OPEN DOOR
Newsletter of the Library
Iowa Department for the Blind
524 Fourth Street
Des Moines, IA 50309-2364
515-281-1333
800-362-2587
www.blind.state.ia.us/library/index.htm
library@blind.state.ia.us
Winter 2004
Vol. 4 No. 1
Beth Hirst, Editor
Karen Keninger, Library Director
Table of Contents
Director's Message
Our New Look
"All Iowa Reads" Chooses Book By Elizabeth McCracken
The Production Team
Book List Etiquette
Cassette Tips
Don't Know Much About Geography?
Take A Look At Our Books!
Radio Shows
2004 Anniversary Events
How To Contact Us
Note: This newsletter is available in large print, on
cassette tape, and in Braille.
If you wish to receive Open Door in a different medium, please so advise.
By Karen Keninger
“May you live in interesting (or important) times.” Attributed to many different cultures, this statement is not intended as a blessing, but rather the opposite. As we ring in the new year, we at the Library realize that we are definitely living in interesting times. We are working hard and creatively, but everything is overshadowed by the realities of the State budget. As Iowa struggles to catch up with the economic upturn some parts of the nation are experiencing, we are facing the potential of deep cuts to the Department’s, and thus the Library’s, budget. Without an increase of approximately $400,000 in State funding, the Library will face cuts of nearly 25 percent by July of 2005.
The Library recently made some exciting
changes to the public area inside our front entrance. One of our goals for the
year 2003 was to redesign this area to enhance your visits to our facility. Due
to the recent budget constraints, we’ve had to be resourceful in working with
materials we already own.
When you enter the Library, you can explore our large
topographical globe and three tactile picture maps of Washington D.C. You can
also find displays of descriptive videos and cassette, Braille, print/Braille,
and large print books. The items found on these shelves can be checked out to
take home. Our patron computer work station is located immediately to your left.
You may access our OPAC (online public access catalog) or the Internet here.
Work stations have been rearranged so that after you proceed past the displays
and computer desk, the reader advisors are straight ahead or a little to your
left. All reader advisors face the front entrance now, so no more corners, nooks
and crannies to navigate! Please stop in, visit us, and experience our new
design and offerings.
This year’s “All Iowa Reads”
title has a special connection to our library. Elizabeth McCracken, author of
Niagara Falls All Over Again, is a native of West Des Moines and is the niece of
Elizabeth Perowsky, volunteer Braillist. Perowsky Brailled for over sixty years
before her death at age 97. McCracken visited with library staff and patrons as
part of the “Take a Talking Book” event in October 2002.
The novel, Niagara Falls All Over Again, is the story of the
thirty-year relationship of a vaudeville and movie comedy team. Reminiscent of
Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello, Mose and Rocky share both fame and hard
times in early 20th-century Hollywood. Mark your order form to receive this
book, available on cassette, in Braille, and in large print.
The library will again arrange discussion groups as part of
the “All Iowa Reads” project. Contact Marilyn to participate: 800-362-2587
or jensen.marilyn@blind.state.ia.us.
The production team produces Braille and taped materials for patrons. Laura Williams processes Braille requests, delegates in-house Braille assignments to Karen Cunningham and Sarah Cranston, and sends projects for volunteers to the Braille coordinator. Braille coordinator Joan Boggess assigns work to volunteer braillists and produces vast quantities of Braille herself. She also mentors new Braillists and students. Sandy Jacobs and Alan Ackley process all new books and prepare them for circulation. They also handle repairs and maintenance of cassette, Braille, and large print books and descriptive videos. Beth Hirst manages the tape production unit, assigns projects to volunteer tapists, and records publications in-house.
Help us to serve you better. When placing an order for your books, it is not necessary to re-order titles that you have requested on a previous book list. All selections are entered into the computer system and will remain on your request file until they are sent. Please try to keep your order forms as neat and clean as possible. When lists are soiled, book numbers can be obscured. This could cause you to receive books you don’t wish to read.
...Please...
1. Listen to one book at a time, so you won’t get the
tapes mixed up.
2. Rewind each cassette.
3. Make sure the correct number of tapes is in each box before returning it.
4. Put a rubber band around any tape that has a problem or does not belong in
the container.
5. Keep all of your books in a specified location in your home, so they won’t
be misplaced.
Thank You!
Do the cold winter days ever spark your
wanderlust, causing you to dream about faraway places? Do daily news events make
you curious about your neighboring states or countries in another hemisphere? If
so, you may want to examine some of our library’s maps to explore the places
you’ve wondered about. The library has added a variety of Braille maps and
atlases to its collection recently. Atlases of the Middle East and Eastern
Europe are now available, as well as maps of the British Isles, Morocco, and
several states. You may request a Braille list of maps and atlases by checking
the appropriate box on the order form.
For those who want something more comprehensive, we also have
the National Geographic Picture Atlas of Our Fifty States (BRN17840). This
Braille atlas includes tactile maps and information about the geography,
industries, and population of each state. It also features political, physical,
and road maps of each state. If you are interested in just one particular state
or region, you may check out Braille volumes individually.
Let us know if you wish to do some armchair exploring, and we’ll
send something off to get you started. Who knows, you may become a world
traveler without ever leaving your den!
Did you know that you can order books for yourself from the comfort of your own home? Our online public access catalog (OPAC) allows you to search our database of 47,000 cassette titles, 31,000 Braille titles, and 7,000 large print titles. You can access this catalog by going to any of the following WEB addresses:
Iowa Department for the Blind - www.blind.state.ia.us
Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped - www.blind.state.ia.us/library
OPAC - www.blind.state.ia.us/opac
An online user’s manual, which provides hints and tips on how to best utilize
the catalog, is also available on the OPAC website.
Anyone who has access to the Internet
may search the OPAC. If you wish to send books to yourself, please contact a
reader advisor to obtain your Patron ID and patron number. If the book that you
wish to receive is on the shelf, it will be sent to you the next business day.
Otherwise, we will send it to you as soon as a copy is available.
When visiting the library, you may peruse the collection’s
holdings on the computer inside our main entrance. It is speech accessible, and
headphones are provided.
~Better Than Ever~
Was sitting in front of the radio a
favorite pastime when you were a child? Our new and improved radio shows will
surely appeal to you. You may have borrowed radio shows in the past and been
disappointed to find that many of the tapes included only two half-hour
programs. Our new tapes may include up to six shows per cassette, and there may
be multiple cassettes per title.
These “new” programs are actual recordings of radio shows
from the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s. There are comedies, dramas, science
fiction, mysteries, variety shows and more. Because these are original programs,
the sound quality may vary. Some shows will include commercials and opening and
closing announcements, while others will have them edited out.
A good script was never wasted. It was often reused on the
same show or re-worked for another series. So if you think you’ve heard an
episode before, you may be right—although every effort was made to remove
obvious reruns.
Our new catalog includes old favorites from every genre, such
as: Classic comedy - Amos and Andy, Red Skelton; Mystery and Suspense - I Love a
Mystery, Inner Sanctum; Westerns - Ft. Laramie, Gunsmoke, The Lone Ranger;
Science Fiction - Dimension X, X Minus One. You also might find some uncommon
shows such as World War II news broadcasts and baseball games of the 30’s.
There are far too many choices to list here.
Request a catalog by marking the order form, or log on to the OPAC and view a list of new radio shows. Entries in the catalog include the title ID number, show title, and brief description. Episode listings are available on request.
We would like to thank www.bobbysotr.com and www.otrcat.com for their help in obtaining the shows. Thanks also to our several volunteers who spent many hours converting these shows to a much easier-to-use format.
At the start of a new year, we often look back to see what landmark events took place one hundred years ago. This issue’s book list features titles that illuminate people and incidents of historical significance from the years 1804, 1854, 1904, 1929, and 1954. The information included here comes from Chase’s Calendar of Events 2004, described as “The definitive guide to all holidays and anniversaries”. The library’s reference collection includes a copy of Chase’s Calendar.
1804 - U. S. Vice President Aaron Burr fatally shot
Alexander Hamilton in a duel, thus ending Burr’s political career.
RC51416 - Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Future of America, by Thomas
J. Fleming
1854 - The National Institute for Blind Children in
Paris adopted the Braille system of raised dots as a method of reading. Louis
Braille had died two years earlier, not knowing that his system would be a
success.
BR10436 - The World Under My Fingers: Personal Reflections on Braille, by
Barbara Pierce
CBO12906 - Louis Braille and the Baker’s Daughter, by the Blue Ridge Radio
Players
1854 - The first “Orphan Train” from New York
took homeless children to the Midwest for adoption and foster care. By 1929, an
estimated 150,000 children were relocated.
LT1119 - Orphan Train, by Jim Magnuson
RC48206 - Orphan Train Rider: One Boy’s True Story, by Andrea Warren
1904 - Construction began on the Panama Canal.
RC15721 - The Path Between the Seas: Creation of the Panama Canal, by David G.
McCullough
1904 - Helen Keller graduated from Radcliffe
College, becoming the first deaf-blind person to earn a bachelor’s degree.
RC48038, BR12198 - Helen Keller, A Life, by Dorothy Herrmann
RC54590, BR14162 - Helen Keller, Rebellious Spirit, by Laurie Lawlor
1904 - Theodore Geisel, later known as Dr. Seuss,
was born.
RC41116 - Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel, A Biography, by Judith Morgan.
RC34062 - You’re Only Old Once!, by Dr. Seuss
1929 - Dorothy Eustice incorporated “The Seeing
Eye” in Nashville, Tennessee, for training guide dogs. The first class
consisted of two students.
BR1320 - First Lady of the Seeing Eye, by Morris Frank
RC53712, BR4133 - Love in the Lead: the Fifty-Year Miracle of the Seeing Eye
Dog, by Peter Putnam
1929 - Seven men were gunned down in a Chicago
garage, a gangland murder known as the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre”.
RC40115 - Capone: The Man and the Era, by Laurence Bergreen
1929 - The New York Stock Exchange suffered a
catastrophic crash on October 29, Black Tuesday.
RC14025 - The Day the Bubble Burst: A Social History of the Wall Street Crash of
1929, by Gordon Thomas
1954 - Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,
Kansas was the Supreme Court decision which heralded the beginning of
desegregation.
RC25648 - Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965, by Juan
Williams
RC34369 - Free at Last?: The Civil Rights Movement and the People Who Made It,
by Fred Powledge
1954 - The first two parts of The Lord of the Rings
trilogy were published.
RC52637 - Tolkien, A Biography, by Humphrey Carpenter
RC36850 - Inventing the Middle Ages, by Norman Cantor
Toll-Free - 800-362-2587
FAX - 515-281-1378
TTY - 515-281-1355
Reader’s Advisors - If your name begins with:
A - G Lynda 281-1248
H - N Gail 281-1325
O - Z Lynne 281-1369
Applications for service Cindy 281-1368 or Marilyn 281-1348
Machine questions Niels 281-1245 or Pat 281-1285
Tape Production Beth 281-1280
Braille Production Laura 281-1292
Descriptive Videos Marcella 281-1246
Instructional Materials:
A - L: Karen P. 281-1275
M - Z: Carol 281-1271
This newsletter is printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink. The Iowa Department for the Blind is committed to preserving the environment and to reducing waste.
Return to Table of Contents.
Open Door is published by the Iowa Department for the Blind. Please direct questions and suggestions to the Iowa Department for the Blind, 524 Fourth Street, Des Moines, IA 50309-2364, 515-281-1333.