[Journalists] Good Washington Post Editorial

[Seymour Glass]

Thanks for the editorial, Dave.  I missed it. That's what you get for being 
a Times addict. I'm heartened to see the issue getting a boost on our side 
in such a prominent venue, that's for sure. But I wish someone had explained 
how the vital issue of text navigability might figure in, too, if the 
proposed player technology is used. As I understand it, you'll be able to 
skip around within a book much as I understand can be managed with the Daisy 
format and such. This is a far cry from the more limiting, leisure-oriented 
commercial digital recordings and the players that play them.

But "good enough" is the key phrase, here. Damn good enough. Let's hope the 
piece gets some attention and carries some weight. thanks again for sharing 
it with us.

Sy

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Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 2:04 PM
Subject: [Journalists] Good Washington Post Editorial


Editorial:


The Washington Post

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Page A12

Keep the Books Talking

Congress should fund the digitization of a vital audio library for the 
blind.

A half-million Americans stand in danger of losing their public library. 
They are the nation's blind, and their library is Talking Books, through 
which
the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the 
Library of Congress (NLS) provides 500,000 Americans with free audio 
recordings
of about as many books. Unlike the "books on tape" that are sold at retail 
bookstores, these recordings are unabridged, extensive and diverse -- and 
are
designed for people who have no other way of reading print.

Unfortunately, today's Talking Books technology is ready to meet its maker. 
The program currently uses half-speed audiotapes that patrons listen to on 
special
devices. These tape players, like the Talking Books record players that 
preceded them, are obsolete, and are no longer even being manufactured. To 
bring
the program into the 21st century, the NLS hopes to digitize its entire 
library and create new players. It has spent 17 years researching, building 
and
testing new products, and it is ready to manufacture a fully accessible 
flash-drive player. The Library of Congress has asked Congress to 
appropriate about
$76.4 million to produce the players and digitize thousands more books.

A forthcoming Government Accountability Office report, however, may derail 
the NLS's plans. In a draft version of the report completed several weeks 
ago,
the GAO faulted the NLS for not considering existing commercial products 
such as CD players and iPods instead of creating a new device. This sounds 
like
a reasonable concern, given tales of exorbitant government spending on $792 
doormats and $400 hammers. But creating special, noncommercial players is 
crucial
to the continued existence of Talking Books. Commercially available 
products, which often use visual screens and are not labeled in Braille, are 
not accessible
to the visually impaired. More important, to comply with U.S. copyright law, 
Talking Books can record and distribute only audio books that cannot be 
played
by commercial devices.

Should the GAO keep this misguided criticism in its final report, lawmakers 
should not be swayed by it. Instead, Congress should fully fund Talking 
Books'
digital upgrade, a project that will grant many disabled Americans the same 
literary access afforded to the sighted.

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