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<div align="center"><b>Braille Authority of North America <br><br>
PRESS RELEASE<br><br>
November 2010<br><br>
<i>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br><br>
</div>
<br><br>
</i></b>CONTACT: Judith Dixon, Chairperson<br><br>
Braille Authority of North America<br><br>
PHONE: 1-202-707-0722<br><br>
E-MAIL: <a href="mailto:jdix@loc.gov">jdix@loc.gov</a><br><br>
<br><br>
<b><i>Braille Authority of North America Holds Meeting, Elects New
Officers<br><br>
</i></b> <br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
BANA Board members approved new rulings that were suggested by several of
the body’s technical committees. Go to
<a href="http://www.brailleauthority.org/">www.brailleauthority.org</a>
to review these code changes in the areas of the <i>Nemeth Code for
Mathematics and Science Notation</i> and <i>Braille Music Notation</i>.
<br><br>
Perhaps the most noteworthy decision of the fall meeting was BANA’s
adoption and approval of the recently completed <i>Guidelines and
Standards for Tactile Graphics 2010</i>. These <i>Guidelines and
Standards</i> were developed jointly by the Canadian Braille Authority
and BANA. Two other major document revisions are currently in the review
process; they are <i>Braille Formats: Principles of Print to Braille
Transcription</i> and the <i>Manual for Foreign Language
Transcribing</i>.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
<br><br>
Newly elected officers are: <br><br>
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).<br><br>
Vice Chairperson: Mary Nelle McLennan
(Pittsburgh, PA) is the Executive Advisor to the President of the
American Printing House for the Blind<br><br>
Secretary:
Jennifer Dunnam, (Minneapolis, MN) is the Manager of Braille Programs for
the National Federation of the Blind’s Jernigan Institute<br><br>
Treasurer:
Bonnie Grimm (Fontana, CA) is the Transcribing Manager for the Braille
Institute of America in Los Angeles<br><br>
<br><br>
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.<br><br>
<i>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. <br><br>
</i>For additional resource information, visit
<a href="http://www.brailleauthority.org/">
http://www.brailleauthority.org</a>.<br><br>
<br><br>
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_______________________________________________<br>
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BANA-Announce@brailleauthority.org<br>
<a href="http://www.brailleauthority.org/mailman/listinfo/bana-announce" eudora="autourl">
http://www.brailleauthority.org/mailman/listinfo/bana-announce<br>
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