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Home > About NLS > What's New Index > What's New? 2001
What's New? is an annual update for those already familiar with the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). It describes the most recent developments in the NLS program. Please contact your cooperating network library to request any item mentioned, unless otherwise indicated.
Web-Braille, NLS braille books on the Internet, continues to grow and is receiving an enthusiastic response from users. With nearly 1,500 users and almost 3,800 titles, Web-Braille is now a permanent part of the NLS program.
Initially, Web-Braille users could only locate books on the site by searching a series of static pages that listed the 2,600 titles first mounted on the system. After installing a new NLS online catalog with enhanced capabilities, links were added to the catalog records for all books available in Web-Braille. Users can now use the full power of the NLS catalog to search by title, author, subject, etc., while limiting their search to Web-Braille books. The site contains instructions for such searches.
Following the successful pilot test of Web-Braille magazine distribution, as of May 1, 2001, NLS has made braille magazines a regular part of Web-Braille. Braille magazine contractors are now required to transfer grade 2 files to the site within one working day after shipment of the embossed copies is completed.
For older books, NLS will pilot test the creation of Web-Braille files by scanning embossed braille with optical braille-recognition software. If the pilot proves successful, NLS will begin adding selected pre-BR 8800 titles to the site, focusing on classic children's titles and missing components of series.
In November 2000, NLS published a major new work on the value and history of braille. Braille: Into the Next Millennium, an anthology of articles by more than two dozen international experts in the field of braille, is available in regular print from the NLS Reference Section and on loan in braille (BR 13188) and on cassette (RC 50969) from cooperating network libraries.
The book is divided into three parts. Part I, "Braille in the Past," includes articles on the origins of braille, embossed printing in the United States, and the home of Louis Braille in France. Part II, "Braille in the Present," includes eighteen articles on such diverse subjects as the basic literary, mathematics (Nemeth), and music codes, modern refreshable braille displays, and tactile graphics. Part III, "Braille in the Future," contains essays on braille as a predictor of success, electronic distribution of braille, and future braille codes and fonts. In addition, there is an appendix of ASCII braille characters, a list of contributors, and an extensive bibliography.
The book was edited by Judith Dixon, NLS consumer relations officer and originator of the concept for the book. "We trace braille from its beginnings through the myriad of current uses and also take a peek at the future. Each author is an expert in his or her field and has brought to this work a perspective that can be acquired only through experience and a profound closeness to the subject."
Two catalogs have been completed in large print: Cassette Books 2000 and Braille Books 1999-2000. For Younger Readers 1998-1999 has been produced in braille and on cassette. Readers who requested these publications on their annual publications order forms will receive them through the mail.
Books in Spanish 1994-2000 has also been produced in large print and may be ordered through cooperating libraries.
Copies of other recorded-books catalogs produced between 1985 and 1998 are available on flexible discs you can keep and on voice-indexed cassettes you can borrow through your library. Catalogs of braille materials are available in braille, either to keep or on loan, depending on supplies.
A number of new major titles are available in braille music on loan from the Music Section. These include full score editions of the five Brandenburg Concertos for orchestra, by J.S. Bach, and the Requiem Mass for soloists, chorus, and piano reduction, by Antonin Dvorak.
The Greenberg Lectures (complete series) is available on cassette on loan from the Music Section. This is a full course in music appreciation that covers music history, from the ancient world to the early twentieth century. Dr. Greenberg uses an informal, conversational approach, presenting complex musical topics in a down-to-earth style.
NLS continues to provide access to many of its documents and services through Internet resources that include a web site (www.loc.gov/nls) and an ftp site for document downloading. Visitors to the NLS web site may search the International Union Catalog, which includes more than 340,000 special-format books available from cooperating libraries. Patrons can also view and download Talking Book Topics, Braille Book Review, the text of published catalogs and bibliographies, and cooperating library addresses and telephone numbers.
The web site is designed to be fully accessible to persons using text-based browsers and adaptive devices that output information in large-print, braille, or synthetic speech.
The International Union Catalog for Braille and Audio Materials (www.loc.gov/nls/web-blnd), a database for finding books in special formats, can be searched online and on CD-ROM. The International Union Catalog lists books in the NLS collections as well as titles from several other agencies serving blind and physically handicapped readers, such as Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind, and many others. In 2000, bibliographic records from the National Library for the Blind in the United Kingdom were also added.
The Government Printing Office (GPO) will continue to issue CD-BLND, the CD-ROM version of the NLS catalog, every quarter. It is available by single issue or by yearly subscription through the Superintendent of Documents, GPO.
For more information about any version of the automated catalog, contact the head of the NLS Bibliographic Control Section at the address given below.
Reference factsheets, circulars, directories, and bibliographies provide information on topics of interest to persons with disabilities and to service providers. Reference publications all appear on the NLS web site and can be provided on computer diskette upon request to the NLS Reference Section at the address given in the last paragraph of this brochure. Please also contact the Reference Section for documents listed below that are followed by the words "upon request."
The following NLS-produced reference materials have been recently updated:
The Reference Section is revising the following Reference Circulars, which are planned for later in 2001:
Parents' Guide to the Development of Preschool Children with Disabilities: Resources and Services
Information for Travelers with Disabilities.
The NLS research and development officer has several projects underway.
Working with a large group of interested parties under the auspices of the National Information Standards Organization (NISO), NLS is nearing completion of a technical standard for the digital talking book (DTB), the next- generation library access medium for blind and physically handicapped individuals. A draft was circulated for public comment in February 2001 and the standard is being revised based on comments received. Completion of the standard was planned for June-July 2001, but a separate World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) specification on which the DTB standard is partially based was delayed, and the DTB standard cannot be sent forward for approval until the W3C specification is ratified (estimated for early fall). During the summer of 2001, NLS and partner agencies will create sample DTBs that will test the many features supported by the standard and reveal any changes that may be needed. The draft standard can be found, in HTML format, at www.niso.org/z3986.html.
NLS has developed the key components of a PC-based DTB player. Most of the features earmarked for the "basic" player described in the Playback Device Features List (www.loc.gov/nls/niso/features.htm) are already implemented, and work continues. This tool will be used, in conjunction with the sample books described above, to begin to design user interfaces for DTB players that will be straightforward and easy to use.
As part of its plan for migrating from 4-track cassette to a future digital technology for its audio books and magazines, NLS has established a schedule for the introduction of digital mastering in its audio book contracts. Beginning this October (Fiscal Year 2002), NLS audio contractors will be required to record at least 10 percent of the titles in their annual book contracts in digital form. The requirement will rise to 50 percent of contracted titles in FY 2003 and to 100 percent in FY 2004. This process will ensure that NLS will have a reasonable stock of titles available in digital form when the transition to a digital delivery medium takes place. Until that new medium is introduced, all titles recorded digitally will continue to be distributed on 4-track cassette.
NLS receives information and advice on its program through three standing committees: the National Advisory Group on Collection Building Activities, the National Audio Equipment Advisory Committee, and the Publications Advisory Committee. If you have ideas on the development of the NLS book collection, on playback equipment, or on the improvement of NLS publications, contact your consumer organization or your local library for the name of your representatives on these committees.
In addition, your comments and suggestions concerning the NLS program are always welcome. Address them to the NLS Consumer Relations Officer at National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20542, telephone (202) 707-0722, e-mail jdix@loc.gov.
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Posted on 2011-01-10