[Dtb-talk] Washington Post: Library Takes 'Talking Books' Digital

[Jennifer Sutton]

 From the Washington Post for March 5, 2008:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/04/AR2008030402485.html


Library Takes 'Talking Books' Digital
Products for the Blind Migrate From Cassette to Flash Drive
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Judith M. Dixon, a clinical psychologist by training and a sophisticated
techie by
avocation, is helping to lead the
Library of Congress
  into the digital age.
Dixon, 55, who gave up university teaching 27 years ago to join the
library's National
Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, is a key player on
a team
that has been working for the better part of a decade to create a new
generation
of audiobooks for the library's more than 700,000 registered blind and
disabled users.
The goal is to make the digital format the backbone of the library's
"talking book"
program by transferring onto special digital flash drives the 60,000 titles
that
the library has on audiocassettes and giving patrons new machines on which
to play
them.
"The library system is here because free public library service is a basic
tenet
of our society," said Dixon, who is blind and navigates with the aid of a
guide dog.
"This program is providing access to people who would otherwise not have
it."
Under the program, blind and disabled users may obtain audiobooks through
the mail
from any of the service's more than 130 regional libraries throughout the
country.
There is no charge for the books or the players, but to keep the machines,
users
must check out at least one book a year. The library plans to roll out the
new machines
and digital books by the end of the year.
One of the new digital cartridges can hold 46 hours of audio. In contrast, a
single
cassette tape holds six hours -- and then only when recorded at half-speed
and on
four tracks. Since the typical book is 15 hours long, the new format means
all but
the longest books can be contained on a single cartridge, Dixon said.
The transformation also is driven by necessity. The cassette tape belongs to
a generation
of technology whose time has passed. As the library-issued cassette players
on which
blind users play tapes fall into disrepair, finding spare parts grows harder
and
harder.
The Library of Congress and its users have been through technological
revolutions
before. The library began offering audiobooks on long-play records in 1934.
It added
books on cassettes in the late 1960s, but the vinyl era lasted well into the
1980s.
"This transition is probably going to have to happen a lot faster because
cassettes
just aren't going to be available much longer," said Dixon, who is a
consumer relations
officer for the library.
The new players resemble the flat, dictionary-size cassette machines of old,
with
large buttons and a single built-in speaker. The digital cartridge is about
the same
size as a cassette tape, but it connects to the player via a USB port rather
than
fitting over two rotating pegs.
Dixon and advocates for the blind say that relying on commercially available
books
on compact disc or in MP3 format is not an option. Many blind users have
difficulty
operating the tiny buttons of MP3 players, and the inventory of available
books is
usually limited to commercially popular titles.
Congress has approved $12.5 million annually for four years to help the
program go
digital, less than the $19.1 million that the library had sought. That means
it will
be able to make 3.5 million copies of audiobooks over four years instead of
4.8 million,
officials said. The program's advocates plan to press their case for more
money today
at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the library's budget.
"The old players will start to break down and the new players will not be
available
yet, and a lot of patrons are going to experience a halt in service," said
Chris
Danielsen, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind. "The
talking-book
program is the primary source of reading material for most blind people.
Imagine
if someone told you, 'You know what, you just don't get to read anything for
a while.'"