Guest Post: National Library Service's Braille on Demand

Contributed by NLS Representative

As part of its braille modernization initiative, NLS is launching the Braille-on-Demand pilot project on Monday, June 20, 2022. This project will allow active NLS patrons to request and receive one hard-copy braille title per month, which they can retain for their personal use. If an individual who is not registered as a patron submits an order, NLS will refer the individual to their local network library to begin the process of becoming a patron.

Braille titles will be limited to books that are currently available on BARD, the NLS Braille and Audio Reading Download service. At this time, requests are limited to one book per patron per month. Only complete titles will be distributed. Requests for partial titles (for example, volume one of a three-volume book) will result in receiving the entire book.

The form to request a braille-on-demand book can be found linked from https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NLSbrailleondemand. Patrons may complete the form themselves or contact their network library for assistance. They may also contact NLS Reference at nlsref@loc.gov for assistance in completing the form.

Tech Tips: BARD Has You Covered

 

Tech Tips:

BARD Has You Covered

Contributed by Jerry Price, Assistive Technology Training Coordinator 

The 2022 International Thriller Writer Award nominees were recently released, and BARD already has many titles.  The nominees are as follows (books available on BARD have a ** before the title):

Best Hard Cover Novel:

** The Turnout by Megan Abbott

** Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby

** Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney

** These Toxic Things by Rachel Howzell Hall

** Red Widow by Alma Katsu

I Am Not Who You Think I Am by Eric Rickstad

Best Audiobook:

** Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby

** Prodigal Son by Gregg Hurwitz

The Jigsaw Man by Nadine Matheson

How It Ends by Rachel Howzell Hall

Sleeping Dogs Lie by Samantha Downing

Best First Novel:

** Girl A by Abigail Dean

Repentance by Eloisa Diaz

My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa

Damascus Station by David McCloskey

Bones of Hilo by Eric Redman

Best Short Story:

** Demon in the Depths by William Burton McCormick 

     Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

** The Lemonade Stand by Scott Loring Sanders

     Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

** The Interpreter and the Killer by Jeff Soloway

     Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

** Bad Chemistry by John Wimer

     Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

My Cross to Bear by S. A. Cosby

Best Young Adult Novel:

** The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson

Calculated by Nova McBee

Sain by Ginny Myers

** The Project by Courtney Summers

** House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

The winners will be announced June 4, 2022.

Patron Services: BARD Mobile Download Limites

 Patron Services: 

BARD Mobile Download Limits

Contributed by Amanda Gonzalez, Patron Services Librarian

Audio File

BARD mobile download limits

If you enjoy downloading books and magazines from BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download), you know that BARD gives you instant access to the entire NLS collection through your computer, tablet, iPad, and smartphone. 

With BARD, there’s no need to wait for books to come in the mail; all books are always available and ready for download, and you don’t even need to “return” the books after you’ve read them!

When you are downloading books from BARD, your access to the collection can seem limitless, but it’s important to keep in mind that there are caps to the number of materials you can download from BARD in a 30-day period.

If you’ve ever received the message that you are “not authorized” to read a book that you have downloaded, the likely cause is that you have reached your 30-day limit.

When using the BARD Mobile app, a patron can download a maximum of 100 books during a 30-day period. 

This is a "rolling" 30-day period. So, for example, if you downloaded 5 books 30 days ago, then tomorrow, those 5 books will "fall off" the count, dropping you from 100 to 95. This creates space to download 5 new books. 

The other side of this is, that if you download all 100 books today, you will have to wait 30 days for all 100 books to "fall off."

To avoid reaching your limit on BARD mobile, follow this rule of thumb: If you download no more than 3 books per day, you will never reach your limit.

Even if you reach your limit, you can always still listen to the books you have previously downloaded.

In addition, if you reach your BARD mobile limit, you can still download books to a flash drive and listen to them using your Digital Talking Book Player. 

If you would like to learn more about BARD, please contact the library.

BARD Update From NLS

 

BARD Updates from NLS

Contributed by Don Olson, Customer Service Specialist at NLS

A number of patrons and libraries have recently reported that certain BARD account-holders are either no longer able to log into BARD Mobile or can no longer see their Wish Lists from within BARD Mobile on their iOS devices. We have determined that these problems are related to the older versions of iOS devices that these patrons are using.

 

The current version of BARD Mobile for iOS, version 1.4.1, is supported by devices running iOS 11 and above. A list of all devices capable of running iOS 11 is available from Apple at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209574. We encourage patrons using devices on that list but not yet running iOS 11 to upgrade their operating systems.

 

We understand that very old devices may not be able to upgrade to iOS 11 and regret the difficulty this may cause for some patrons, but an unfortunate reality is that all equipment eventually becomes obsolete. NLS is not able to support BARD Mobile on devices running iOS 10.0 or below. We do not know of an option that would allow patrons to download and install any version of BARD Mobile prior to 1.4.1.