INSIGHT

A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE SPECIAL NEEDS LIBRARY OF NORTHEAST GEORGIA

The Special Needs Library of Northeast Georgia is a part of your public library and the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, serving Banks, Barrow, Clarke, Elbert, Franklin, Greene, Gwinnett, Habersham, Hancock, Hart, Jackson, Jasper, Madison, Morgan, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Putnam, Rabun, Stephens, Walton and White counties. We do not endorse any product or service mentioned in this newsletter.

800-531-2063, 706-613-3655

Email: specialneedslibrary@athenslibrary.org

Staff: Stacey Chandler, Lavern Gordon, Claudia Markov, Pete Hayek

APRIL 2005

Start off Spring with a little Spring Cleaning...

Many of you still have books needed by other readers. Please return any finished books to us as soon as you can. It may be time to do some spring cleaning as well! We would appreciate if you or someone could check closets, look under beds, and check classrooms at school. Also, if you have any magazines you are no longer interested in, please make sure you return the green containers back to us. We are running short of the green containers that your talking books are mailed in. If you have extra green containers lying around, please send those in to us.

Question of the Month

Q: My books are sent automatically and sometimes I receive book number three in a series but not books one and two. Why does this happen? A: The computer selects books according to availability and patron’s interest codes. The computer does not know if a book is part of a series. If this happens, please call us and we will send or reserve the other books in that series for you.

Study Group Participants

If you are over 55 and have a vision and hearing loss, you are invited to participate in a 3-5 year Study Group. The Study Group will be used to examine the impact of the secondary sensory loss on transportation, community integration, communication systems, assistive technology access and usage, and employment. Involvement would be primarily in the form of volunteer surveys and interviews. If you are interested in participating or would like more information, please contact:

Ms. B.J. LeJeune, Principal Investigator
Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision
Mississippi State University
P.O. Box 6189
Mississippi State, MS 39762
Phone: 1-800-675-7782
TTY: 1-662-325-8693
Email: drrp@colled.msstate.edu
www.blind.msstate.edu/pahvl/pahvl.html

Drive for Sight

During the Georgia license renewal process, residents are given the option to donate $1, to “prevent blindness and preserve the sight of Georgia residents”. The money goes into the Drive for Sight fund, which is distributed to vision-related nonprofit agencies-statewide through state contract. The agencies currently supported by Drive for Sight are Blind and Low Vision Services of North Georgia, Georgia Eye Bank, Prevent Blindness Georgia, Emory University Eye Clinic, Medical College of Georgia Health Systems, Savannah Medical College of Georgia Health Systems, and Savannah Association for the Blind. These agencies provide vision screenings for 4-year-olds, vision services for the needy, rehabilitation for people who are blind or have vision loss, diagnosis of eye disease and public education about the risk for eye problems and the need for eye donation. Since the program began in 2000, more than $1.5 million has been donated to the effort by the drivers of Georgia. For more information, call 404-266-0071 or 1-800-477-4448.

Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration is a disease that affects central vision loss among people over the age of 60. Because only the center of your vision is usually affected, people rarely go blind from AMD. However, it can sometimes make it difficult to do everyday activities such as reading, driving, or any task that may require fine central vision. If you notice any of these changes, schedule a dilated eye exam as soon as possible. For information, or to make a contribution to the sight-saving fund, call 1-800-331-2020 or visit on the Web at www.preventblindness.org

Reminder: Don’t forget to call us when your name, address, or phone number changes or for any changes that we may need to know. This will help us serve you better.

In Their Own Words

If you have ever wondered about the unique qualities that make someone a leader, perhaps you will find the answers in these autobiographies written by some of the most famous, or infamous, military leaders of all time.