[NFBNJ] friends Of The Library Spring 2019 newsletter

Mon Apr 29 22:53:31 UTC 2019

    Greetings to all!
I received a request to distribute the following from NFBNJ longtime member 
and President of the Friends of the Library, the spring newsletter for 2019.
Any questions, comments and or concerns, please contact Ken Lawrence at 
kenlawrence124 at aol.com.

Best,
Joe

We care. We share. We grow. We make a difference
Joe Ruffalo, President
National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey
973 743 0075
nfbnj1 at verizon.net
www.nfbnj.org
Raising Expectations To Live The Life You Want!

Your old car keys can be keys to literacy for the blind.
Donate your unwanted vehicle to us by clicking
www.carshelpingtheblind.org
or call 855 659 9314

From: ken lawrence
Sent: Monday, April 29, 2019 2:38 PM
To: nfbnj1 at verizon.net
Subject: for distribution list friends newsletter

Hi joe can you please distribute this to the NFB state distribution list. 
This is our spring newsletter of the friends of the NJ library for the 
blind.  Message follows.          THE FRIENDS OF THE NEW JERSEY LIBRARY FOR 
THE BLIND AND HANDICAPPED, INC.

SPRING 2019 NEWSLETTER

Message from the President

Hello friends of the library members. This has been an incredible ride that 
started with a very frustrated president who was extremely angry that I 
might be the president who would bring an end to the organization for not 
having a secretary.  It ended however with great purpose and drive to make 
the friends even stronger. Because of a last-ditch desperation email to 
national federation of the blind president joe Ruffalo to try to save our 
last meeting we hit a jackpot.  Bea Oliveti came to our meeting and despite 
needing to get up extra early on a Saturday morning and despite three access 
link transfers not only showing up but agreed to be our secretary thusly 
saving our organization.  I???m sure she will make a great one and so let???s 
all welcome her to our friends of the library family.  During that last 
meeting it was mentioned that a greater effort should be made to reach out 
to all the blindness organizations and bring in new members.  The friend???s 
organization is very sound financially and now the time is here to bring in 
members that will put that to work.  It???s just like the opening of that 
classic TV show the 6 Million dollar man.  ???gentlemen, we can rebuild him, 
we have the technology. We like the 6 Million dollar man can be made better! 
Stronger! Faster!  People like me can remember when the library and the 
commission for the blind didn???t actively reach out to those who they served 
and that???s why I???m proud to serve as your president. So, from here on the 
time is at hand to keep our organization moving forward.  Let???s all commit 
to building a stronger and even better organization and I look forward to a 
packed house next meeting and remember that if you can???t get to JKTC the 
conference call number will be there for you see you at next meeting where 
we can hopefully get this freight train to move at bullet train speed.

Ken Lawrence

Meeting Information

The next meeting of the Friends will be held on Saturday, June 1, 2019 from 
10:00 A.M. until 12:00 P.M., followed by lunch from 12:00 to 1:00 P.M. The 
location is the Joseph Kohn Training Center (JKTC) located at 130 Livingston 
Avenue in New Brunswick, NJ.  Directions to the JKTC will appear at the end 
of this newsletter.  Anyone wishing to stay for lunch will be asked to 
contribute $5.00 toward the cost of the food.  Please call Mary Jo Partyka 
at 609-888-5459 by May 28th to advise us of your attendance so we can plan 
for lunch.  We hope you will consider joining us for an informative and 
important meeting.  Since this is our annual meeting, membership dues will 
be collected at the June meeting. Dues are $10.00 for an individual and 
$25.00 for a family.

If you cannot attend the meeting we would like to invite you to dial in to 
the conference call. Please note; this is not a toll free number.  On June 
1st at 10 AM dial 605-468-8005.  Enter the access code 425 373#.  You will 
be asked to press 1 after the access code is repeated correctly.

Meet A Local NJ Author

I met a local author by the name of Kristen Witucki who wrote the following 
book.

Outside myself DB91111

Witucki, Kristen. Reading time: 7 hours, 43 minutes.

Read by Jennifer Hubbard.

Disability

Human Relations

Young Adult

When Tallie, a girl struggling to adjust to her blindness, calls Adult 
Reader Services at a library for the blind, she connects with Benjamin, an 
older man working in customer service. The two bond over the phone and 
create a special relationship. Strong language. For senior high and older 
readers. 2018.

Kristen is from Pine Hill, which is a suburb of Camden County NJ. She holds 
a BA in English with a minor in German from Vassar College and Master???s 
degree in teaching students, teaching students who are blind and visually 
impaired, and in creative writing. To fit with this epectic academic 
background, Kristen works as the curriculum content editor for Learning 
Alli's College Success Program and as a mentor for the New Jersey Edge 
Program.

Kristen was inspired to write her book "Outside Myself" by her husband's 
life story for the character of Benjamin, and the Tallie character was 
inspired by students she's worked with in the past whose parents felt 
differently about their blindness. Or whose parents, in general hindered the 
acceptance of their blindness.

When I asked Kristen if she was planning a sequel her response was, she 
wasn't because she thinks the story ended where it needed to end. Kristen 
just hopes to write another book sometime soon!

Kristen is and has been for most of her life a member of the TBBC (talking 
book and braille center.) Kristen shared with me an anecdote in which she 
had a rocky start as a three-year-old who recorded over one of her first 
taped books! Kristen says fortunately the library forgave her and she went 
on to enjoy many happy years of reading!

Kristen has graciously accepted to be our guest at The Friends of the 
Library meeting this upcoming June 1st at the Joseph Kone Training Center in 
New Brunswick from 10 am-12 pm. We're looking forward to hearing more from 
Kristen there!

Bea Olivetti, Secretary of the Friends

Improvements in services coming to TBBC

There has been the problem of unequal access for our patrons.  We are going 
to solve this problem later this spring.

Please let me explain.  NLS has done a terrific job of having a number of 
audiobooks available the same day they are published commercially.  One 
example is the latest book by Michelle Obama.  On the day it came out 
patrons who could download it were able to begin listening to the book that 
very afternoon.

That is great for about three out of every ten patrons at TBBC.  For the out 
seven out of ten they had to wait weeks for us to get copies from NLS and 
process them into the collection and send them out.  But the issues did not 
stop there.  We pre-ordered twenty-five copies of her book but we had 
fifty-eight people waiting.  Many waited months before they got a copy of 
the book.

And that is the problem we are going to solve

Later this spring, this problem will not exist.  TBBC is going to a new 
circulation system and a new way to duplicate books to everyone at the same 
time.

This ???audiobooks on demand??? will allow everyone to get a copy of the book 
the day it is released.

So back to the Michelle Obama book, people will still download but for the 
fifty-eight people who could not download we will be able to serve all 
fifty-eight that day also.

The only different is you may need to wait a few days as it is mailed to 
you.

This doesn???t exist for just new books, but it is for all books digitized by 
NLS.  Another example, you want to read Sue Grafton in order from her first 
book.  We will be able to send you the first five books at once and all on 
one cartridge.

We look forward to getting books to everyone this new way and we hope you 
enjoy reading even more.

Adam Szczepaniak, Director, TBBC

TBBC???s Eighth Annual Golf Outing

Come out and tee up for Talking Books at the 8th Annual TBBC Golf Classic at 
the Bedens Brook Club in Skillman, NJ. Please join us on Tuesday, June 11th 
to support our FREE public library that helps thousands of NJ residents each 
year. This year we are especially honored to have two Bedens Brook Club 
members, Gordon Gund and Chuck Travers, sponsor us as their guest.  Once 
again, the Friends will be sponsors.

A Heartfelt Thank You

The Friends would like to thank Elizabeth Meckel for her very generous 
donation.  We appreciate your support!

Annual Dues are due

This is a friendly reminder that our annual dues for FY 2020 should be sent 
in now.  Please send your dues and donations to the Friends mailing address 
and write your check out to the Friends of the Library for the Blind and 
Handicapped.  The Friends appreciate your efforts and your participation in 
helping the NJSLTBBC meet its goals.  A membership form is attached to this 
newsletter for those who wish to join the Friends or pay dues.  Dues are 
$10.00 for an individual membership and $25.00 for a family membership. 
These dues cover the 12 month period from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020.

Options for Reading The Friends??? Newsletter

The newsletter is available in Large Print, E-Mail, on our website 
http://friendsnjlibraryfortheblind.org and for those who do not have 
computers, by telephone on Newsline. You can access these Newsletters with a 
Newsline subscription and a touch-tone telephone. If you do not have a 
Newsline subscription, contact Reader Services at the New Jersey Talking 
Book and Braille Center at 1-800-792-8322 to get signed up for a Newsline 
subscription.  If you have a Newsline subscription, but do not remember your 
login information, contact Christian Riehl at the above number extension 
821. Once you have secured your login information, dial in to the service by 
calling 1-888-882-1629, or the local dial up number provided to you for 
accessing the service. Follow the prompts for logging in and reading the 
Newsletters. Choose option 2 off the main menu for your state???s information 
channel, followed by option for the blindness groups, then the option for 
the Friends Newsletters. Happy reading.

Please check out our website for information on community services as well 
as present and past copies of our newsletters at 
http://friendsnjlibraryfortheblind.org/

Directions to the Next Meeting

Address:

JKTC

130 Livingston Avenue

New Brunswick, NJ 08901-2421

Cross Street: Seaman Street

>From the North

South on Route 1 to Route 18 heading toward New Brunswick.

Get off Route 18 at the New Street ramp.

Turn slight right onto New Street/ NJ 26.

Take the 2nd left onto Livingston Avenue/NJ 26.

Turn left onto Seaman Street and left into the JKTC parking lot.

>From the South

North on Route 1 to Livingston Avenue/NJ 26 toward New Brunswick.

Turn right onto Seaman Street and left into the JKTC parking lot.

THE FRIENDS OF THE NJ LIBRARY for the BLIND MEMBERSHIP FORM

Name: ___________________________________________________

Address: _________________________________________________

City, State, Zip: ____________________________________________

Telephone (with area code): __________________________________

E-mail address: ____________________________________________

Preferred Media Format:

LP____?? ???? E-mail_____ or ??None I will read online_____

I am eligible for TBBC Services: Yes ___ No ___

Individual Member $10.00 ___   Family Membership $25.00 ___

Donation $ _________

Donation in Memory or Honor of Name: __________________________

Send acknowledgment for memorial gift to:

Name: ____________________________________________________

Address: __________________________________________________

City, State, Zip: ______________________________________________

I have made a bequest in my will _____

Please return this form together with your check payable to:

The Friends of the NJLBH

PO Box 434, Woodbridge, NJ 07095

EM 4/19

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

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