[Md-sligo] FW: [DB-Review] Books & Beyond presents NLS director

[Brown, Debbie]

FYI.  If I missed anyone, please pass it on.  Thanks.
---Original Message-----
From: DB-Review [mailto:db-review-bounces at emissives.com] On Behalf Of NJ Lynn
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2013 2:03 PM
To: DB Review
Subject: [DB-Review] Books & Beyond presents NLS director

I’m sending this here because it does have to do with BARD as well as the NLS collection overall.

Accessible World Presents Nls Director,Karen Keninger, Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Newswire:
As you enjoy the wide variety of books available on your digital player, do you wish to express     gratitude or ask  questions  about the future of this fabulous program.  On our next Books And Beyond, you will have that opportunity when we all speak with Karen Keninger the Director  Of The National Library Service. What changes are planned? What is most challenging and rewarding for Ms. Keninger in her new position? How does she manage to serve the needs of such a diverse library  population? What are her goals and plans for the future? How is funding for the services we enjoy obtained? Can we help and how? What does she enjoy reading? Does the fact that she is a patron of Nls  give her  an added perspective and sensitivity toward    the needs of others? AS cassettes go away and magazines turn more and more to on line publication, how will their future distribution be handled for patrons who enjoy them? 
On our next show, Karen Keninger will answer these questions and much more. I hope you will join us as we share an hour with a delightful woman who loves books responsible for   decisions which will affect  our enjoyment of and  experience with books for years to come.
I ask that your questions and comments be made quickly and in as concise  a form as possible as I expect there will be many who will attend and wish to ask questions.
If you cannot attend the show but have a question, please call me with yours at 740-945-6740. I will do my utmost to include it on the show
Below is information about Karen Keninger and all you will need so you     can easily  attend this upcoming Books And Beyond.
"Our primary goal is to ensure that our patrons have the reading materials that they need to increase their quality of life. This is what we're all about," said Keninger, who took the helm of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped on March 26.



She said the top five priorities sup­porting this goal are to "maintain the highest quality standards for all NLS products; enhance the reading experience for all NLS patrons by leveraging current and future technologies to improve the reading and delivery systems; expand the scope and quantity of titles available in alternative formats; take a leading role in positioning braille as a viable, practical and achievable literacy medium for all blind Americans; and increase NLS readership by 20 percent over the next five years."
Karen Keninger became director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., in March. She is the first person who is blind to direct the Braille and talking-book program. Keninger is former director of the Iowa Department for the Blind, a provider of vocational rehabilitation and independent-living programs and library services for blind and visually impaired individuals. She spoke with American Libraries in June about how  she plans to turn her lifelong patronage of the NLS to the advantage of its other users.
I’ve been using the National Library Service materials—books and magazines, both audio and Braille—since I was 7 years old, so it gives me a very deep and broad patron perspective that I would not have if I had not actually been a blind person using those materials all of my life. 
Does today’s emphasis on online services present new opportunities for individuals who are blind or visually impaired?

It’s a double-edged sword. There are more materials available, but the experience and the skill that a blind person needs to access them is not insignificant. It’s much more difficult, or at least more complex, to use a computer with a screen reader, for example, than it is for someone to use it with a mouse. They have a much steeper learning curve. That means that some blind people are able to take advantage of all the online services that are out there, but the majority are not really able to do that in an effective way at this point, partly because many of the people we serve are elderly and their computer-using days are over, if they ever used computers at all.

Keninger has a proven track record of collaboration and innovation.  She served on the Digital Long-Term Planning Group established by NLS in 2001 to guide planning for the now successfully completed digital talking book transition, and on the successor Digital Transition Advisory Committee. She led the transition in Iowa from analog to digital talking books and players and was successful in securing funds for the digital conversion of locally-produced talking books. She is a daily user of the full range of information technologies for the blind and visually impaired, including Web-Braille, digital talking book machines and books, and online download services. 

Throughout her career, Keninger has established and maintained effective working relationships with a broad range of individuals and organizations at the national, state, and local levels. Keninger was elected 2012 president of the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind. From 2002-2008, she served as chair of the Consortium of User Libraries. 

Keninger holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Drake University in Iowa and a master’s degree in English, business and technical writing from Iowa State University. She completed graduate courses in library and information science at the University of Iowa. 
e-Mail: bonnie at accessibleworld.org
Date: Wednesday, February 13, 2013 
Time: 5:00 PM PST,                                        ,   6:00 PM MST,
7 PM CSt
8 PM EST, , 
and elsewhere in the world Thursday,   12:00 GMT.

Approximately 15 minutes prior to the event start time; go to

The Books and Beyond Room at:

http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs3cfe7424e06c

Or, alternatively,

Select The Books and Beyond Room at: www.accessibleworld.org

Enter your first and last names on the sign-in screen.

If you are a first-time user of the Talking Communities online conferencing software, there is a small, safe software program that you need to download and then run. A link to the software is available on every entry screen to the Accessible World rooms.

All online interactive programs are free of charge, and open to anyone worldwide having an Internet connection, a computer, speakers, and a sound card. Those with microphones can interact audibly with the presenters and others in the virtual audience. To speak to us, hold down the control key and let up to listen. If no microphone is available, you may text chat with the attendees.

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Accessible World Contacts:

Robert Acosta, Chair

Accessible World

818-998-0044

Email: boacosta at pacbell.net

Web: www.helpinghands4theblind.org

Marcia Moses, Events Coordinator

Accessible World

734-495-1496

Email: mgmoses at comcast.net

Steve Hoffman, President

Talking Communities

Email: steve at talkingcommunities.com

The Accessible World, a division of Helping Hands For The Blind, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, seeks to educate the general public, the disabled community and the professionals who serve them by providing highly relevant information about new products, services, and training opportunities designed specifically to eliminate geographic and access barriers that adversely affect them.  aspect To contact the list owners, write to:  db-review-owner at emissives.com

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