From the Director’s Desk
Our golden anniversary year is coming to an end but there is no time to rest on our laurels. We’re revving up for big changes in 2021!
First up, our transition to Download on Demand (DoD). DoD will make every book in the NLS collection available to you. No more waiting for new books to hit our shelf or on books to be returned.
In the next few weeks, we will begin our pilot test of the new system. If you are as excited about this new and improved service as we are, willing to keep in contact with us about your experience, and want to be a Kansas Talking Books DoD pioneer, call or email us to join the pilot group.
I am excited about the increased access to books this new service will provide you and look forward to rolling it out at the beginning of 2021. If you have any questions or concerns, you can email me directly or call 620-341-6287.
Stay safe, stay well, stay warm, and have a happy holiday season.
–Michael Lang, Director
Kansas Talking Books Updates
Download-on-Demand: What you should know
- Every book available to you.
- Books still delivered on digital talking book cartridges.
- Customized to your interests and needs.
- A list of books on the cartridge is included.
- Easy to navigate with two ways to move through your book cartridge.
- Navigation instructions included on your cartridge.
- No mail cards, our return address label is on the mailing case.
- Return cartridge to us and we will load more books.
- We're here to help. Call or email and we’ll guide you through any questions you have.
Phone Book Club
With the need to stay home due to COVID-19, phone book club has become a nice way to stay in touch with others. We’ve often moved our discussions to the online meeting service, Zoom, with the increased number of participants.
For phone book club, we all read the same book and then discuss it together over the phone (or Zoom), with information about the author, narrator, background or context of the book, and then questions to help facilitate discussion.
The first phone book club of 2021 will be Wednesday, March 10, at 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. (noon). We’re going to do another Bring Your Own Book discussion, where we don’t read the same book, but rather talk about the book(s) we’ve each been reading.
The other phone book club discussions will be held:
Wednesday, June 9
Wednesday, September 8
Wednesday, December 8
If you are interested in participating, please call 1-800-362-0699 or email us.
News from NLS
NLS Biennial National Conference
Earlier this month, library staff from across the country joined NLS online for the National Libraries for the Blind and Print Disabled Conference. Over three days we learned about recent changes at NLS and the many upcoming initiatives that will help us serve you better. Of particular interest to us are expanded access, enhanced services, and data driven decision-making.
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Expanded Access: Through download on demand and the forthcoming braille eReader, NLS will increase access to digital braille and audio materials. Eliminating the doctor signature requirement for reading disabilities will allow for easier access to a large number of eligible patrons.
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Enhanced Service: Improvements to existing products like BARD, increased number of titles acquired, and new products under development, like voice command and new machines will improve usability and the general patron experience.
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Data Driven Decisions: NLS has committed to collecting data from patrons and libraries to make decisions and develop services that meet the needs of our users.
These are just a few of the many projects NLS is working on as they continue to ensure “That All May Read.”
Readers’ Advisor Recommends: Books Unlocked with Download-on-Demand
Download-on-demand (DoD) is almost here; unlocking the entire collection to you with no waiting for books to be processed or returned! We’d like to take this opportunity to highlight some of the books that will be unlocked and instantly available to you with DoD.
Westerns
DB 94716 The Legend of Perley Gates by William Johnstone
Annotation: Perley travels west to the untamed frontier to bring news of his father's death to his grandfather. Along the way, he faces dead ends, outlaws, near-fatal encounters, killers, and more. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2018.
DB 95425 Deuces Wild by Dusty Richards
Annotation: Apache scout Deuces is court-martialed for murder and sentenced to hang, but he manages to escape on his way to prison. US Marshal Burt Green and an Apache tracker hunt the fugitive from Texas to the deep Southwest. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2004.
Romance
DB100598 Kiss My Cupcake by Helena Hunting
Annotation: Blaire Calloway's dream of opening her cupcake and cocktails shop is complicated when Ronan Knight opens a sports bar next door on the same day. While the two begin as rivals, they grow closer when a new threat to both their businesses arrives. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.
DB100769 Dark Crime by Christine Feehan
Annotation: Blaze McGuire knows who killed her father, and she has merciless plans for payback until a phone call from a seductive stranger pleads with her to wait. Retribution is in his blood, too. Violence, strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2015.
Christian Fiction
DB100415 Unwritten by Charles Martin
Annotation: Father Steady Capris is afraid Katie Quinn's problems may be beyond his abilities to fix. Katie is a world-famous actress whose fame seems to have driven her to self-destruct. To help Katie, the priest turns to a man he calls Sunday, who has secrets of his own. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2013.
DB 99519 With You Always by Jody Hedlund
Annotation: New York, 1857. Needing money to support her two sisters, Elise Neumann leaves home and heads west to find work as a seamstress. Meanwhile, Thornton Quincy's dying father sets a challenge for his sons: whomever can build a sustainable town along the Illinois Central Railroad and get married will inherit. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2017.
Mystery
DB 99203 Flat Spin by David Freed
Annotation: Rancho Bonita, California. Cordell Logan is a literate, sardonic flight instructor and aspiring Buddhist with dwindling savings and a shadowy past. His ex-wife's husband has been murdered in Los Angeles, Logan and Echevarria were once both assigned to a top secret military assassination team. Echevarria's death might be related. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2012.
DB100065 Sacrificial Ground by Thomas H. Cook
Annotation: Troubled Atlanta homicide detective Frank Clemons obsessively searches for answers to a pregnant young woman's death. Angelique Devereaux's body was found in a slum, far from the mansion where she lived with her older artist sister. Orphans since childhood, both girls had been oddly uncommunicative although occupying the same house. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 1988.
Biography and Autobiography
DB 99902 Me & Patsy, Kickin’ Up Dust: My friendship with Patsy Cline by Loretta Lynn
Annotation: A country music legend looks back on her friendship with fellow icon Patsy Cline, who died at age thirty-one in 1963. They met when Lynn's career was just getting started, but Cline was a star. Cline became a friend and mentor who was taken too soon. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.
DB100072 It Takes Two: Our story by Jonathan Scott
Annotation: Joint memoir from the twin brothers who star on HGTV shows such as Property Brothers. They share stories from their childhood and how they found a way to combine their talents for entertaining with real estate and home improvement. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2017.
These titles plus 1,079 more westerns; 4,637 more romances; 857 more Christian fiction, 6,721 more mysteries; 10,199 biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs and thousands more are going to be unlocked with the DoD system.
Upcoming State and Postal Holidays Reminder
Christmas: Thursday, December 24 & Friday, December 25
New Year’s Day: Friday, January 1, 2021
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: Monday, January 18, 2021
Contact Information for Kansas Talking Books
1 Kellogg Circle, Box 4055
Emporia, KS 66801
1-800-362-0699
620-341-6280
Hours:
Monday – Friday
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m
Online:
Website
Talking Books Talk Blog
On Facebook
On Twitter : @KSTalkingBooks