[Pibe-division] [BANA-Announce] BANA Fall Meeting Release

[Kim.Charlson at Perkins.org]

Braille Authority of North America

PRESS RELEASE

November 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



CONTACT: Judith Dixon, Chairperson

Braille Authority of North America

PHONE: 1-202-707-0722

E-MAIL: <mailto:jdix at loc.gov>jdix at loc.gov



Braille Authority of North America Holds Meeting, Elects New Officers



The Braille Authority of North America (BANA) approved an exciting 
new publication as well as new code rulings when it met October 30 
through November 1, 2010, in Toronto, Canada. CNIB (Canadian National 
Institute for the Blind), a BANA member organization, hosted the 
meeting at the CNIB Centre.

BANA began its meeting with its customary Open Forum, which was held 
on Friday, October 29, the final day of the CNIB Conference. The 
forum was quite well attended by transcribers, educators, and 
consumers from all across Canada. Participants generated a lively 
discussion on a range of topics and shared their opinions and 
expertise with members of the BANA Board.

BANA Board members approved new rulings that were suggested by 
several of the body's technical committees. Go to 
<http://www.brailleauthority.org/>www.brailleauthority.org to review 
these code changes in the areas of the Nemeth Code for Mathematics 
and Science Notation and Braille Music Notation.

Perhaps the most noteworthy decision of the fall meeting was BANA's 
adoption and approval of the recently completed Guidelines and 
Standards for Tactile Graphics 2010. These Guidelines and Standards 
were developed jointly by the Canadian Braille Authority and BANA. 
Two other major document revisions are currently in the review 
process; they are Braille Formats: Principles of Print to Braille 
Transcription and the Manual for Foreign Language Transcribing.

National Braille Press (NBP) has appointed Jefferson Lyons as the new 
representative to BANA replacing Eileen Curran. Lyons is Vice 
President of Operations for NBP.



Newly elected officers are:

Chairperson:             Judy Dixon (Arlington, VA) is the Consumer 
Relations Officer at the National Library Service for the Blind and 
Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress (NLS).

Vice Chairperson:     Mary Nelle McLennan (Pittsburgh, PA) is the 
Executive Advisor to the President of the American Printing House for the Blind

Secretary:                 Jennifer Dunnam, (Minneapolis, MN) is the 
Manager of Braille Programs for the National Federation of the 
Blind's Jernigan Institute

Treasurer:                 Bonnie Grimm (Fontana, CA) is the 
Transcribing Manager for the Braille Institute of America in Los Angeles



On Monday, November 1, the BANA Board, with leadership from Rosemary 
Kavanagh of ERK Consulting, spent an active day galvanizing the 
Board's strategic planning efforts that have been underway over the 
last series of meetings. With Rosemary's assertive guidance, BANA 
identified and agreed upon its strategic imperatives and established 
a core team to map out action plans to address them.

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.

For additional resource information, visit 
<http://www.brailleauthority.org/>http://www.brailleauthority.org.




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