[nfb-talk] Audio books for blind in jeopardy in Pa., nation

[David Andrews]

>I among others spent a long time talking to this guy, and he got everything right.


Dave



>from http://www.tribune-review.com
>
>Audio books for blind in jeopardy in Pa., nation
>By
>David M. Brown
>TRIBUNE-REVIEW
>Sunday, July 15, 2007
>
>Marilyn Hall didn't like to read as a child because it strained her weak 
>eyes.
>
>It was after she became blind that she fell in love with reading.
>
>"I read at least 10 books a month," says Hall, 52, of Wilkinsburg, who, 
>because disease destroyed her retinas, lost nearly all sight by the time 
>she graduated from high school. "I love historical romances, westerns, 
>mysteries."
>
>Hall borrows most of her books from the Library of Congress' talking 
>books program and listens to them on an outmoded cassette player she 
>received about six years ago through the program. She is one of 
>thousands of blind Americans upset that
>Congress is poised to cut federal money needed to take talking books 
>into the digital world of the 21st century.
>
>Congress authorized the talking books program in 1931. After three 
>decades of using phonographic players and records, the program switched 
>to audiotape cassette players in 1971. Today, the program has more than 
>750,000 subscribers who share use of 23 million copies of nearly 500,000 
>titles.
>
>"I am very disappointed in the lack of concern by the Congress for a 
>program that has been the hallmark of services to the blind throughout 
>the world," said Donna Hill, 57, of Meshoppen, Susquehanna County.
>
>Hill, legally blind since birth, is among about 24,000 Pennsylvanians 
>who subscribe to talking books.
>
>The National Federation of the Blind -- the nation's largest 
>organization for the blind, with 50,000 members -- passed a resolution 
>at its convention two weeks ago urging Congress to approve $19.1 million 
>a year from 2008 through 2011 to update talking books technology to 
>digital equipment and recordings.
>
>The Library of Congress hopes to make the upgrade before antiquated 
>cassette machines finally play out.
>
>Congressional budget writers have agreed to funding next year of $12.5 
>million -- almost $7 million short of what is needed to keep the 
>transition on schedule.
>
>"The program is not devastated, but it will certainly take a much longer 
>period of time," said Kurt Cylke, director of the National Library 
>Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, a division of the 
>Library of Congress.
>
>Instead of completing the transition by 2011, it could be 2014 or later, 
>Cylke said.
>
>The funding request hit a snag after the Government Accountability 
>Office in June advised the library service to "identify and consider 
>alternatives for all aspects of the talking books program," including 
>potential use of available commercial products.
>
>That's not as easy as it sounds, say advocates. Commercial products, 
>such as iPods or other digital audio players, are not custom-designed 
>for use by blind and handicapped people.
>
>For more than a decade, the National Library Service planned for 
>transition from cassette tape players and recordings to digital audio 
>players with flash memory card formats. The prototype players have 
>controls designed for easier use by the blind and physically 
>handicapped. The library service has more
>than 5,000 books available for the new players, and 20,000 are expected 
>to be ready when the program begins in 2008.
>
>"It's the most revolutionary change to these services since the advent 
>of the talking book record in 1934," said Kathleen Kappel, director of 
>the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped division of the 
>Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh library handles talking 
>book services for 36 counties in Western Pennsylvania.
>
>"We're excited about this whole program, and our readers are looking 
>forward to it," Kappel said.
>
>The proposed budget for the transition passed the U.S. House and is 
>before the Senate. A House subcommittee sought to cut the request from 
>$19.1 million to $7.5 million for 2008, but a compromise left the amount 
>at $12.5 million. The Senate Appropriations Committee adopted the $12.5 
>million figure.
>
>A spokesman for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., chairwoman of the 
>House appropriations subcommittee that trimmed the proposal, defended 
>the action. While acknowledging the importance of the program, the 
>allocation was the best the panel could do at this time because of 
>fiscal constraints, said spokesman
>Jonathan Beeton.
>
>John Pare, spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind, said the 
>reduction will disrupt service to blind Americans.
>
>"For us, there is only one public library. By in effect closing this 
>library -- even for a short period of time -- it's equivalent to closing 
>every public library, every bookstore and every newsstand in the country 
>for sighted people. In short, it is devastating," Pare said.
>
>Jim Antonacci, president of the National Federation of the Blind of 
>Pennsylvania, said the request for an additional $6 million to $7 
>million a year for four years seems a relatively small amount to keep 
>the technology transition on track.
>
>"We're quibbling about $24 million -- less than $1 million a year over 
>the entire length of the program," Antonacci said. "If that's not a drop 
>in the federal budget, I don't know what is."
>
>David M. Brown can be reached at
>dbrown at tribweb.com
> or (412) 380-5614.