[blindkid] Fwd: The Library of Congress Releases Future of Braille Report

[Penny Duffy]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Judith M. Dixon <jdix at loc.gov>
Date: Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 4:42 PM
Subject: The Library of Congress Releases Future of Braille Report
To: Judith M Dixon <jdix at loc.gov>


Dear Braille Summit Attendee,

The Library of Congress has released a report--The future of Braille: NLS
Braille Summit Presentations and Outcomes. This report is the proceedings
of the June 2013 Braille Summit and reflects the hard work and great ideas
generated by those who attended.

Below, I am pasting the press release that announces this report.

"The Future of Braille" Report Presents Recommendations
For Improving Literacy Opportunities

Deputy Librarian of Congress Robert J. Dizard Jr. today released a report
exploring issues related to braille, the literacy tool that makes
independence possible for people who cannot see to read regular print, at
the National Federation of the Blind national convention in Orlando,
Florida.

The Future of Braille: NLS Braille Summit Presentations and Outcomes
details the proceedings of a conference held by the National Library
Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) in partnership with
the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts, June 19-22,
2013. It was attended by more than 100 librarians, instructors, producers,
and other experts in the field of braille.

NLS director Karen Keninger said, "This was the first gathering of its
type since the early 20th century. People were eager to share their
experiences and to contribute their ideas to help shape the course of this
important literacy tool."

"The Library of Congress has been providing braille books since it was
authorized by law to provide free library service for people who are blind
or have low vision," Dizard explained. "This program, the National Library
Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, has recently expanded to
include electronic braille, which is downloaded over the Internet from the
Braille and Audio Reading Download site (known as BARD) and read using
braille embossers or note-takers with a Bluetooth connection."

"The Braille Summit is a product of our effort to keep this medium at the
forefront of library service," Dizard said.

Speakers included Peter Osborne, chief braille officer of the United
Kingdom's Royal National Institute of Blind People; Michael Yudin, acting
assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Education Special Education
and Rehabilitative Services in Washington, D.C.; and other notables in the
field.

Panels discussed improvements in the braille code, methods of producing
braille, lowering costs, leveraging technology, and addressing
misperceptions about the literacy tool.

Participants recognized that collaboration is the way forward for
strengthening braille literacy. As NLS has been a leader in ensuring
access to reading materials, the gathering recommended that NLS support
efforts to update braille technology and specifications. They also
recommended that the service provide a low-cost braille display in the
same way that it provides audio-playback equipment.

Other stakeholders were encouraged to address the shortage of teachers and
cost prohibitions, promote braille as a communications tool, make better
use of technology to reduce the cost of braille production, and to produce
a low-cost braille display unit.

The report is available online at www.loc.gov/nls/index.html.

NLS administers the braille and talking-book program, a free library
service available to U.S. residents and American citizens living abroad
whose low vision, blindness, or disability makes reading regular materials
difficult. Through its national network of libraries, NLS mails books and
magazines in audio and braille formats and digital audio equipment
directly to enrollees at no cost. Music instructional materials are also
provided. Selected materials may be downloaded. For more information,
visit www.loc.gov/nls/ or call 1-888-NLS-READ (1-888-657-7323).

The Library of Congress, the nation's oldest federal cultural
institution and the largest library in the world, holds more than 158
million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The Library
serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site in its reading rooms
on Capitol Hill and through its award-winning website at www.loc.gov.

PR14-0114