Wolfner News Fall 2006 

Notes from the Director

I have been appointed to and have been attending the National Library Service’s (NLS) Long Term Digital Planning Group meetings in Washington D.C. this year. The migration from audio cassette to digital media in 2008 is a $150 million project, and NLS is making every effort to do it right.

The ManTech International Corporation was contracted to evaluate the network and the usage of the collection, and to make recommendations about Digital Talking Book (DTB) distribution options to the Library of Congress. Here are some facts from the study that you might find interesting.

• Number of Recorded Cassette (RC) Titles Shipped and Number of Copies Produced
  An average of 1,985 recorded cassette books are produced each year, with an average of 932 copies made of each book. This means that over 1.8 million cassette books are sent to network libraries for distribution each year.

• Length of Titles
  ManTech found that the average duration of a talking book is 676 minutes, which is short enough to fit on one 256 MB flash memory cartridge. These cartridges will replace the cassettes now in use. ManTech estimates that 94.3% of the DTBs expected to be produced will require only one flash memory cartridge each.

• Loss Rate of Books
  After examining eight regional and two sub-regional libraries’ statistics over five years, ManTech estimates there is a 3% loss rate of books. That means that 15,000 RC books are lost from Wolfner’s 500,000 books that circulate each year.

• Turnaround Time for Books
  The study estimated the turnaround time, from the date the book leaves Wolfner to the date it is received back at the library, at 35 days.

• Source of Book Circulation
  An analysis of recorded book circulation was performed to determine what proportion of recorded book circulation is generated by automatic profile selection versus requests placed for specific titles through mail, e-mail, telephone or walk-in orders. It was found that 65% of total book circulation was generated by the library automation system reader preferences (subject, author and/or series preferences) that are set up by your Reader Advisor.

• Genre Popularity
  It comes as no surprise that mystery, romance, biography, historical fiction and suspense are the top five genres, in that order.

There is great anticipation about the Digital Talking Book Machine (DTBM) that will be used to play the digital books on the flash memory cartridges. A company called HumanWare is leading the design effort for the DTBM. Here is some general information.

• DTBM Facts
  • The DTBM will be much smaller than the current audio cassette player and much lighter, weighing about 2-1/2 pounds. It will include a carrying handle and attachment points for shoulder straps. It is resistant to liquids and it can withstand accidental drops. There is a provision for headphones, with the jack having a high contrast color. The life expectancy of the player is ten years.
    
    
  • The machine can be plugged in or played using a battery, which allows 15–20 hours of playing time before needing to be recharged. After 30 idle minutes, the machine will shut itself off to conserve battery life, and it will alert you when the battery is running low.
    
    
  • It will be easier to use, having buttons for Play, Stop, Volume, Speed and Power, and no slider on the volume. When you press a button without a cartridge inserted, the player will tell you the function of that particular key. The buttons will also be marked tactilely and can be operated with mouth sticks. The cartridge will insert only one way and with a minimal amount of force. A clear indication will be heard when the cartridge is properly inserted.
    
    
  • The audio will be significantly better, especially in the high and low frequencies. There will be variable speed control where the pitch remains constant, allowing for easier hearing at two times faster than normal speed.
    
    
  • In addition to playing NLS produced books, it will also play MP3, WAV, WMP and Daisy 2.02 formats.
    
    
  • Books will always be announced when you turn the machine on. Books can be interchanged as automatic bookmarks are dropped onto the machine to keep track of where you are on each title. The Advanced Player will be able to navigate books by parts, sections and sub-sections, and there will be a “go to page” feature.

Richard Smith
Director

From the Editor’s Desk

Recently, we have said goodbye to two staff members, Ozzie Withers and Debbie Musselman. Ozzie, who was Wolfner’s Technical Services Specialist, retired last March and moved to the state of Nevada to live near family. Ozzie worked for Wolfner for over thirty years in a variety of positions, and had many wonderful stories to tell about Wolfner Library and its patrons. In July, Debbie Musselman left her six year tenure as Wolfner’s Public Services Librarian for a challenging position as a Library Consultant with the Library Development division of the State Library. We miss her encyclopedic knowledge of Wolfner, but don’t have to go far to say hi, as she is still in the same building! We wish them both well in their new endeavors.

Elizabeth A. Lang
Editor

Upcoming Events

Volunteer Recognition

Wolfner’s annual volunteer recognition dinner will be held on Friday, October 27th in Jefferson City. The event provides an opportunity to recognize the excellent work done by our volunteers. For more information, call the library at 1-800-392-2614.

Friends of Wolfner Library

On October 27, 2006, the Friends of Wolfner Library will hold a board meeting at the State Information Center in Jefferson City.

Wolfner Advisory Council

The Wolfner Advisory Council will hold a meeting on November 17, 2006, at the State Information Center in Jefferson City.

Children’s News

NLS has created a web page for children called the Kids Zone that allows you to search for children’s books in the national collection and provides reading lists of award-winning books such as the Newbery Medal and Honor books and the Coretta Scott King and John Steptoe winners. It also lists books in popular series, such as the Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter, and it provides information about children’s magazines and links to the Library of Congress Kids and Families Web site. You can visit Kids Zone through a link on the NLS home page (www.loc.gov/nls) or directly at www.loc.gov/nls/children/index.html.

Nancy Doering
Youth Services Librarian

Magazine Rack

The audio magazines listed below are now available. Call us at 1-800-392-2614 if you would like a subscription to any of them.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine: Suspense, mystery and intrigue by well-known authors; reprints of classic tales; story contests, puzzles and book reviews.

Cowboys and Indians: Focus on the west, western lore and Native Americans; includes events listings of rodeos and other events across the United States.

Current Biography: Articles about newsworthy individuals in politics, sciences, arts, labor and industry; brief obituaries.

Diabetes Self-Management: Current information about diabetes research and patient care.

Kiplinger’s Retirement Report: Advice and trends of interest to retired persons or to those planning for retirement.

Your Dog: Canine behavior, health medicine, dentistry and new products for dogs. A newsletter published by Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine.

Verhonda Winters
Duplication Technician

News Rack

What’s new on NFB-NEWSLINE©, the audio news service available to all Wolfner patrons? Three new publications: The Springfield News Leader newspaper, Diabetes Self-Management magazine, and Keeping Up are now available. Keeping Up is a focused, timely, non-partisan daily compilation of news articles from a wide selection of Missouri newspapers. This current awareness clipping service is prepared by the staff of the Missouri State Library through agreements with newspaper publishers. Call us at 1-800-392-2614 to begin your subscription to NFB-NEWSLINE©.

Volunteer News

Here’s to all volunteers, those dedicated people who believe in all work and no pay.
—Robert Orben

Wolfner has many dedicated volunteers working in our recording program. They are willing to come in regularly and record books, review and edit those books and make them available to our patrons. Reading books to make tapes for the print impaired is sometimes tedious, sometimes frustrating and sometimes fun. But it is never glamorous.

It takes a lot of hard work to get a book on the shelf and available to check out. It begins with the process of selecting the books to be recorded. I wrote about that in the last Wolfner News.

After the books are selected, a book order has to be completed. This means looking the books up online to get price, publisher and other pertinent information. Once the books are received, they are added to our recording program as a project. A narrator (reader), and a monitor (director) are assigned to each book. The narrator reads the book while the monitor works the equipment and advises the narrator on the proper pronunciation, enunciation, sound levels and other elements important to a quality recording. Depending on the size of the book, this process will take four to twelve weeks to complete.

Once the recording is completed, a reviewer listens to the recorded files while reading the book, marking any errors they may find. After they finish, the book goes back to the narrator and monitor for corrections. The corrections are then checked by the reviewer, and if they approve the book, it is ready to be processed. Using a software program, a book is created from the recorded files. The book is duplicated onto a cassette, catalogued and sent to the Tapes Duplication department to have copies made. Finally, the book is ready for you to read.

Whew! Are you tired yet?

Deborah Stroup
Coordinator of Volunteers

And the Winner Is…

Our first Adult Winter Reading Program was such a great success that we are already hard at work planning the 2007 program. If you participated the first time and are anxious to try again, or if you missed the program the first time around, now is the time to start planning your winter reading. Our theme this time will focus on award winning books. We will explore everything from Nobel Prize winners for literature to Spur Awards for westerns and the Bram Stoker prize for horror stories. Nearly every genre that may interest you has an award winner, so there will be something for everyone. Of course, we will encourage you to step outside your comfort zone and explore the best of the best in other genres, too. The Winter Reading program will run from January 15 through March 30, and once again the goal is for you to read one book a week for a total of twelve books. There will be more news as the planning continues, so look for future announcements about the Adult Winter Reading program.

Suzy Higgins
Reader Advisor