Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
State Library of North Carolina

Volunteller

Spring 2009
Number 74

The Volunteer Newsletter of the North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped

Volunteers….Growing Greater Libraries

National Volunteer Week is April 19-25, 2009. This is one of the many times we here at the library celebrate our volunteers. Volunteers contribute endless time and talent with boundless energy to the library each day, week and year.

With the impending digital transition, our volunteers are doing an excellent job helping us to prepare for this long awaited occasion. In the coming months volunteers will be expanding their talents to include unboxing digital machines and labeling new MD (movie disk) containers. This is all while continuing regular duties.

Our volunteers contribute to growing our library in many ways. Some of these include: helping out at local conferences, getting items ready for outreach events, brailling, recording, mass mailings, being a Braille student, transcribing, recycling materials, folding newsletters and joining our FRIENDS board of directors.

The bottom line is this. We are lucky to have as many of you as we do contributing talent and effort on our behalf. Without you we could not maintain the excellent level of services that we provide. In very real and tangible ways Volunteers……Grow Greater Libraries, namely ours!

How to find us by phone or e-mail AGAIN!

Gina Powell……………..………….(919)715-6667  -  gina.powell@ncdcr.gov

Deb Barnes…………….(919)715-6668  -  deb.barnes@ncdcr.gov

Shawn Faircloth…….....(919)715-6664  -  shawn.faircloth@ncdcr.gov

Main number…………(919)733-4376  -  Toll Free……....1-888-388-2460

To report volunteer hours  -  volunteer@ncdcr.gov

To use the Public Access PC

Craig Hayward…….....(919)715-6666 - craig.hayward@ncdcr.gov

To report volunteer hours  -  Volunteeratnclbph@gmail.com

If you are part of a team or working with someone else when you volunteer, please remember that if your schedule changes or you need to cancel, don’t leave a message. Please speak to a staff member.

Welcome to our New Volunteer and Outreach Services Librarian Gina Powell

Gina Powell, a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a Masters degree in information and library science, as well as B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is now our new volunteer and outreach services librarian. Lara Handler resigned her position in July 2008 and Gina took over in November 2008. Gina comes to us with a diverse background and a “go for it” attitude. Her enthusiasm and love for reading mysteries is evident in all that she does.

In her short time here she has already monitored in the studio, met with our FRIENDS board and weathered a snow storm. Gina has attended many outreach events with much success. She is now working on her first patron newsletter, The Tar Heel Talk.

We look forward to all of the positive changes that Gina will bring to our unit as well as our library. We invite you to stop by our unit and welcome Gina to NCLBPH!

DEB’S DOTS

Submitted by Deborah Barnes, Braille Coordinator

We are glad to have a new volunteer with us.  She doesn't live in our state--she lives in Virginia, but she's taking the transcribing and proofreading courses.  She's on lesson 17 of the transcribing course and is interested in working once she completes the courses.  She has been doing some volunteer proofreading for me as a part of the Word component of our braille program.  Her name is Faith Cummings.  She's a very nice lady and she's really good at proofreading.  The neat thing about Faith is that she just loves reading braille and she loves the books we send her--yea!!!  She also has an embosser and Duxbury and says she'd love to help with correcting and such.  Wow!  That's good news for me!!  Besides reading braille, Faith enjoys crafts--she can knit, crochet, and spin--and she is great with the computer.

We have one book that has been transcribed using the Word component of our program.  The book has been proofread and although there are some issues we have to deal with, all in all it was a successful project.  When doing the Word component, we realize that a strong certified person is needed to go over the material.  But we're hoping that we can get more books in our collection if we can have a good Word user paired with a certified person.  Our overall goal is top quality in our transcribing. We will not continue the Word component of the program if high quality transcriptions cannot be achieved.  Naturally, we prefer having certified transcribers, and that will continue to be our primary method of transcribing books.  But the Word component does add some flexibility.

Another exciting thing that has been happening is that Bob Didsbury, a volunteer and part-time employee at the library, has been transcribing missing pages for us.  This makes it possible for patrons to continue to receive a book.  If Bob didn't do the pages for us, we might not be able to continue to use the book.  Bob enjoys the challenge of transcribing the pages, and he also brailles labels needed for our DVS and volunteer cassette collection.  Bob is on lesson 13 of the transcribing course.

Also during this quarter, Glenn Pare, one of our volunteers, received his certification in braille transcribing.  Mr. Pare has done some very difficult assignments for us:  transcribing charts, etc.  I knew he was good, but his score shows he's ultra good.  We're so happy he has his certificate and Glen we wish you lots of luck with future transcribing.  Glen is now working, but if you have free time and want to do a book, just let us know.

We also have another out-of-state transcriber who is certified and helping us with a very special book:  "Holy Smoke!"  Liz Gensler not only transcribes literary; she transcribes music, textbooks, about anything.  She also made it possible for me to see how Duxbury handles music, as occasionally patrons will ask for a sheet of music to be transcribed.  Liz uses a different transcribing program than we do, but she saves the file as a brf file so that we can use the file here at the library.

Below are some of the errors we've found this quarter that may serve as a reminder of the rules of braille.

For those who are familiar with the format of a page-line report, you will remember that the error is followed by the correction and any comments.

First, if you begin a transcriber's note you must end the transcriber's note.  Even if it is a long note, there must be an end-of-transcriber's-note symbol at the end.  And both the beginning and end symbols are the same:  dots 6, 3.

(in)asmuch--(in)asm(ch)

h(er)ein--(here)(in)

profits--pr(of)its

Ka(th)(er)(in)e--Ka(the)r(in)e  (a one-cell, whole-word contraction is always used in preference to two-cell contractions unless a specific rule limits its use.

When you put a person's name under text, it usually goes in 4 spaces from the beginning of the last line of text.  Example:  say the last line of text began in cell 1, the name would begin on the next line in cell 5--4 spaces over.  There is usually not a blank line between the end of text and the credit or name.

We are continuing to add books to WebBraille because this is something requested by the Library of Congress consultant.

We are attempting to put each new book in Web Braille.  We will have more on WebBraille in the next Volunteller.

I hope all of you have been able to access the BANA Updates which came out in late 2008.  If you have the Updates and have questions please feel free to call me.

By the way, my schedule has changed:  she's now at the library from 11 to 3 each day.  This is probably a temporary change, through sometime in April.

Also, I still become excited when I remember how many of us, when we started on this adventure, did not know anything about the computer.  Every transcriber that works for us now is able to do all their work using a computer.  Can you imagine?  We’ve all progressed from seeing how high the mound of paper could rise on days when we were having problems getting perfect copy to now being able to delete with the touch of a button.  Some of us have also learned other Braille codes—such as music and mathematics.  Others have delved into Excel and pdf files.  And it’s hard to believe that all this has taken place within just a few short years!!  The world of Braille continues to change, and our skills change with it; each one of you has acquired the skills necessary to meet today’s challenges.  We no longer just have straight literary copy but often are asked to do requests that have charts, grids, etc.  So thanks for continuing to learn and contribute every day to our patrons needs.  Although we can all use computers now there are still occasions—more than you might think—when a good old braille writer or slate and stylus come in handy, and it’s great to have some of us still able to use those basic skills.  Strictly from my point of view, we have the best volunteers, and I appreciate you so very much!!

And finally, each and every volunteer makes our library better, and the patrons benefit from everything you do. Sometimes a book may seem really dull or not your “cup of tea” but when a patron reads that book and expresses pleasure at having it to read, it makes all the work worthwhile and the feeling of accomplishment is so much sweeter.

Guess that's about it.  Hope all of you have thawed out from winter's blast and are looking forward to spring.  As for me, summer used to be one of my favorite seasons but now the humidity just kills me, so I'm looking forward to a nice, long spring and then autumn.

Going Digital...The Saga Continues

We’ve been buzzing about the new digital talking book players for a couple of years now – and 2009 is the year of their debut for patron use. These new digital players are about 2/3 the size of our current cassette players, and much lighter. The standard navigation buttons include Play, Rewind, Fast Forward and are made of raised rubber with indentations to make them easy to find. It also contains several nifty new features as well. A Sleep button turns the player off by itself after 30 minutes, and it can hold your place in a book with a digital “bookmark.” Digital speed control makes sure that when you speed up a book it doesn’t sound like Mickey Mouse. You can press a button, and it will tell you its function. Another great feature is a USB port that allows the player to connect to your computer so you can download books from the Internet.

Instead of cassettes, the new digital player reads cartridges that use Flash memory. The cartridges are slightly smaller than current cassettes and have a round hole on one end to make holding and aligning them with the new machine easier. The books can’t be “eaten” by the players, don’t need rewinding, and fit on one cartridge. They’ll last for years, and with superior audio quality, will sound as good tomorrow as they do today, so tape warble and wear will be minimized. Here are answers to some of your important questions.

“What does the transition from cassettes to digital mean for NCLBPH patrons?”

It will be a gradual process.

The National Library Service (NLS) will begin to give us small quantities of digital machines tentatively scheduled to arrive in summer 2009. We are required to give veterans preference in issuing the new machines and then patrons who are 100 years old or older. We also are maintaining a waiting list of interested people.

The NLS will give NCLBPH a limited supply of books to begin, so patrons will initially receive digital book cartridges one at a time. A book must be received by NCLBPH before another book can be sent.

“Are there special requirements for patrons who wish to obtain a digital machine?”

Yes. To obtain a digital machine ALL patrons must be in good standing.

"How can I be a patron in good standing?"

A patron must be “active,” meaning that he or she has checked out one book within the last year or subscribe to one of the National Library Service or NCLBPH magazines. A patron must not have a history of keeping books beyond the loan period. A patron should have only one machine checked out at a time.

“Should I keep my cassette machine?”

Yes. Because this transition is gradual, you should keep your machine — after you've gotten a new digital one.

“Will my magazine subscriptions be in digital format?”

Cassette magazines will continue to come in cassette form. For continuing updates of the digital transition, check our web site at http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/lbph, or call us at 1-888-388-2460.

How Does That work? ITA Recruitment, The Interview, Tour and Audition

Some of you may be wondering how and where we find our volunteers at the library. You may also be wondering: what happens after they get recruited?

We advertise in the News and Observer and on several internet websites. The owner of Quail Ridge Books, Nancy Olson, sends out information about our volunteer opportunities in her e-mails to her patrons. We receive lots of calls and e-mail inquiries. One of the biggest ways we recruit volunteers is through our past and current volunteers. Word of mouth travels fast and people tell others what it is like to volunteer here at the NCLBPH.

We have an interview, tour and audition process that a person or group takes part in before they decide to participate in our volunteer program.

First, the initial contact is made, information is exchanged, an interview/tour is set up, and then it is decision and schedule time. If volunteers are interested in narrating/reading, then a tour and audition need to take place. Every other potential volunteer gets a tour of our facility and information about currently available volunteer positions.

After the tour takes place, the decision is made as to what type of volunteering will be done.

Volunteers are given the choice of coming in on the same day and time each week for two consecutive hours or they have the opportunity to call ahead when they have availability and schedule a time to come in when there is work to be completed. Another way volunteers support our cause is to volunteer on an as needed basis. As an example, a lot of volunteers love to fold the Tar Heel Talk newsletter, which comes out quarterly. A list of these volunteers is maintained, and they get a call when the newsletter comes. The volunteer has the ability to say yes and schedule a time to join in the crowd or say no, not this time, and they will stay on the list for the next publication.

We have positions available for people who work with job coaches, for community service volunteers, volunteers to work in our circulation unit and machine unit, as well as administrative volunteers. We have a continuous need for reviewers and monitors in our studio program. In the Braille program there are needs for people to collate, bind, type documents in Word for Braille translation, someone to grade Braille lessons and certified Braille transcribers. We also have a need for someone to check the print book vs. the Braille copy; this involves a little sitting and reading out loud to our Braille coordinator Deb Barnes.

Once a person decides to volunteer for us we make them a name badge, folder and timesheet. This is so we can report all of the hours donated over the course of a given period to those who fund our program.

Studio Stuff

It seems like yesterday but we have had our digital studios since March 2007! WOW two years! Now it is time for some of this equipment to throw temper tantrums and break down. We thank our volunteers for being patient during this time to investigate, evaluate and appropriate. This equipment is not made to last forever and we certainly do put it through our paces on a daily basis. Thanks go to the FRIENDS of the library who fund the replacement parts and upgrades to the studio.

We would like to remind you of a couple of housekeeping items. Please remember that multiple people use both studios so leave them as you found them. Also, there are extra ear covers and wipes to clean your station; they live on Shawn’s desk if you need them. Also, remember that while working in studio Beaufort you are in the middle of the Volunteer and Outreach Services Unit. Please keep that in mind while communicating with your narrator. We realize that the equipment has been feisty and some raised voices have been needed but we are working to remedy that situation. There are staff members who deal with patrons on the phone and volunteers who are trying to review in the area; please be aware of their work environments.

Our program is ever changing and ever growing. We encourage you to give suggestions. Be aware, financially we may not be able to do much about them at this time but they will be noted and researched.

One final note. If you have questions about production, pronunciations or procedures, PLEASE ASK! We would much rather conquer it ahead of time then deal with it after the error has taken place.

LIBRARY CLOSING DATES

Memorial day
Monday, May 25, 2009

Independence day
Friday, July 3, 2009

Labor Day
Monday, September 7, 2009

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Volunteller is a production of the North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.

Last updated: May 26, 2010 (ceh)
This edition of Volunteller is available online from URL: http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/lbph/volunteller.html