Macular Degeneration Foundation

The Macular Degeneration Foundation is an organization that provides information, resources, news, and encouragement to those with the disease. You can also subscribe to their newsletter.

For more information about MDF, please visit their website at http://www.eyesight.org or call 888-633-3937. If you are in the Athens area, the Talking Book Center also has some handouts about MDF.

TBC Closed Friday

The Talking Book Center will be closed this Friday, December 31. Call and get your books for the long holiday weekend!

Toronto Public Library Stocks Human Library

The Toronto Public Library - the largest public library in the world - held a Human Library project on November 6. The project had over 200 attendees, who used their library cards to "check out" one of the volunteer human books. Each check-out session was 30 minutes, giving the human book and the patron time to have a one-on-one conversation with someone they may never have had the chance to meet, such as a Tibetan Monk, a police officer, or a cancer survivor.


To read more about the project, please visit the following link from Yonge Street:
www.yongestreetmedia.ca/features/humanbooks1208.aspx.

TBC Closed Friday

The Talking Book Center will be closed this Friday, December 24. Call today to get books for the long weekend!

NLS Adds First Disc Recording to BARD

NLS has added the first audio recording to BARD that uses a disc as source material. The book is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet and the NLS number is DB 71855. The recording is read by Alexander Scourby and was recorded in 1939.

Attention Digital Book Users!

If you use the new digital books from TBC (and by now, we hope that is ALL of our patrons!), please be very careful about keeping the correct book with the correct box!! We are getting several books returned each day that are in the wrong box. These books cannot be checked in until we get them matched up with the correct container, which means they are not available for other patrons to check out.


We are also getting a lot of empty blue containers back. Please make sure you replace the book cartridge before returning the box.

THANK YOU!!

Choice Magazine

If you subscribe to Choice Magazine through the Talking Books program, please read the insert in your January 2011 issue. It will explain some of the changes coming to the magazine, including a change from a bimonthly to a quarterly format.

If you have any questions about the magazine or would like to subscribe to it, please call the Talking Book Center at 1-800-531-2063.

Winterville to Host Classes for Seniors

Today's Athens Banner-Herald reports that although the city of Winterville's Senior Center isn't slated to open until 2012, they will begin offering classes on health, wellness, and education. The classes will be held in alternate locations, such as the Winterville Depot.

Registration for the classes will begin January 20 at the depot.

To read this article, please visit the ABH site: www.onlineathens.com/stories/121610/new_757238320.shtml

Guide Horse

MSNBC.com recently ran an article about Mona Ramouni, a blind Michigan State University student who has an unusual guide animal - a miniature pony. Since Ramouni is Muslim, she could not have a dog in the house. Cali the pony was the answer to her problem.

To read Ramouni's story, please visit http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40195834/ns/today-today_pets_and_animals/.

If You Like.....Tom Clancy

You might like books by these other action writers:

• Dale Brown
  
• Stephen Coonts
  
• Jack Higgins
  
• Clive Cussler
  
• Robert Ludlum
  
• Jeffery Archer
  
• Lee Child
  
• Leigh Deaton
  
• Jack Higgins
  
• John LeCarre
  

TBC Holiday Schedule

The Talking Book Center will be closed Friday, December 24 and Friday, December 31. Please get in your book requests early!!

Remember, a book may take up to three days to get mailed from the time you request it, so you may want to go ahead and call in your requests now so you'll have plenty over the holidays!

Possible ADA Updates

Federal officials are investigating updating the Americans with Disabilities Act, which attempts to level the playing field for people of all abilities. The ADA previously required modifications such as wheelchair ramps and wide doorways into public buildings, but is now approaching technology modifications. Proposals include websites designed to be used with text-to-speech software, closed captioning in movie theaters, or text capabilities to 911 centers.

To read the Associated Press article, please visit http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TECHNOLOGY_RIGHTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-11-15-17-27-38.

WebAim Screen Reader Survey

If you use a screen reader, please consider taking this survey. It is designed help the developers working on accessible web pages.

The survey will be available until January 10, 2011 and is completely confidential.

http://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey3/

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Here is a small press release from Guiding Eyes for the Blind, a guide dog school in Yorktown Heights, New York:

Guiding Eyes Graduate Featured on ABC-TV's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition this coming Sunday, December 5 at 8 pm EST


Graduate Andre Anderson and his Guiding Eyes dog Valentine are featured on this Sunday's segment of the popular television program. Andre and his wife run a counseling program out of their home to help other people with vision impairments live independent lives. Because their house was in a state of utter decay - unsafe for their work, for themselves, and their two children - they applied to Extreme Makeover.

Sunday's program tells the story of Andre's journey and reveals the magnificent new home that the program's team built for his family. The home is fitted with new technology specially designed to make Andre's life easier and more productive.

"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" airs on ABC.

Today Show Features Osteo-odonto Keratoprosthesis Patient

Last September, this blog brought you the story of Sharron Thornton, who underwent osteo-odonto keratoprosthesis. This surgery used one of her teeth to hold a special lens in place in her eye socket, restoring some of her sight. You can read the blog post here.



The "Today" show featured an interview with Ms. Thornton this week. You can watch the video from the link below.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/40414262#40414262