[bksvol-discuss] Library of Congress deciding on method for converting information

"Shelley L. Rhodes" <juddysbuddy@xxxxxxxxxxxx> · Wed, 1 Sep 2004 11:28:50 -0400

Digitally recorded books for disabled in the works
Library of Congress deciding on method for converting information

Jim Wallace
Charleston Daily Mail staff

Tuesday August 31, 2004

A technological revolution is coming for almost 3,000 blind and physically
handicapped West Virginians.

The revolution involves the talking books that provide visually impaired
people with audio versions of the same materials
that other people read. By 2008, the Library of Congress plans to convert
those talking books from cassette tapes to a new
digital format that is yet to be selected.

"A change in format will be a really big deal," Donna Calvert, director of
special services for the West Virginia Library
Commission, said.

Under the current format, books and other material are recorded on
four-track cassette tapes that can be played only on
machines that people with certified disabilities have. Calvert said some
books can be contained on just one cassette, while
others need as many as four.

What the Library of Congress is looking for is a digital format that will be
smaller than a cassette tape but bigger than a
credit card, she said. It will be some sort of "flash memory" technology,
Calvert said, because compact discs have already
been ruled out.

"Our patrons are very much looking forward to it," she said. "They're all
volunteering to be guinea pigs. They're hoping the
sound quality will be that much better."

But the changeover will also require a big investment in new equipment for
producing and using the new digital talking books.
Calvert said the Library Commission and the regional libraries it works with
had 2,943 patrons who had 220,060 in loans of
talking book materials in the fiscal year that ended June 30.

The Library of Congress places the annual value of contributions from it and
the Postal Service, which delivers the talking
books for free, at more than $2.7 million in West Virginia. That includes
$244,000 in new books, magazines and playback
machines, $1.4 million for the existing book collection and $1.1 for free
mailings.

Calvert said that, during the switchover to the new medium, users will have
to keep their current cassette machines for a
while alongside the new digital machines. Something will also have to be
done about the 100,000 titles of recorded materials
in the Library Commission's cassette collection at the state Cultural
Center, she said.

But she's looking forward to the new medium, partly because she thinks it
will permit the Library Commission to get items in
users' hands much more quickly. With the cassette format, Calvert is still
waiting for copies of such best-selling books as
former President Bill Clinton's "My Life," which she ordered in mid-July.

Eventually, she said, the digital format should allow many users to receive
their talking books by electronic transfers
instead of postal delivery.

More information about plans by the Library of Congress to convert talking
books to a digital system is available online at
www.loc.gov/nls.

Contact writer Jim Wallace at 348-4819.

© Copyright 2004 Charleston Daily Mail

http://www.dailymail.com/news/News/200408317/display_story.php3?sid=200408317&format=prn

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