Production of talking books on audiocassettes has ceased. Only digital talking books will be produced from now into the future. Though magazines and older titles in the NLS collection will still be available on audiocassette, by the end of 2011 Talking Book Topics will list only digital talking-book (DB) titles. If you do not already have a digital talking-book player, please request one from your network library.
In addition to reading talking books on NLS-produced digital cartridges, patrons may download talking books from the Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) website. You will need a computer with a high-speed Internet connection, a blank cartridge, a USB cable, and an NLS digital talking-book player or NLS-authorized commercial player. Find out more at https://nlsbard.loc.gov/ApplicationInstructions.html.
Cartridges and cables may be purchased from several vendors:
The following announcements may be of interest to readers. The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped reserves the right to publish announcements selectively, as space permits. The items mentioned, however, are not part of the NLS program, and their listing does not imply endorsement.
Four recent graduates of Northeastern University won the 2010 Louis Braille Touch of Genius Prize for Innovation for building a low-cost braille embosser converted from a standard ink-jet printer. Molly Brown, Ben Braggins, Patrick Cleary, and Jeff Witkowski received the $10,000 prize on September 29, 2010, at the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Northeastern University has applied for a provisional patent for the invention.
The Touch of Genius Prize for Innovation was established in 2007 to promote braille literacy for blind and deaf-blind people worldwide. The prize is given by National Braille Press in Boston, Massachusetts, through the support of the Gibney Family Foundation. Learn more about the prize, and past and present recipients, at www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/programs/tog/tog_prize.
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