By Alicia Waters | October 2, 2009
“Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.”-cited from the American Library Association website.
Below are books featured in ContentWire from OverDrive, a distributor of digital content for libraries. E-Zone is Rhode Island’s Overdrive source for downloadable titles through Ocean State Libraries (OSL), a consortium providing 4.5 million items in 50 library systems in Rhode Island. These books are also available as cassettes through Talking Books Plus.
The words in this posting, American Library Association website, E-Zone, and Talking Books Plus, have links to other webpages.
BANNED CLASSICS – Banned for its themes of sexuality, drugs and suicide
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley RC47108
1984 by George Orwell RC34268
Lord of the Flies by William Golding RC48388
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck RC68308
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner RC49008
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut RC64540
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain RC57349
TEEN TITLES – Banned for offensive language, being sexually explicit and age-inappropriate
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher RC52057
Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden RC21438
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier RC33593
Prep by Curtis Sittenfield RC59891
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher RC38285
CHILDREN’S – Banned for political and religious viewpoints and violence
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman RC44343
The Witches by Roald Dahl RC46021
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle RC48972
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson RC51866
On, The Places You’ll Go by Seuss RC30795
The Lorax by Seuss RC31231
Sylvester & the Magic Pebble by Wiliam Steig RC50353
How To Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell RC33534
The Amazing Bone by William Steig RC53092
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak RC22906
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak RC43615
LITERATURE – Banned for obscene language and themes
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov RC67388
Ordinary People by Judith Guest RC10149
Rabbit, Run by John Updike RC15182
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown RC55735
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving RC29012
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice RC40643
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett RC30999
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou RC57200
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini RC57457
Beloved by Toni Morrison RC26026
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US Battles and Wars
By Alicia Waters | September 30, 2009
In the September through October 2009 issue of Talking Book Topics are several titles covering the American Revolution and United States wars. The books range from a description of Washington’s attack on French soldiers on a diplomatic mission, a focus on the middle class in post-Civil War America, an examination of World War II inventions, battles and admirals, to notifying families of fallen soldiers. Below is a compiled list categorized by time period and war. The full description of each title can be found in the Talking Book Topics catalog by using the page number provided.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
American Creation RC65206 p.3
America’s Hidden History RC66907 p.22
Benedict Arnold’s Navy RC67019 p.23
CIVIL WAR
The Perils of Peace RC66275 p.7
A Slave No More RC65232 p.3
This Republic of Suffering RC65912 p.4
West from Appomattox RC66553 p.12
WORLD WAR I
Only Yesterday RC66513 p.12
WORLD WAR II
Agent Zigzag RC65231 p.3
Armaggeddon in Retrospect RC66657 p.16
The Candy Bombers RC67272 p.26
How They Won the War in the Pacific RC66524 p.12
Human Smoke RC66663 p.16
My Tank is Fight! RC66462 p.11
So Sad to Fall in Battle RC66359 p.8
Why Marines Fight RC66697 p.17
COLD WAR
Arsenals of Folly RC65198 p.3
WARS AFTER THE COLD WAR
Final Salute RC67110 p.24
Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts RC65240 p.3
Why Marines Fight RC66697 p.17
Topics: Books to Read, General, News & Info | No Comments »
Blank Digital Cartridges
By Alicia Waters | September 29, 2009
For those Talking Book Members who received a digital talking book machine, blank digital cartridges may be purchased from independent living aids, LLC. This privately-held mail order company in a coordinated effort with the Library of Congress, National Library Services (NLS) offers the cartridges in 1GB of memory space. This company also offers the USB cable needed for downloading books to the computer from the NLS BARD website. You can purchase a cartridge and a USB cable as a package.
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Burst of Technology Helps Blind See
By Alicia Waters | September 28, 2009
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Celebrate National Piano Month
By Alicia Waters | September 25, 2009
Since this is National Piano Month, it seemed appropriate to highlight the Music Section of National Library Services (NLS). This service offers braille, large print, and recorded instructional materials and music subscriptions. The special music collection consists of more than 30,000 braille and large print music scores, texts, and instructional recordings about music and musicians on cassette. These materials are availabe to Talking Books Plus members. However, musical recordings intended solely for listening are not part of the music collection. All qualified individuals should borrow the music materials directly from the NLS Music Service. The Music Section has almost every title in Piano by Ear produced by Bill Brown’s Music for the Blind. And in conjunction with the Hispanic Heritage Month highlighted in another blog, the Music Section, also, has most of the Guitar by Ear collection of which was recently added a Spanish version of the Intro to Guitar.
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Hispanic Heritage Month
By Alicia Waters | September 23, 2009
Want to read some books of hispanic interest while celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month? Here are some authors and some titles written in the Spanish language that are in the Talking Books Plus collection.
Arturo Perez-Reverte.
El caballero del jubon amarillo RC065979.
A total of 20 titles are in the collection by this author.
Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Shadow of the wind RC058940.
A total of one book is in the collection by this author.
Sandra Cisneros
Caramelo RC055405.
La Casa en Mango RC050975.
A total of 6 titles are in the collection by this author.
Isabel Allende
Ines del Alma Mia RC061061.
A total of 30 titles are in the collection by this author.
Roberto Bolano
2666 RC068418.
A total of 3 titles are in the collection by this author.
Victor Villasenor
Trece Sentidos RC052981.
A total of 3 titles are in the collection by this author.
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About NLS Cassette Tapes
By Alicia Waters | September 22, 2009
Whether you have applied for a digital talking book machine or not, individuals are encouraged to hold on to their cassette players. There are over 56,000 RC cassette titles in the national collection. And more will be produced until 2011. So to get the greatest selection in the next few years, check out both the cassette tape and digital book collections for the titles you want to listen to.
Since cassette tapes will be around for awhile, here is a new tip if a cassette tape is giving trouble. If the standard suggestion to tap the tape on a hard surface doesn’t work, try the following. If the tape is received too tightly wound or the cassette machine winds the tape too tightly, try putting a finger or nail file in the sprocket hole and give it 3 turns to loosen the tape.
The National Library Service (NLS) will stop producing cassette books in 2011. To put the entire NLS collection in perspective, as of Sept 2009, approximately 190 digital titles in cartridge format have been approved for distribution and are being shipped to the network libraries such as Talking Books Plus (TBP). About 16,000 titles are available through the Braille and Audio Reading Downloads (BARD) program with more titles being added each month. BARD is the digital program offering books to TBP members to download through the Internet. BARD borrowers must have access to high-speed Internet service, permission to download and unzip files, and have an active email address.
Topics: Digital Update, News & Info | No Comments »
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