Craig's Desk Intro - episode 16

Welcome

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The following show was recorded in the studios of SLNC-ABLS, unmasked, in a sound proof booth that is socially distant and responsible. It's content is intended for people who are blind or print impaired.

Hello and welcome to Craig's Desk, a program from the State Library of North Carolina Accessible Books and Library Services, SLNC-ABLS. I'm your host Craig Hayward, the technology librarian at SLNC-ABLS.

Well here we are again. It's that time again for a new episode of the show. It's Episode 16 and we have a really good show for you. Before we start, a plug for the library's online presence. If you're on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram look for SLNC-ABLS and you'll find us. Which reminds me that some of best questions we've had on the show have been from people posting on our social media accounts. I do pay attention.

All that aside you're here listening to this show, which means you're checking back to see what kinds of library technology questions we'll answer and to gain more insight about the library's digital and online resources. Maybe even pick up some insider information and announcements from the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, known as NLS. 

Whatever you're reason for listening, I'm thankful you're here, as is our library. We all want to serve you and help you.

So on this show let me be your guide and help you navigate the changes in our service. I want to help you use the technology better, so you can enjoy more reading.

If you have friends and family that would like to listen to the show tell them to search Apple Podcasts or Spotify for Craig's Desk or go to the Craig's Desk podcast webpage on Podbean - https://nccraigsdesk.podbean.com/

If you have questions send them on to craigsdesknc@gmail.com (spell it out slowly) and I'll answer them. The best questions since the last show will be answered right here on the next episode.

Enough talk, let's get this episode of Craig's Desk started.

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Your technology questions

Now let's answer a technology question. This show's tech question and answer I'll preface by saying this was a question posed not long ago by a patron who called the library for assistance. It might be a kind of did you know?

So this show's question is about the cartridges that you get from the library. These days that often means Books On Demand multi-title cartridges, but also any book or magazine at any time that has been on a cartridge. Can be saved this way.

So the Big Did You Know would be, Did you know that you can keep the books and magazines forever that are on a cartridge? They do not expire. You just need to copy them off of the cartridge. This assumes you have a device or something that will play them, because they are in a specialized format. To to this all you need is a cartridge cable, which the library can provide for free, or even what's called a USB type B male to USB type B female cable, and a cartridge with items on it.

Plug the male end of the cable into an available USB port on your computer and the other female end onto the USB port on the cartridge. Then on your computer the cartridge will now look like any other flash drive or removable drive on your computer. Most often this will display as Drive D on your computer.

Navigate to that drive, it will usually be the last drive letter displayed on your computer. Then find the folder that represents the book or magazine. Books on Books On Demand order cartridges, display with the number of the item in the list on the order, an underscore and then the book number. Note the first folder item on the order on the cartridge will have a + sign and the number 001_BODINST for the book instructions file. You also might encounter Public Service Announcement file labeled with the next number, 002 and then BOD-PSA.

What I'd recommend you do first is plug in the cartridge to your digital talking book player and listen to the order of the books on the bookshelf and note what part of the order the book you want by title resides. I would also note the DB number of the book as well, which will make finding it easier, since the titles are listed on the cartridge by book number and not title. Once you have this noted take that cartridge and plug it into your computer and navigate to book in the numbered order.

Then you can highlight the folder of the book, copy and paste it somewhere on your computer. I'd recommend initially the desktop to make it easier to find. Then move it to someplace you might want to keep the books and magazines you copy off of the cartridges.

This is good to know because it would be a great help to the library since we do rely on you returning the cartridges so we can use them for other patron orders. It gives you a great option to keep the book for later reading and then you can can return the cartridge in a timely manner so that other patrons can get their books. Without a sufficient supply of cartridges it could delay books being sent out. Also it allows you to get your next order faster, since we won't send you another order until your cartridges come back to us.

This is one of those things that's been in place since the beginning of sending books on cartridges, over the last 14 years. Some people know about it and others don't realize they can do it also. Now you know and I hope you'll use it.

Thanks for those questions, keep them coming and we'll keep answering them.

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NLS News 

Talking Book Topics in Large Print still having issues being distributed and now might be a good time to check out the library's website for an alternative 

For this episode, I thought it might be nice to do a combined NLS News and something related to that news from our library's website.

As you may have heard NLS is having major issues with logistics in trying to get Talking Book Topics printed in large type format. Talking Book Topics is the most popular publication that NLS produces. It is a catalog that is distributed every 2 months that lists all of the new books to the collection. It is even broken down by genre if you like to see just books on a particular fiction or non-fiction reading category. This is a really popular reading resources

The main issue is that the large print version of Talking Book Topics requires a large quantity of paper provided in a very different format from what you or I would print on something like a desktop laser or ink jet printer. One reason for this is because unlike most publications NLS produces in large print that may have hundreds of subscribers, Talking Book Topics has something the range of 250,000 subscribers to the large print version. This means much more printing is involved. To keep costs down and keep distribution timely, this particular publication is produced on something that is similar to how newspapers are produced. Using large spools of paper on a kind of web printer, cut to size. Also the kind of ink used to produce this format is also in short supply.

This all one big logistics issue that has impacted so many patrons not just in North Carolina but all over.

There is no telling when things may return to normal or even if they will ever return to normal. So we wait like you do to see what happens. We can hope that things will return as expected but so far there doesn't appear to be much else to report.

This is not great news, but one consolation out of this is a chance to introduce you to the other formats of Talking Book Topics. There is also an audio version, an online printable PDF version and a web based version that you can access yourself.

These formats can all be accessed from the library's Reader's Corner section of the website under Talking Book Topics. Here you will find all of the many other ways you can read this publication. Plus while you're in the Reader's Corner you can check out the many other publications there like Braille Book Review and the many other books reviews and lists from the New York Times, Washington Post and even NLS.

This is a great way to empower yourself to get your own books. There's no reason you can't do much of this yourself if you couple this with access to the library's online catalog. The you can order your own books when you want, how you want. This shortfall could be what you need to help you become more of a self-service patron. A way to control your own reading destiny.

As always, if you have comments about things like this or you maybe can't find something you are after in the Reader's Corner or anywhere else on the website, you are welcome to email me at craigsdesknc@gmail.com.

Thanks so much again for listening.

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Closing

That's the end of this episode of Craig's Desk. If you have any questions about the library's technology, how to do something or would like to give some feedback, send an email to craigsdesknc@gmail.com (spell out).

Craig's Desk is a production of The State Library of North Carolina Accessible Books and Library Services, a section of the State Library of North Carolina, part of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. This episode was produced onsite, in the studios of SLNC-ABLS. Many thanks to the other person helping on the other side of the glass to produce this show, Clint Exum our Outreach Specialist and jack of all trades around our studios. As it has been from the beginning, this show is a production of EMC-squared productions.

Intro music is "One Fine Day" and closing music is "Step To The Beat" and are offered royalty free from the website Keep Calm and Podcast. Segment Transitions starring nature are from Zapsplat.com

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Thanks for listening