[Blindtlk] Fwd: [BANA-Announce] BANA to Hold Spring Board Meeting in Washington, D.C.

[David Andrews]

>
>March 2013
>
>For Immediate Release
>
>CONTACT: Frances Mary D'Andrea, Chair
>
>Braille Authority of North America
>
>Phone: 412-521-5797
>
>Email: <mailto:literacy2 at mindspring.com>literacy2 at mindspring.com
>
>BANA to Hold Spring Board Meeting in Washington, D.C.
>
>The Braille Authority of North America (BANA), which meets 
>face-to-face semiannually, will hold its 2013 spring meeting April 
>11-13 in Washington, D.C. This meeting is hosted by the National 
>Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), a 
>BANA member organization. Meetings on April 11 and 12 will take 
>place in the Madison Building at the Library of Congress, which is 
>located at 101 Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington, DC 20540. 
>Meetings on Saturday, April 13, including an Open Forum, will be 
>held at the Arlington Public Library, 1015 N. Quincy Street, 
>Arlington, VA 22201.
>
>As always, interested parties are invited to observe the BANA Board 
>meetings. Items on the Board's agenda include reports from all of 
>BANA's technical committees such as music, formats, and tactile 
>graphics. In-depth reports will be presented by the BANA Bylaws 
>Committee as well as the Unified English Braille (UEB) Task Force. 
>To learn the process required to comply with special security 
>requirements and procedures for entry to federal buildings and to 
>reserve a seat as an observer, please contact BANA Chair Frances 
>Mary D'Andrea at 412-521-5797 or by email at 
><mailto:literacy2 at mindspring.com>literacy2 at mindspring.com.
>
>Saturday morning, BANA will host an Open Forum that provides a venue 
>for participants to discuss braille with the Board and to learn more 
>about the workings of BANA. Members of the BANA Board will share 
>plans for the transition to UEB. Forum participants are encouraged 
>to discuss their views and suggestions surrounding braille and its 
>future. Braille readers, teachers, and students as well as producers 
>and distributors of braille are encouraged to take advantage of this 
>opportunity to participate in a round-table discussion with the 
>members of the BANA Board. The Open Forum will be held Saturday, 
>April 13, from 10:30 A.M to 12:00 noon at the Arlington Public 
>Library. A meet-and-greet time with snacks will begin at 10:00 A.M. 
>To reserve your space at the Open Forum and to help ensure accurate 
>counts for handouts, contact Frances Mary D'Andrea.
>
>For additional resource information, visit 
><http://www.brailleauthority.org/>www.brailleauthority.org
>
>The Board of BANA consists of appointed representatives from fifteen 
>member organizations of braille producers, transcribers, teachers, 
>and consumers.
>
>The mission and purpose of the Braille Authority of North America 
>are to assure literacy for tactile readers through the 
>standardization of braille and/or tactile graphics. BANA promotes 
>and facilitates the use, teaching, and production of braille. It 
>publishes rules, interprets, and renders opinions pertaining to 
>braille in all existing codes. It deals with codes now in existence 
>or to be developed in the future, in collaboration with other 
>countries using English braille. In exercising its function and 
>authority, BANA considers the effects of its decisions on other 
>existing braille codes and formats; the ease of production by 
>various methods; and acceptability to readers.
>