Talking Book News Bulletin
Spring 2019

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Director's Report
Holiday Closings
TBP Book Club August 2019
Third Annual Poetry Contest
The Ultimate Spring Clean: Marie Kondo Style
Disability News
Duplication On Demand (DOD) Navigation
Contacts


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Director's Report

Greetings! Here is the latest news:

Former NLS Director Kurt Cylke (1932-2019): Frank Kurt Cylke, former director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), has passed away. Cylke was NLS director from 1973 to 2011. He oversaw two major transitions in talking book services: from recorded vinyl disks to analog cassettes, and then from the cassettes to digital cartridges and downloads via the Internet. Cylke had a deep respect for people with visual disabilities and was proud of the services that NLS provided to this community. Cylke was a dedicated librarian and had an abiding passion for reading and collecting books. In the course of his career, he worked in a variety of libraries prior to NLS and continued to volunteer in libraries after he retired. Cylke also was an avid bird-watcher and was interested in ships and sailing and reading naval fiction. For more information, you may read his obituary here: https://adamsgreen.com/tribute/details/10618/Frank-Cylke-Sr/obituary.html.

Duplication-on-Demand is here! Would you like to receive multiple books on a cartridge and receive them sooner rather than later? Duplication-on-Demand (DOD) allows staff to create customized reading cartridges for patrons who are signed up for this service. Patron feedback has been very positive. Approximately 5,000 TBP patrons are signed up and receiving the books they want—even books that previously were available only via download. We are working diligently to get all patrons set up for duplication-on-demand, but it may be some time before we get to you. If you have questions or would like to switch to duplication-on-demand right away, please call us at 800-252-9605 or email us at tbp.services@tsl.texas.gov.

The newest DOD cartridges make it even easier to read through all the books on the cartridge. Please see the information provided at the end of the newsletter.

Please keep your email address up-to-date on your TBP account: We regularly introduce new services, make important announcements or just pass along interesting information for your benefit. The fastest and surest way to hear about all these things is via email. Unfortunately, we get lots of bounced or undeliverable emails returned to us when we send email to patrons. The most common reason for this is that the patron has changed email addresses or abandoned the address we have on file and hasn’t notified us. Please call 1-800-252-9605 and ask a reader consultant to update your account with your new email address. If you would like to receive email communications as your primary method of correspondence, or to receive this newsletter by email, ask the reader consultant to change your preferences to email. You may give us a second or alternate email address, as well. When our online catalog becomes available later this year, you will need to have a valid email address in order to access it, so keeping your email address updated is more important than ever.

Until next time,
Ava Smith
Director, Talking Book Program

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Bonus Book Club Title Announced for August 2019!

TBP is participating in the Read Across Texas Initiative sponsored by the Texas Center for the Book. TBP will host a bonus book club meeting so that our patrons can participate in the Read Across Texas initiative. For more information: www.tsl.texas.gov/readacrosstexas.

Join us on Tuesday, August 27 at 7 p.m. (Central Time) for our book club discussion of TATTOOS ON THE HEART: THE POWER OF BOUNDLESS COMPASSION by Greg Boyle. DB70899. RSVP preferred by August 6. To RSVP call the Talking Book Program at: 1-800-252-9605 (RSVP preferred by August 6) or email us at: tbp.ral@tsl.texas.gov.

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Third Annual Poetry Contest

The Talking Book Program is proud to announce its third annual poetry writing contest. The contest will run from now until September 30, 2019. There are three category levels: TBPL #1: Ages 0-10; TBPL #2: Ages 11-18; and TBPL #3: 19 and above. Winners will be announced in the TBP Winter Newsletter, in early 2020. All poem submissions must be received by September 30, 2019.To participate, you must be a current and active TBP patron and you must sign and submit a release form. You can find it on TexasTalkingBooks.org under TBP News, or, if you want a release form mailed to you call 512-463-5452.

Submit poem and release form to:

Talking Book Program
c/o Public Awareness Coordinator
PO Box 12927
Austin, TX 78711-2927

Or email to: TBPinfo@tsl.texas.gov

Deadline is September 30, 2019

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The Ultimate Spring Clean: Marie Kondo Style

You may have heard about the Marie Kondo craze that has been happening. Marie Kondo's method for tidying up isn't exactly a prescriptive formula because everyone's experience will be a bit different, but it does have some guidelines. Here are two books to organize your home and your life:

THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP: THE JAPANESE ART OF DECLUTTERING AND ORGANIZING by Marie Kondo. DB80607; LB08362 A guide to decluttering the home from a cleaning and organization consultant, using the author's KonMari Method, which focuses on categories of items rather than rooms. First published in Japanese in 2011. 2014.

SPARK JOY: AN ILLUSTRATED MASTER CLASS ON THE ARE OF ORGANZING AND TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo. DB83450; LB08890 A step-by-step instruction for her KonMari decluttering and organizing methods, including folding clothing, organizing drawers and closets, cleaning and hobby supplies, digital photos and more. She also answers frequently asked questions. Commercial audiobook. 2016.

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Texas Talking Books will be closed for these holidays

Thursday-Friday, July 4- 5 ~ Independence Day

Of course, you can leave a voicemail message or send e-mail on a holiday.

 

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Disability News

The Centers for Independent Living in Texas provide a variety of services for individuals of all ages in Texas with disabilities. Every center is different, but most provide peer counseling, recreational / social activities, independent living skills training and technology / computer classes. For more information about the center that serves your county, visit this link: https://www.ilru.org/projects/cil-net/cil-center-and-association-directory-results/TX or contact the Disability Information and Referral Center through the Talking Book Program.

Call the Disability Information and Referral Center toll-free at 1-800-252-9605 for information
about disabilities and health conditions.

Duplication On Demand (DOD) Navigation: How to Read the Books on
Your DOD (Gutenberg) Cartridge

There are two ways to move between the books on your DOD cartridge. (Note: if you are only having us put one book on each cartridge, you don’t need these instructions.)

  1. The easiest method lets you listen to each book on the cartridge in order. If you want to skip a book, just fast-forward through that book and go on to the next book.
  2. The Bookshelf method lets you listen to the books on the cartridge in any order. You can move directly to a later book on the cartridge, then come back to an earlier one.

Here’s how the easiest method works:

  • When you turn on the player (the DTBM) and insert the cartridge, the player will announce the number of books on the cartridge. It will then begin playing the first book.
  • At the end of the first book, you will hear the player announce “End of…” and the title of the book. It will give you information about the book such as author, publisher, etc. Then it will again say, “End of Book,” this time followed by the instructions “Press Play/Stop to go to next book.” Follow these instructions by pressing the Play/Stop button once. The player will immediately go to the second book and begin playing it.
  • Continue this way through all the books on the cartridge, at your own pace. Listen for the “End of Book—Press Play/Stop to go to next book” and follow the instructions.
  • If you wish to skip the information at the end of the book and go on the next book immediately, just use the Forward button until you hear the End of Book announcement.
  • If you wish to skip one of the books entirely, just use the Forward button to move through the book to the end until you hear the “End of Book” message.
  • Once you have read the last book on the cartridge, pressing the Play/Stop button will take you back to the beginning of the first book. At that point you may just remove the cartridge from the player and send it back.

Here’s how the Bookshelf method works:

  • When you turn on the player and insert the cartridge, the player will announce the number of books on the cartridge and begin playing the first book.
  • To move to a different book on the cartridge, press Play/Stop to stop the first book from playing; then go into “Bookshelf mode” by pressing and holding the Play/Stop button until you hear it say the word “Bookshelf.” When you hear the word “Bookshelf,” let go of the Play/Stop button.
  • Now tap the right-arrow “Forward” button to move to the next book on the cartridge. The player will give a single beep, then will announce “2” plus the title of the second book on the cartridge.
  • Each time you tap the right-arrow Forward button while in Bookshelf mode, it will move to the next book on the cartridge, until you get to the last book on the cartridge. You will know you are at the last book on the cartridge when you hear a double beep. [Note that if you want to go directly to the last book on the cartridge, you can press and hold down the Forward button until you hear the double beep.]
  • You can also tap the left-arrow “Rewind” button to move to the previous book on the cartridge. You will know you are at the first book on the cartridge when you hear a double beep. [Note that if you want to go directly to the first book on the cartridge, you can press and hold down the Rewind button until you hear the double beep.]
  • Once you get to the book you wish to listen to, just press the Play/Stop button once to get out of Bookshelf Mode and start listening to the book. When you wish to stop listening to that book, just press Play/Stop once to stop the book from playing. You can then press and hold the Play/Stop button to go back into Bookshelf mode to move to another book on the cartridge. [Note:The player will “remember” your current position in each book even if you move to other books, so you can read part of one book, then read part of another book, then come back and continue with the first book, if you like.]
  • If you are using a Standard DTBM (rather than an Advanced DTBM) and are using the Bookshelf method, the player will give the number of books on the cartridge, but also will treat the Standard Player User Guide as though it’s an extra book at the end of the Bookshelf. To go into the User Guide, you can move to it on the Bookshelf as though it were the last book on the shelf. If you are in the User Guide and wish to go to a different book, just press Play/Stop once to stop the User Guide from playing, then press and hold Play/Stop until you hear the word Bookshelf, then tap the Rewind button to move back through the books until you reach the one you want.

Remember, if you have any difficulty getting to the book you want to read, you can always give us a call at 1-800-252-9605 or send us an email at tbp.services@tsl.texas.gov and we will be happy to walk you through it.

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Helpful contacts information for the Talking Book Program

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End of Texas Talking Book News
Spring 2019

 

 

Page last modified: June 27, 2019