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: Claudia Markov, Pete Hayek, Lavern Gordon, Amber Wilkerson and Dorothy Daniel

DECEMBER 2006

The Special Needs Library will be closed on December 25th, 26th and January 1st for the holidays.

Holiday Open House

The Special Needs Library is having a Holiday Open House on Friday, December 8th from 2:00-4:00 pm. Please come meet the staff and enjoy some refreshments.

Senior Cinema

The next Senior Cinema will be Thursday, January 4th at 2:00 pm in the Athens-Clarke County Library Auditorium. We will be showing a movie from our described video collection. Refreshments will be served and a door prize will be given out.

Pen Pal Wanted

One of our patrons is interested in finding pen pals that are blind or visually impaired. They must be able to read and write Braille. If interested contact the Special Needs Library.

New Digital Player

The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped has put pictures and a verbal description of the new digital player up on their website. So if you can't wait until 2008, and are excited by the new technology visit their website: loc.gov/nls/businessplan/playerdescription.html

Axistive Assistive Technology News Portal

Axistive is the world's leading news portal for assistive technology, providing a wide range of free services including product reviews, industry news, market trends, workshops, downloads, and product and organization information. Their goals are: " Free, accessible and objective information on assistive technology products, organizations and services. " Stimulate global innovation of easy access technologies. " Creating market transparency and awareness of assistive technology products and services. For more information visit axistive.com

The Blind Reader's Page

This site is a guide to sources of information in alternative formats (braille, recorded cassettes, large print, e-texts, web audio) accessible by people with print disabilities--those with visual and physical handicaps as well as dyslexia. It is also a guide to information about blindness, visual handicaps and other physical handicaps, with a special collection of Wisconsin resources. There are about 2,300 individual links, all evaluated, annotated and organized by subject. The website is blindreaders.info

REAL TALK

Are you a talk show fan? Would a show dedicated to the issues of people with visual impairments be of interest? How about a show that is accessible at any time just by dialing a phone number? Here is one that a group of folks with visual impairments have put together. The name of the show is Real Talk. You can access it at: (206) 279-1387. On Real Talk we discuss a variety of subjects including: Friendships, Families, relationships, issues of discrimination, education, and even sports in which we participate. This is an open forum and we encourage the inclusion of any subject of interest to you. In addition we have many conversations about movies, music, TV, and lots of other stuff. One of the nice parts is a way to contact other interested folks if you might have some equipment or other items you would like to share or sell. Though the number is long distance, most cell phone accounts and many home phone accounts have the option to call it for free. Real Talk is at: (206) 279-1387

Books for the Holidays

Here are books about the December holidays or whose setting is one of these holidays.

Bobby WorldWide Approved