Vol. 4, No. 2
July 1997
Macular Degeneration Study
The May 1997 issue of Fighting Blindness News: A Newsletter for Friends of the Foundation Fighting Blindness carried a request for participants in an age-related macular degeneration study. Dr. Johanna Seddon, a researcher at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical School, is studying risk factors for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). If you have advanced AMD with visual loss in one or both eyes, and have either a sibling with advanced AMD, or a living parent with or without macular degeneration you may be eligible to participate in the study. No travel is necessary. For more information call Study Coordinator Karen Clements at (800) 219-9157.
Attention All Kids! Tune In and Read! (Graphic)
FLYP, the Florida Library Youth Program mascot, wants to know how many hours you spend reading this summer. Call Martha at the library (538-9567) to request your talking books. After you call, FLYP will mail an activity packet to you, and you can begin to start tracking your reading time.
TBL in Cyberspace
The Pinellas Talking Book Library is planning to mount pages on the World Wide Web in the next few months. Readers who use the Internet should contact the library with suggestions for content and design. We see the readership as the primary audience for our Web pages and want to offer you the most relevant information and links. Call Greg Carlson at 538-9567, or e-mail carlsog@snoopy.tblc.lib.fl.us, to contribute your ideas. Be sure to tell us what browser you use.
News You Can Use
Located two miles northeast of Lakeland, the Tenoroc Fish Management Area offers outstanding fishing thanks to restrictive harvest limits and careful biological research and control. Derby Lake within the Tenoroc area is reserved for special events sanctioned by the Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission and for anglers with disabilities. An ADA accessible pier provides access to ample stocks of largemouth and sunshine bass, black crappie, and channel catfish. For more information on recreational opportunities at Derby Lake, call the Tenoroc office at 941/499-2422.
The Belleair Recreation Department would like to offer duplicate bridge for the blind and visually impaired. Please contact bridge coordinator Shirley Rice at 799-6801 or the Belleair Recreation Department at 588-3781 if you would be interested in participating. Belleair residency is not required. Games would be sanctioned by the American Contract Bridge League; sighted partners would be provided upon request.
The Library of Congress, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), has compiled a directory of volunteer groups and individuals who transcribe braille and record books and other reading material for the blind. For a large print or braille copy of Volunteers Who Produce Books, an alphabetical listing by state, call NLS at 1-800-424-8567.
Service Tips
Receiving too many or too few books? Call your reader contact at 539-0261 and explain your service needs. She will work to adjust your computer record where necessary and provide tips on how you can help us improve book circulation. Readers who regularly mail or phone in selections from catalogs can expect to receive books consistently. Talking Book Topics is available in alternative formats for readers who cannot use the large print version. Marianne or Joan will change your Talking Book Topics subscription to cassette, flexible disk, or computer diskette upon request.
If you experience problems with a talking book cassette player bring the machine with you to the telephone when calling the library. Listening to the machine gives us important clues as to the source of the trouble.
Descriptive videos are now being mailed with bubble wrap to protect the video cassette and its container from damage. After rewinding the tape, please rewrap the video and container before sending it back to the library in the green mail bag. Your attention will help us keep the videos playing for future viewers.
Beat the Heat Books
A Florida summer is an invasion force, infiltrating cars, clothes, and cookouts with solar power, humidity, and drenching rains. A book, accompanied by an iced tea, can repel the worst blasts of heat and keep you cucumber cool. The following books boast titles that suggest cooler climes and times. Use the enclosed order form to request these books, call you reader advisor, or send us e-mail. Head for the shade and take your talking books with you.
Winter Return
by John Espey
RC 36917
Professor Tom Jerome, returning to his hometown in Iowa, remembers another visit years before when eagerness was overshadowed by family resentment and secrets.
Winter: A Novel of a Berlin Family
by Len Deighton
RC 26046, FD 26046, BR 07221
Two brothers from an aristocratic Berlin family who held differing views during the Nazi regime are finally reunited at the Nuremberg trials.
Cold is the Sea
by Edward Beach
RC 14885
Undersea adventure set in the early 1960's involves rescuing a stranded nuclear submarine from the Arctic Ocean.
Cold Sassy Tree
by Olive Burns
RC 39112, RD 23090
In 1906 the town of Cold Sassy, Georgia is shocked when fourteen-year-old Will’s grandpa marries the pretty, thirtyish town milliner.
Finn Mac Cool
by Morgan Llywelyn
RC 38549
The heroic life of legendary third-century Irish warrior, poet, and lover.
Beyond the Frozen Sea
by Edwin Mickleburgh
RC 29319
A general history of Antarctica beginning with Captain Cook’s search and exploration.
The Ice House
by Minette Walters
RC 39563, BR 05548
When a body is found in Phoebe Maybury’s icehouse, police suspect the corpse may be her long-missing husband.
Leopard in the Snow
by Anne Mather
RC 12949, FD 12949
A rebellious young woman is forced to accept the help of a terse, uncommunicative, but handsome young man.
Technology Corner will return in the next issue. (Graphic)
Gone Fishing
The TBL will be closed Friday, July 4 and Monday, September 1. You can also check the recorded message on our answering machine after office hours at
538-9567 for any announcements concerning holidays or other changes in our schedule.
Staff E-Mail Addresses
Greg Carlson
carlsog@snoopy.tblc.lib.fl.us
Joan Dye
jdye@snoopy.tblc.lib.fl.us
Marianne Morawetz
morawem@snoopy.tblc.lib.fl.us
Send us your talking book requests electronically!
Library Staff
R. Greg Carlson
Librarian
Martha Forbes
Assistant Librarian
Vivian Godfrey
Office Manager
Marianne Morawetz
Library Assistant
Joan Dye
Library Assistant
Donna Wiggins
Receptionist
Mission Statement
The Pinellas Talking Book Library's mission is to encourage and support reading by providing free library services to Pinellas County residents for whom conventional print is a barrier.
Pinellas Talking Book Library
12345 Starkey Rd., Ste. L
Largo, FL 33773-2629
813/539-0261
813/538-9567
813/538-8949 TDD
813/538-8731 FAX
Mon. Thru Fri. 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Take a talking book wherever you go.