Vol. 3, No. 3
September 1996
New Zip Codes
The TBL has a new zip code as of July 1, 1996. Please include it on your library correspondence: 33773-2629. Other Pinellas County areas received new zip codes also. If yours has been changed please call or write us so that we can update your record.
New Staff Member
Donna Wiggins has joined the library staff as our first Receptionist/Clerk. She will be taking most of your calls and routing them to the appropriate staff person or seeing to your needs herself. With her guide dog Chris, Donna will also greet library visitors at our reception desk. Please join us in welcoming Donna to the talking book network. She looks forward to serving you.
Pass the Popcorn
The library has added 18 new descriptive video titles including: Speed (DVS 10080), Pocahontas (DVS 10075), Roman Holiday (DVS 10084), True Lies (DVS 10081), and Last Stand at Little Big Horn (DVS 10085). For a full list of titles and loan policies, call the library at 538-9567. Please specify large print or braille.
Book Discussion Group
Talking book reader Shelley Safirstein is looking for book lovers to join her in a monthly book discussion group. For information on the group and details on how to participate contact Ms. Safirstein at 446-1696 or Peg Simpson at 787-4266.
Reader Survey
It is time once again for the Pinellas Talking Book Library’s biannual reader survey. We will be mailing large print survey forms to a random sample of our readership during September 1996. If you are not part of the sample but want to add your responses and comments to our report, please call the library and request that a form be mailed to you. All responses will be kept confidential. Your feedback is the most important factor in improving our service. We look forward to reading your returns.
Literary Awards Quiz
Match the award on the top (letters) with the correct description on the bottom (numbers). Answers are printed on the last page of this newsletter. Good luck!
A) Arthur C. Clark Award
B) Coretta Scott King Award
C) Miles Franklin Award
D) Philip K. Dick Award
E) Edgar Allen Poe Award
F) Aurora Award
G) Bankroft Prizes
H) Lincoln Prizes
1) Australian award given for a novel or play
2) Given to best original paperback
3) Recognizes excellence in Civil War studies
4) Mystery Writers of America award for fiction and non-fiction mysteries
5) Canada’s highest award for sci-fi and fantasy
6) Best British science fiction novel
7) Columbia University award for distinguished American history, diplomacy, or international relations
8) Awarded for works promoting peace and brotherhood
News You Can Use
The Caring and Sharing Center for Independent Living (CASCIL) has organized a focus group for women with disabilities. Women face issues particular to their gender. Women with disabilities encounter these issues and others that are a direct result of their disability. Relationships, intimacy, marriage, motherhood, abuse, self-esteem, vocational and educational goals, discrimination, assertiveness training, self-awareness and communication skills are a few of the topics discussed at monthly meetings. Call Kathy at CASCIL, 577-0065, for more information.
The Consumers Guide to PASS (Program to Achieve Self Support), available in print, braille, or audio and visual tapes, is an explanation of a valuable and underutilized federal program that can benefit those who want to expand their abilities to work. Contact No Limits, 312/465-8569, or write 2936 W. Fitch, Chicago, IL 60645, for a catalog and price list.
SHINE (Serving the Health Insurance Needs of Elders) has trained volunteer counselors available throughout Florida to assist seniors with Medicare, Medicaid, or health insurance issues. Call 1-800-963-5337 for a SHINE representative near you.
Service Tips
We recommend taking talking books with you on vacations and other trips away from home. Remember to bring along your compatible playback equipment as well. You can mail cassette players postage free to your destination if packing it will be cumbersome. Listening to books on the airplane or in the car, however, is a great way to add pleasure to your journey.
Call you reader contact if you read a good book and would be interested in other works by the same author. We will do the research and add those books to your request list. Making your own selections is the best way to consistently receive books that match your reading interests.
The TBL annually contacts readers who have not checked out a book or received magazines in the previous 12 months to determine their interest in remaining active readers. We do not want to remove readers from our rolls who wish to continue as active talking book clients. Please respond to our letters so that our records accurately reflect your reader status. Call the library at 538-9567 or 539-0261 if you have any questions concerning your talking book service.
Readers who request a hold on book circulation will not receive books until they contact the library to resume service. Holds are placed both at the Pinellas TBL and Daytona Beach Regional Library. Please remember to call or write your reader contact when you are ready to get books again.
A DREAMM Come True
DREAMMS for Kids, Inc., a non-profit information clearinghouse, and publishers of DIRECTIONS: Technology in Special Education, the popular monthly assistive technology newsletter, announces Building Bridges: Basic Assistive Technology, an assistive technology regional training seminar for parents, teachers, and professionals who care for children with special needs. The seminar is scheduled for October 12, 1996, and is being hosted by the University of South Florida, Bayboro campus in St. Petersburg, Florida, from 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. in the Campus Activities Center. Registration fee is $29 before 9/30/96 and $39 afterward. For further information, please contact Mary A. Stoltz, FATIC, Inc. At (813) 781-1239 or Janet Hosmer, DREAMMS for Kids, Inc., at (607) 539-3027, or visit the DREAMMS WWW homepage at http://users.aol.com/dreamms/.
Poetry to the People
According to Cognotes (Issue 5, July 1996), a publication of the American Library Association, poetry is enjoying a public revival. "Poetry slams" and other variants of poetry readings in bars, bookstores, and coffee houses feature everything from haiku to cowboy poetry. Talking book clients can enjoy poetry reading right at home with the following poetry books and collections. Fill out the enclosed order form or call in your selections to have these books added to your request lists.
Selected Poems
by Rita Dove
RC 40038
Selections by a Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning African American woman show the depth and progression of her voice.
No Nature: New and Selected Poems
by Gary Snyder
RC 36010
Snyder, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, appeals to the connection between the human experience and the natural world as found on the west coast.
The Whole Motion: Collected Poems, 1945-1992
by James Dickey
RC 37398
This retrospective collection of more than two hundred poems includes Dickey’s familiar themes: military experiences, love of the South, and nature.
Always a Reckoning and Other Poems
by Jimmy Carter
RC 40426
Poems about people, places, politics and private lives by the thirty-ninth president of the United States.
Deadline Poet: Or, My Life as a Doggerelist
by Calvin Trillin
RC 38688
Syndicated columnist and writer for the New Yorker uses prose and poetry to address various aspects of the U.S. government.
Hotel Insomnia
by Charles Simic
RC 37392
Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet creates a vision of the world from experiences and memories by conveying images of anguish in people one might meet at any time.
An Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems, 1988-1991
by Adrienne Rich
RC 34980
A free-verse series in which Rich meditates on what can be done to meet human needs.
Technology Corner will return in the next issue.
Quiz Answers
A) 6
B) 8
C) 1
D) 2
E) 4
F) 5
G) 7
H) 3
Goodbye, Barry
Barry Dobson, who with wife Shirley sponsored our Pub Golf Classic fundraiser each year, died in August. Please join us in extending sympathies to his friends and family. Barry was an unselfish community supporter who merged his love of golf with a commitment to improving talking book services. We will miss his generous spirit and genuine concern for others. Along with the Epsilon Sigma Alpha, International service sorority local chapter and The Pub staff, Barry and Shirley raised over $13,000 through the annual charity event. Thanks, Barry, our thoughts are with you.
Library Staff
R. Greg Carlson
Librarian
Martha Forbes
Assistant Librarian
Vivian Godfrey
Office Manager
Marianne Morawetz
Library Assistant
Denise Valkema
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.
Take a talking book wherever you go.