Director's Corner: New Year!

 

Director's Corner: New Year!

Contributed by John Owen, Director

We hope the new year has started well for you.  LBPD welcomes 2021 with a continuing effort to overcome the peculiar challenges we faced in the past year and deliver excellent customer service to you:  our patrons, your families, and our stakeholders.  Together we’ve weathered these challenges, and we’ve appreciated the opportunity to create and innovate to make sure we are still serving your reading and information needs.  

In the new year, look for:

• An expanded pilot of the Humanware braille e-reader provided to us by NLS.  This compact refreshable braille device provides access to braille books through BARD via a WiFi connection or through files on an NLS digital USB cartridge.  We have already distributed over 110 devices to our patrons.  Those patrons have been testing out the device and offering feedback about the functionality of the braille e-reader.  And in the process, we’ve seen the download of braille materials increase from 219 in July before the pilot to 4,500 book and magazine downloads in November.  Now we want more patrons to take advantage of this increased access to braille.  Contact our reference desk if you are interested in reading braille on one of these devices.  
• Expanding service through Books on Demand (BOD) cartridges.  Assistant Director Mary Ramos talked about this new service in a blog post earlier this month.  We’re working on the ability to customize cartridges with multiple digital audiobooks on them.  With Books on Demand, you will not have to wait for a book you want to become available, and you will be able to read the books in most series on a single cartridge.  Books on Demand makes it easier for you to receive and return materials, too.  We are currently in a pilot phase, but LBPD will eventually be moving all our patrons to this process.  If you would like to be among the first to transition to Books on Demand, please contact our reference desk.  
• A new monthly series of Technology User Group topics.  It starts on Saturday, January 9, at 10 AM as Jerry Price leads you through accessibility in the Microsoft Edge browser and new updates to Windows Narrator and continues on the second Saturday of each month via teleconference.  In the meantime, you can catch up on all the informative TUG programs that you may have missed or want to hear again by listening here. 
• A new monthly series of programs in partnership with the University of Maryland Extension.  After a very successful series of virtual programs in 2020, UME agreed to extend the partnership for 2021.  The first program will be held on January 12.  Read about the whole series and register for these teleconferences here. 
• The fourth annual Beanstack Winter Reading Challenge to kick off the new year.  Join with your fellow patrons and LBPD staff to read 100,000 community minutes between January 1 and January 31.  Register and track your reading at https://marylandlbph.beanstack.org. 

There is more programming in store throughout the year for all of our patrons. 

And we will continue to respond to your telephone and email messages while sending out audiobooks, braille books, and large print materials as we have every day throughout the pandemic.  We are even adding more books to our Marylandia collection, converting textbooks for college students, and teaching our patrons how to navigate their assistive technology and mobile devices as we do in “normal” times.  

Our LBPD building remains closed to the public, following the guidance of the state of Maryland and our concerns for your safety.  We continue to handle materials in a safe and efficient manner.  We have weathered issues with mail service but are confident that, finding ourselves on the other side of some of the busiest seasons for our USPS partners, this situation will improve. 

Yes, we do look forward to being able to open our doors to have you come for events, browse the collection, and attend classes, but in the meantime, keep communicating with us and we will keep reaching out to you.

How to reach us:

• Reference desk by phone at 410-230-2443 or email at reference.desk@maryland.gov
• Website:  www.lbph.maryland.gov
• Blog:  https://mdlbpd.blogspot.com/​​
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MDLBPD/ 
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/mdlbpd    
• Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/mdlbpd/  

Together we will build communities that flourish through the power of information and literacy so that ALL MAY READ!