Special Ed Volunteers Celebrated

Tricia Larrabee, who heads up Talking Books, was joined by Librarian IV Stephanie Miller, April 10, 2019, to thank some valued teens.  Tricia said, "We had fun celebrating our Talking Books volunteers from the North Florida School of Special Education.  We treated them to pizza, drinks, popcorn, cake, gifts, and the decorations made it festive. The students help us with items returned and they shelve and pull items for new customers.  They may volunteer for a few semesters or as much as two years.  Pictured are (L/R) Stephanie Miller, Kaleigh, Austin, Ethan, Tori, Josh, and their teacher Ms. Heather."

2017 Braille Challenge Success

Talking Books/Special Needs Manager Chris Eaton reports, "The 2017 North Florida Regional Braille Challenge, February 2, 2017, held in Main's Conference Center, drew more than 40 competitors in the elementary-high school grades to test their proficiency with the Braille writing system and win prizes and possible advancement to the national competition at the Braille Institute in Los Angeles, June 16-17. 

"Also on hand were roughly 200 family members and friends of the competitors, teachers of the visually impaired, vendors and volunteers. 

"Ms. Lori Hershey, Duval County School Board District 7, joined us to speak about the importance of literacy for everyone. Library Director Barbara Gubbin congratulated the competitors for their efforts and encouraged them to keep improving their Braille skills. 

"The event celebrated 10 years of the Braille Challenge in Florida and featured decorations and activities related to the different themes of all the previous competitions."

Getting To Know You

Ever wonder what a manager does to keep a department like Talking Books/Special Needs interacting with customers and the community? Scott Adams is the new Librarian Sr. in Talking Books/Special Needs and he has hit the road running.  Noting a few things accomplished  in his short tenure there: "This month I went to a health fair at Most Holy Redeemer Church, attended the Mayor’s Disability Council, SAGES, and the Senior Roundtable, did four radio shows at WJCT, attended residency meetings at Cathedral Towers, Cathedral Terrace, and Taylor Homes, toured the Low Vision Center, hosted the book club for Half Broke Horses and will tape a segment for Independent Living Resource Center. We showed Larry Crowne as our closed captioned movie.  This is what we do every month." 

Scott Adams also supervises some valuable employees; pictured above, L/R in back: Librarian Chris Eaton, Scott Adams, and Part-time Clerk Kareem Chambers.  In front: Library Clerk Jackie Curry and Part-time Clerk Tim Meusel.  Long-time Library Clerk Carolyn Hampton was not present for the picture.

Recognition by VIP's for Volume Handled in TB

Councilman Robin Lumb and JPL Board Member Christina Stallings visited Talking Books and Interlibrary Loan departments for a tour and presentation of activities at the Main Library,  Monday, April 2.  Ms. Stallings wrote this nice note to Jerry Renolds, Manager of TB and ILL,  “Thank you very much for taking the time to present JPL's Talking Books section this morning.  Councilman Lumb was amazed at the volume of materials requested and handled by this area.  Great job!"

History in the Making in Talking Books Dept.

All JPL staff is not aware of changes in one of our critical departments, Talking Books, so this update and encouragement for JPL staff to talk up TB services to our customers.

Jerry Reynolds, Librarian Senior, Talking Books (TB), pictured left, reports that TB’s conversion to digital service is progressing well. Braille and Audio Reading Downloads (BARD) are being added daily. JPL’s customers have enjoyed this upgrade over the last few months and appreciate features of the digital TB machine with few reported problems. Still there are customers who have not received digital Talking Books and via TB’s newsletter, "The Insight", they are being encouraged to contact TB for this service. (Production of new books on recorded cassette ceased late last year, and all new titles are now only available on digital cartridge or BARD download.)

Customers can still receive TB on cassette during the digital transition period because the majority of the collection is only available on cassette. Customers can’t buy or keep existing TB on cassette because they are the property of the Library of Congress and need to be returned when customers are finished with them.

In the past few months TB services have been extended to institutions such as nursing homes, hospitals, schools and others that request this service. If not currently registered, the individual responsible for TB service at the institution can call JPL’s Talking Book Department, 630-1999, to request TB service.

Spread the word when you get the chance. You may just help someone live a fuller, richer life.

Talking Books Presents

Talking Books has two movies planned for July in the Main Library Hicks Auditorium that you will want to promote with your customers:

• Thursday, July 7th - 10:30 a.m.: "Bedtime Stories" - movie with Closed Caption (for all customers - especially hearing impaired



• Friday, July 15 - 10:00 a.m.: "Despicable Me" - animated movie in described format (for visually impaired)

Talking Books + Much Ado About Books = Success

On Saturday, February 27, some members of the Talking Books-ILAB (Independent Living for the Adult Blind) Book Club, including Jerry Reynolds, TB's Librarian Senior, and Chris Eaton, Librarian, had the pleasure of having breakfast at the Omni Hotel with bestselling author Chris Bohjalian. Our thanks go out to Maggie Hightower, Executive Director of the JPL Foundation, for graciously providing us with this opportunity. Mr. Bohjalian was in Jacksonville that weekend for the JPL Foundation's 2010 Much Ado About Books festival and our book club had just read his novel, The Double Bind, as February's book club selection. Everyone in attendance enjoyed themselves. Mr. Bohjalian was very entertaining and informative in regard to his experiences as an author, the current state of publishing, the themes of his books and many other subjects. His experience at this breakfast with avid readers, who cannot read standard print because of a disability, has made him aware of the need for books available in accessible formats. He has pledged to make sure that all of his books are available to anyone who wishes to read them and continue to promote this as a worthy cause to authors, publishers, and anyone who might help make books more accessible. The breakfast was delicious and everyone at the table received a complimentary copy of Mr. Bohjalian's latest novel, Secrets of Eden.

Talking Books/Special Needs Increases Efficiency

This article was contributed by Jerry Reynolds, Librarian Sr.:

Talking Books/Special Needs highlights two areas of increased efficiency: The first is the digital book format. The case is thinner which allows for more copies to be housed in a given space than the thicker cases that house tapes. Additionally, one cartridge can hold as much content as several tapes meaning that, no matter what the length is of the vast majority of books, we need deal with only one cartridge instead of multiple tapes.

The second is the use of volunteers. We now average 12 – 15 volunteers in any given month and our plans are to increase this number. Without these volunteers, it would be impossible for us to accomplish the outreach activities and other programming that we have been so successful in sustaining. We are deeply grateful for their many efforts.