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Upstate Update: Winter 2020

Greetings!

The New York State Talking Book and Braille Library, NYSTBBL, is thrilled to announce the return of our newsletter, Upstate Update.

In this Issue of Upstate Update:

The NYSTBBL is a regional library within a network of libraries coordinated by the Library of Congress' National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). NLS provides audio and braille materials to the NYSTBBL, ensuring that library service is accessible to eligible residents of 55 counties in upstate New York.

On October 1, 2019, the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped officially changed its name to the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled. The NLS and the Library of Congress made this change based on input and data from various stakeholders and interest groups. The name change replaces outdated language and is more inclusive, focusing on the individuals served by the library.

The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled will continue to provide the NYSTBBL with books, magazines, and music materials in online, braille, and audio formats.

The National Library Service has made important security updates to BARD, Braille and
Audio Reading Download. The BARD system now reviews library accounts daily, checking for patron activity. Any account that has not been used within six months will be made inactive.

If your account was made inactive and you would like to continue using BARD, please contact our office for help. We are happy to re-activate your account and reset your password.

Contact our office to request a BARD password re-set:
tbbl@nysed.gov or 1-800-342-3688

Braille and Audio Reading Download, BARD, is a web-based service from NLS that provides immediate access to audio and electronic braille books, magazines, and music scores. There are no waitlists and no books to return!

Reading materials can be downloaded using the BARD Mobile app, available for iOS and Android, or through the BARD website.

Contact our office for registration information!

April 1, 2020 is Census Day. By this date, every household will receive an invitation to participate in the 2020 Census. The census plays an integral role in determining how the seats in our United States House of Representatives are distributed and how government funding is allocated for valuable services in our communities. It is important that all community members participate in the census to ensure that every US resident is counted.

On March 12, the Census Bureau will begin mailing households an invitation to respond to the census. For the first time, households will have three ways to respond to the short questionnaire: online, by calling a toll-free number, or returning the questionnaire by mail. In May, census workers will begin visiting homes that have not responded to the census invitation to make sure everyone is counted.

The Census Bureau creates guides in many languages to help people complete the census. Help guides will be available in braille and large print. When these guides are available, NYSTBBL will notify our patrons through our newsletter or by request.

Although the census questionnaire will not be available in braille, individuals who are blind or visually impaired can utilize the accessible online questionnaire or the phone-in option available. Both the online and phone-in questionnaires will be available in English and 12 additional languages.

As we get closer to Census Day, NYSTBBL will share communications from NLS to help you stay informed about the 2020 Census. We will include information in upcoming newsletters and on the TBBL Facebook page.

For general census questions, please call 1-800-923-8282, or visit the federal Census help page.

Here are a few helpful links to census resources:

The NYSTBBL offers a Spanish language digital talking book player by request to Spanish speaking patrons. The player announces machine settings in Spanish. If you are interested in a Spanish language player or you would like to receive Spanish audio titles, please contact our reader advisors.

NYSTBBL can provide books in other languages by special request. Contact our office for more information.

Due to COVID-19, please expect delays for magazines and guides that would normally be delivered to your home address. This includes NLS' two book lists, Talking Book Topics and the Braille Book Review. Current issues of both NLS magazines are available through the NLS website and BARD. Magazines are being posted on BARD in audio and ebraille, but there may be a delay in receiving the audio cartridge or hard-copy braille.

Money magazine discontinued its production after its June/July 2019 issue. The National Library Service is offering Kiplinger's Personal Finance as a comparable alternative. Kiplinger's Personal Finance is available on BARD as an audio and braille file. If you would like to request Kiplinger's Personal Finance on audio cartridge or in braille to be delivered through the US mail, please contact TBBL.

Audio production of the New Yorker was temporarily discontinued late last year, but it is back and available on BARD and as an audio cartridge.

If you do not have enough books to read at home, these suggestions may help!

  • Call our office and request an increase in your book quota. Patrons in good standing, who return their books regularly, can ask our reader advisors for more books. Reader advisors will increase the number of books being sent to your home address.
  • When you are finished reading a book, send it back through the mail. Items can take a long time to travel through the mail, so it's best to send books back as you finish them. When a book is returned to our office, we will send out another book.
  • Call or email our reader advisors with your book requests. Reader advisors can assign available books to you or add titles to your request list.
  • Consider changing your library account settings so you receive books on an automatic basis. Items will be sent to you automatically based on reading subjects that you enjoy. Please call our office to change your settings.
  • If you would prefer to receive books that only you select, consider regularly adding titles to your request list. When titles are returned, more titles from your request list will be sent out. The more titles you have on your request list, the better! Please contact our office to add titles to your request list or for directions on how to do this online.

If you are moving permanently or temporarily, please let us know. We can schedule an address change, so your service goes uninterrupted.

If you are moving out of state, or to New York City or Long Island, we can help transfer your library account to one of our other network libraries. There is no need to re-register with a new library. 

If your contact information has changed since registering with our library, please let us know so your library account is up to date.

When you give to the NYS Talking Book and Braille Library, your donation helps support equal access to reading materials for individuals who are print disabled.

If donations are made in honor of someone special, please include names and addresses of those to be notified. With your permission, we will acknowledge the names of donors and/or honorees in future newsletters.

Please note that the NYSTBBL is only able to accept monetary donations.

Thank you for your generous gifts to the NYS Talking Book and Braille Library.

NFB-NEWSLINE is a free audio news service for anyone who has difficulty reading standard newsprint. NFB- NEWSLINE offers access to more than 500 publications, emergency weather alerts, job listings, TV listings, and more.

Subscribers can access a variety of newspapers and magazines such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The New Yorker, AARP The Magazine, and Harpers just to name a few. Subscribers will also find a variety of local papers, such as The Times Union and Syracuse Post Standard.

Access to the NFB-NEWSLINE service is available in several formats including touch-tone phone, email, the web, or through a mobile app.

If you are interested in NFB-NEWSLINE, please call our office for a subscription or call the National Federation of the Blind at 866-504-7300.

Did you know that NFB-NEWSLINE subscribers can access the service through Amazon's Alexa, Echo, and Echo Dot? NFB-NEWSLINE subscribers can listen to news, articles, and books through voice-activated commands. The National Federation of the Blind can help provide instructions through their website or by calling 866-504-7300.

We often receive requests from patrons for religious and spiritual reading materials, so we would like to highlight the offerings from the Xavier Society for the Blind. Xavier Society for the Blind provides Roman Catholic teachings, Mass readings, magazines, and other religious materials to individuals who are blind or visually impaired. Materials are available in both braille and audio formats. Audio CDs are available as well as audio cartridges that can be played using NLS' digital talking book player.

Materials are free of charge due to generous support from donors. For more information about Xavier, please call their offices at 212-473-7800 or email info@xaviersocietyfortheblind.org.

Wednesday, January 1 - New Year's Day
Monday, January 20 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Monday, February 17 - Washington's Birthday (Observed)
Monday, May 25 - Memorial Day
Monday, September 7 - Labor Day
Monday, October 12 - Columbus Day
Wednesday, November 11 – Veterans Day
Thursday, November 26 - Thanksgiving Day
Friday, December 25 - Christmas Day

Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 
Toll-free calls: 1-800-342-3688
Fax: 518-474-7041
tbbl@nysed.gov

Talking Book and Braille Library
Cultural Education Center
222 Madison Avenue
Albany, NY 12230-0001

Last Updated: December 9, 2020